biography
pronunciation:
[bah(r)klee]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1685–1753)
|
| biography:
| Anglican bishop and philosopher, born at Dysert Castle, Kilkenny, SE Ireland. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, where he remained, as fellow and tutor, until 1713. His most important books were published in these early years: Essay towards a New Theory of Vision (1709), A Treatise concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710), and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713). In these works he developed his celebrated claim that ‘to be is to be perceived’ - that the contents of the material world are ‘ideas’ that only exist when they are perceived by a mind. He became Dean of Londonderry (1724), but became obsessed with a romantic scheme to found a college in the Bermudas to promote ‘the propagation of the Gospel among the American savages’. After years of intensive lobbying in London for support he sailed for America with his newly married wife (1728) and made a temporary home in Rhode Island. He waited there nearly three years: the grants did not materialize, and the college was never founded. He returned first to London and then in 1734 became Bishop of Cloyne. His remaining literary work was divided between questions of social reform and of religious reflection. |
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