Cloyne scholar in class of his Own

ALL this week we’ll be letting Cloyne and Erins Own clash in other codes. Today Michael Moynihan oversees the two sides clash in PHILOSOPHY.

CLOYNE come out as clear winners in this battle, as George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne in the 18th century and one of the foremost theorists in subjective idealism, lines out to give them a huge advantage.

Berkeley became Bishop in 1734, when he was 49, and even then his great works dated back 20 years (the Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, as we all know). Once he landed in Cloyne his major works were devoted to the medicinal value of tar-water — see such volumes as his “Further Thoughts on Tar-water”.

One of Berkeley’s great contributions to empiricism is the theory that we perceive just two dimensions; height and width. The third spatial dimension of depth is not directly known but rather is inferred by the mind; whether or not this has impacted on Cloyne’s decision to go for goals early on in games is unknown.

The link between Berkeley and east Cork hurling goes deeper: the city of Berkeley was named after the philosopher because it developed around the University of California campus, named after the great man. The sports teams of UC Berkeley wear blue and gold — the colours of Cloyne neighbours, Carrigtwohill.

Erins Own are unable to call on any Glounthaune-based geniuses in Berkeley’s class so unfortunately for them it’s 1-0 to Cloyne.