I refute him thus
by Robbie Rae
Bishop George Berkeley claimed that we all existed only in the imagination of God; and that the world only existed in our imaginations.
What a beautiful thought.
But as with all beautiful thoughts it met with hostility. Of the three empirical philosophers, Berkelely, the Irishman, was considered the most wild-minded. Which set him apart from the commonsense Englishness of John Locke, and the sceptical Scottishness of David Hume.
And it was another commonsense Englishman – the fat ,horrible, self-congratulatory gobshite, Samuel Johnson – who refuted Berkeley’s idea most famously.
To point out how real the world actually is, Dr Johnson is alleged to have kicked stone and asserted “I refute him thus!”
Well, the year is 2009, and I challenge Doctor Johnson to kick that stone today.
After all, refutation should be absolute.
1-0 Berkeley.
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