ABSTRACT
George Berkeley was an Irish philosopher and clergyman. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, became a fellow there, and in 1734 was appointed bishop of Cloyne. His fame rests on several startling works he wrote while still in his twenties, the most accessible of which is his Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. A few words about the history of modern philosophy will help place Berkeley's work in context. Philosophers like Descartes, who base knowledge on reason alone rather than sense experience, are known as rationalists. Those who base knowledge on sense experience rather than pure reason are known as empiricists, and the leading historical exponents of empiricism are the Englishman John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume. Locke argues that people can be mistaken in their beliefs about the external world; they fall short of Descartes' standard of absolute certainty.
