George Berkeley is appointed Bishop of Cloyne …

Years: 1734 - 1734

George Berkeley is appointed Bishop of Cloyne in Ireland in 1734, a position he is to hold until his death.

In this year, Berkeley publishes The Analyst, subtitled "A DISCOURSE Addressed to an Infidel MATHEMATICIAN. WHEREIN It is examined whether the Object, Principles, and Inferences of the modern Analysis are more distinctly conceived, or more evidently deduced, than Religious Mysteries and Points of Faith".

The mathematician in question is believed to have been either Edmond Halley, or Isaac Newton himself—though if to the latter, then the discourse was posthumously addressed, as Newton had died in 1727.

An empiricist critique of the foundations of infinitesimal calculus, influential in the development of mathematics, The Analyst represents a direct attack on the foundations and principles of Infinitesimal calculus and, in particular, the notion of fluxion or infinitesimal change, which Newton and Leibniz had used to develop the calculus.

Berkeley coins the phrase “Ghosts of departed quantities”, familiar to students of calculus.

He regards his criticism of calculus as part of his broader campaign against the religious implications of Newtonian mechanics—as a defense of traditional Christianity against deism, which tends to distance God from His worshipers.

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