Dr. Johnson's Stone-Kick: The Birth of a Philosophical Fallacy

In a famous anecdote, Samuel Johnson kicked a large stone after hearing George Berkeley's idealist philosophy, declaring 'I refute it thus!' The story, recorded by James Boswell, illustrates the 'appeal to the stone' fallacy—dismissing an argument as absurd without logical refutation. Johnson, born in 1709, was a renowned English writer and lexicographer, best known for his 1755 dictionary. Berkeley, an Irish bishop, argued that matter does not exist and that all physical objects are ideas perceived by a mind, summed up as 'esse est percipi' (to be is to be perceived). He distinguished between ideas created by humans and those created by God, which are more stable. Berkeley built on John Locke's distinction between primary qualities (independent of observers) and secondary qualities (observer-dependent), but denied primary qualities exist. Johnson's kick, motivated by frustration at being unable to disprove Berkeley, became a classic example of a non-argument. The fallacy is named after this incident.