George Berkeley

"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"--