A professor of philosophy at Tufts University, he has spent half a century pondering some of the knottiest problems around: the nature of meaning, the substance of minds and whether free will is possible.
In his favour, he never strayed from the Cartesian metaphysics, i.e., its substance dualism of mind and matter, substance-mode ontology, mind-body union and interaction, and the view that extension is the essence of matter and thought the essence of mind; and he remained loyal to the Cartesian physics against that of the atomists.
He also maintained the substance dualism of mind and matter while retaining their causal interaction.
Descartes maintained this distinction by positing a substance dualism of mind and body (and by treating animals as "mere" mechanisms, without consciousness, and humans as rational, sentient beings), and such as Hume and later James Mill respected it (or at least avoided dealing with it) by writing about the contents of conscious minds while keeping well clear of neurophysiology.
Accordingly, perception or representation is the essence of mind, and consciousness follows as a result of the mind's being a representing substance.
He followed Hopkins too in asserting that the crucial question no longer was the relationship of living and non-living substance but also of mind and body, with biochemistry conceding to philosophy and the then incipient neurosciences, the latter question, so that it could focus on learning about living matter.
Loury, for his part, doesn't disagree: "I don't know if I want to concede the point to Orlando, that there's no intellectual substance to the change of mind.
Although Berkeley rejected the Lockean notions of primary and secondary qualities and matter, he retained Locke's beliefs in the existence of mind, substance, and causation as an unseen force or power in objects.
As he writes in the New Essays, in reality there are only substances and properties of substances; the mind "adds" relations (New Essays, 2.12; cf. also 2.30.4 and 2.25.1).
Provided opportunity and support a significant percentage of these precious young people came to understand the importance of health and wellness -- including a life free of mind altering substances -- and accepted the challenge to develop the life skills and gain the education necessary to succeed in the workplace while also becoming leaders and problem solvers in their communities.
