h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A3472986

I would like, if I may, to return to the original title I gave this Entry:

George Berkeley: sceptic, philosopher, and bishop

I was put off calling him a sceptic by an academic I consulted, but I find that he was indeed called a sceptic in his own time. I would therefore like to introduce a footnote after the first sentence after the first header, thus:

The main point of Berkeley's philosophy is that there is no such thing as matter. It doesn't existBerkeley was never sceptical about religion, as far as his writings show, and therefore modern scholars are reticent to call him a sceptic. The word does also mean 'doubter' in other senses, though, and in his own time Berkeley was indeed labelled a sceptic, notably by Andrew Baxter and David Hume..

And while I'm at it, I'd like to expand this sentence above the first header:

he did have a powerful effect on the later philosopher David Hume, who in turn influenced Immanuel Kant. He is also credited by Arthur Schopenhauer for having foreshadowed the latter's concept of The World as Will and Idea.

to say

he did have a powerful effect on the later philosopher David Hume, who in turn influenced Immanuel Kant. Kant never quite digested or accepted Berkeley's point, however, and though he made the mind responsible for the categorisation of things, by which means they are perceived, he felt obliged to elaborate a theory of the 'Thing-in-itself', which is just what Berkeley denied. In the following century Arthur Schopenhauer used Berkeley's critique as the basis for his concept of The World as Will and Idea. Unfortunately he couldn't go the whole way either, and simply said, without demonstrating it, that Berkeley could not be right.

Here is the text with GuideML

but he did have a powerful effect on the later philosopher David Hume, who in turn influenced Immanuel Kant. Kant never quite digested or accepted Berkeley's point, however, and though he made the mind responsible for the categorisation of things, by which means they are perceived, he felt obliged to elaborate a theory of the 'Thing-in-itself', which is just what Berkeley denied.

In the following century Arthur Schopenhauer used Berkeley's insight as the basis for his concept of The World as Will and Idea. Unfortunately he couldn't go the whole way either, and simply said, without demonstrating it, that Berkeley could not be right.

all done

h2g2 Eds

Many thanks!