Bryan Magee Talks to Michael Ayers about Locke and Berkeley (1987)

Michael Ayers on Locke and Berkeley (4/5)

This program examines the philosophies of British empiricists Locke and Berkeley. Michael Ayers interprets Locke's skeptical theory that all knowledge is sensory and speculative, and that the true nature of the world can never be known, as an attack on Descartes's theory of innate ideas. Conversely, Berkeley insists the we cannot have sensory knowledge of material substances because they exist only in our mind. Dist: Films Media Group. 1987? 45 min.



About the Series

This series of incisive intellectual conversations from the BBC archives presents a comprehensive introduction to the concepts of western philosophy through 15 of its greatest thinkers. Each program features series creator, world-renowned author, professor, and philosophy specialist Bryan Magee, who discusses the philosophers’ ideas within the context of their times and intellectual accomplishments with other distinguished experts. 15-part series, 43-48 minutes each.