The British Empiricists: Locke, Berkeley, Hume

by Alfred Jules Ayer, J.O. Urmson, John Dunn

The British Empiricists offers concise, accessible introductions to the life and work of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. John Dunn shows how Locke arrived at the theory of knowledge which he puts forward in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding. J.O. Urmson assesses Berkeley's philosophy in its relation to the thought of Newton and his predecessors, while A.J. Ayer, an esteemed philosopher in his own right, offers insight into Hume's theories of perception and self-identity, his analysis of causation, and his moral, political, and religious philosophy.

Originally written for the acclaimed Past Masters series, these authoritative studies provide a unique guide to some of the most influential ideas in British philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

In 1910, Sir Alfred Jules Ayer was born in London into a wealthy family. His father was a Swiss Calvinist and his mother was of Dutch-Jewish ancestry. Ayer attended Eton College and studied philosophy and Greek at Oxford University. From 1946 to 1959, he taught philosophy at University College London. He then became Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford. Ayer was knighted in 1970. Included among his many works are The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940), The Problem of Knowledge (1956), The Origins of Pragmatism (1968), Metaphysics and Common Sense (1969), Bertrand Russell (1972) and Hume (1980), about philosopher David Hume. Later in life, Ayer frequently identified himself as an atheist and became active in humanist causes. He was the first vice president of the British Humanist Association and served as its president from 1965 to 1970. He was an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association from 1947 until his death. He was also an honorary member of the Bertrand Russell. In 1988, Ayer had a near-death experience in the United States after choking on salmon and subsequently losing consciousness. He wrote of his experience in “That Undiscovered Country” (New Humanist, May 1989): “My recent experiences have slightly weakened my conviction that my genuine death, which is due fairly soon, will be the end of me, though I continue to hope that it will be. They have not weakened my conviction that there is no god. I trust that my remaining an atheist will allay the anxieties of my fellow supporters of the British Humanist Association, the Rationalist Press Association and the South Place Ethical Society.” He died shortly after at age 78 in London. D. 1989.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._Ayer

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ayer/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/AyerbyT...

http://badassphilosophers.tumblr.com/...

http://www.informationphilosopher.com...

Reviews

[Campbell Rider]

good selections from "the Dirty Three"- locke, berkeley, hume

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers three long essays, one each, on Locke[John Dunn], Berkeley [J.O. Urmson], and Hume {A.J.Ayer]. They are all quite lucid introductions to these philosophers and provide a pretty good sense of the intellectual context in which they worked. The essay on Hume by Ayer is especially helpful because he tries to consider common misconceptions about Hume. I was particularly struck by the notion that Hume thought of ideas as images. It seemed to me, after reading Ayer, that one can say that philosophy has indeed made progress and is not just going back over the same issues. These are only introductory essays, but I feel better prepared to read Locke and Hume [I think I'll skip Berkeley].