George Berkeley - by Tom Jones

About the Book

"This book offers a comprehensive account of the life and thought of the major Irish philosopher of the Enlightenment. Building on a study of Berkeley's better known early life and work as an immaterialist philosopher in Trinity College, Dublin the book explores connections between Berkeley's metaphysics and every aspect of his career. Touring Italy as a chaplain and tutor, campaigning for and travelling to Rhode Island to establish a university on Bermuda, working as a bishop in rural Ireland, writing on Christian apologetics, economic stimulus, and the philosophical implications of drinking tar-water - all of these activities are occasions for Berkeley to practice philosophy. In his family life, his daily routines, his educational projects, this book discovers a thinker motivated by finding the means to bring human wills into conformity with God's will, and defending laws, rules, order and hierarchy to do so. This book presents research into the institutional history of schools, universities, societies and the church, studies the neglected figures - particularly women - whose presence in Berkeley's life was significant, and describes his relationships with social groups other than white Protestants in order to revise our understanding of a man who was at once a radical metaphysician, a missionary Protestant, a conservative social reformer, and a person of intense religious commitment. In telling his story, the book expands our understanding of the relationship between canonical early modern philosophy, the eighteenth-century Church, and the history of educational and social improvement"--

Book Synopsis

A comprehensive intellectual biography of the Enlightenment philosopher

In George Berkeley: A Philosophical Life, Tom Jones provides a comprehensive account of the life and work of the preeminent Irish philosopher of the Enlightenment. From his early brilliance as a student and fellow at Trinity College Dublin to his later years as Bishop of Cloyne, Berkeley brought his searching and powerful intellect to bear on the full range of eighteenth-century thought and experience.

Jones brings vividly to life the complexities and contradictions of Berkeley's life and ideas. He advanced a radical immaterialism, holding that the only reality was minds, their thoughts, and their perceptions, without any physical substance underlying them. But he put forward this counterintuitive philosophy in support of the existence and ultimate sovereignty of God. Berkeley was an energetic social reformer, deeply interested in educational and economic improvement, including for the indigenous peoples of North America, yet he believed strongly in obedience to hierarchy and defended slavery. And although he spent much of his life in Ireland, he followed his time at Trinity with years of travel that took him to London, Italy, and New England, where he spent two years trying to establish a university for Bermuda, before returning to Ireland to take up an Anglican bishopric in a predominantly Catholic country.

Jones draws on the full range of Berkeley's writings, from philosophical treatises to personal letters and journals, to probe the deep connections between his life and work. The result is a richly detailed and rounded portrait of a major Enlightenment thinker and the world in which he lived.

Review Quotes

"Scholars in early modern philosophy and intellectual history, and of course Berkeley scholars, will welcome the book."---Takaharu Oda, Eighteenth Century Ireland

"Jones's biography could not have arrived at a better time, just as public debates on the active participation of Irish people in empire and the slave trade proliferate and intensify. . . . It is easy to "de-commemorate" a thinker . . . it is much more difficult to critically engage with their thought and to gauge their influence, all while remaining conscious of their shortcomings. In this, as in much else, Jones provides a model."---Adam Coleman, Dublin Review of Books

"[Tom] Jones...presents Berkeley's life through his voluminous writings, the views of his friends and family, and the opinions of those who encountered him and his writings. The result is a big book, packed with quotations from Berkeley's works, excerpts from letters, records of journeys and activities, and details about Berkeley's social an personal life and the people in it. Reading it requires stamina, but the rewards is a better acquaintance with a man who, as the subtitle of the book indicates, lived a life under the influence of his philosophy."---Janna Thompson, Australian Book Review

"A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year"

"Jones' book is a product of titanic labor and meets the highest standards of intellectual biography. Jones suggests new interpretations of some of Berkeley's thoughts and notes, finds new biographical materials, and offers a comprehensive approach to the whole body of Berkeley's thought."---Artem Besedin, Berkeley Studies

"Magisterial."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer

"There is so much to like about Tom Jones's George Berkeley: A Philosophical Life. This new biography is an impressive effort to unearth the whole man: Jones leaves no page unturned, no sermon unsummarized, no piece of Berkelean writing, however obscure, unrevisited. . . . this monumental work will likely remain the book on Berkeley for some time."---Costica Bradatan, Times Literary Supplement

"Tom Jones has written a superb biography about the mind of a reactionary, a powerful thinker whose curiosity about the world was shaped by his religious and political conservatism."---Sean Sheehan, Prisma

"What Jones has revealed is the fascinating combination of chaos and coherence laced through Berkeley's life."---Alex Dean, Prospect Magazine

About the Author

Tom Jones is Reader in the School of English at the University of St Andrews. His books include Pope and Berkeley: The Language of Poetry and Philosophy and an edition of Pope's Essay on Man (Princeton). He lives in Dundee, Scotland.