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Bishop George Berkeley
The Right Rev. George Berkeley,
1685-1753
Bishop of Cloyne, 1734-1753

This page advocates the theological idealism of George Berkeley. Berkeley lived in London, Rhode Island, and a remote corner of Inokelly, Ireland. He also travelled widely in Europe. In A New Theory of Vision, Berkeley shows that to be is to perceive or be perceived. His philosophical contributions have been much praised by some philosophers and maligned by others.

I am creating this site in gratitude for Berkeley's explanation for the way things work. For me personally, for more than forty years, theological idealism has served well in my relations with the world and with the people whom I love. With this site, I hope to encourage the reading of works by and about Berkeley.
What is Theological Idealism?

Theological idealism takes quite literally the idea that we live, move and have our being in that which, for lack of any really helpful name, we call God. It also presumes that we know nothing about anything which does not arrive in our consciousness in the form of ideas. Idea therefore composes the fundamental unit of existence insofar as we can know it. In other words, we consist of idea, the known world consists of idea (to the extent that we know it), and even God consists of idea to the extent that we know God.

We have been suckered into accepting a universe consisting exclusively of atoms. Idealism offers the alternative, a world which also contains poetry, mind, beauty, spirit, sex, soul, dreams, and, most controversially, little clues for the existence of God. Materialists have Mallomars, but idealists have the taste of Mallomars.
What difference does theological idealism make?

When we accept theological idealism, we instantaneously realize that perceptible objects like, for examples,

        a sexy pair of sunglasses,
        a country which we may exploit for its petroleum products,
        trivial entertainment which robs us of our meaning as actors in the drama
            of existence,        
        and advertisements which encourage us to crave the worthless,  

are less important than and, in terms of real existence, subordinate to ideas.

As a species, we sometimes toy with our very existence. I attribute this reckless silliness to our failure  to understand theological idealism. Because of that ignorance, we overvalue sensory objects by comparison with ideas. We become materialists in the worst possible interpretations of the word. Materialism enables our most egregious tastelessness in the manufacture of social arrangements. For examples, materialism provides the foundation for

        government by the excessive application of violence,
        economics under the control of ungoverned multi-national corporations,
        and our blindness to each other's splendid nature.

Materialism also prevents us from understanding the centrality of valid spirituality and therefore subjects us to vapid and injurious forms of religion. Despite our depradations against the environment, we still discern remnants of the Garden of Eden around us. Theological idealism could empower us to appreciate better than we do now the gift of the universe and our existence in it. Even without theology, idealism offers us a more appropriate evaluation of everything we experience.
Good Sites on Berkeley
Joseph Stock's Life of Berkeley (1776)

Berkeley's Works Online, Full Text


  This link takes you to Project Gutenberg,
where you may find this text and others by
searching for the author and title.






I am looking for online, free texts of other Berkeley works, particularly Siris. A referral would be much appreciated.
Papa of this Web Site

Rob Cogswell, Director, Booher Library, Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, rcogswell@etss.edu  -- Opinions expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the Seminary.

I would welcome your advice or correspondence.
This page last changed:
March 21, 2004
The number on this "Hitometer" counts the visitors to this site since May 28, 2001. Sign off and sign on as many times as you like, and watch the number grow. In mathematics, numbers are abstract, corresponding to no (or any) particular sensory or abstract objects or subjects. When we count grommets or unicorns, the number remains in our minds and in no way attaches to the objects. Numbers alone disprove the idea of a purely materialistic universe.

 

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