David Renaud Boullier
David Renaud Boullier (24 March 1699 – 23 December 1759) was a Dutch Huguenot theologian, Protestant minister and philosopher. Biography Boullier was born in Utrecht on 24 March 1699. He was educated at Utrech University. He was a Protestant pastor in Amsterdam and was active in London for several years. Boullier was elected in 1721 to the Castle Street Church in London and was ordained by Edmund Gibson in 1723. He remained in England until 1734 when he was appointed minister of Walloon Church, Amsterdam (1734-1749). He returned to Walloon Church in London and in 1751 retired in Utrecht. Boullier strongly opposed Pyrrhonian skepticism. He was one of the few European thinkers who respected George Berkeley's immaterialism. Boullier was not an advocate of Berkeley's immaterialism but had a warm admiration and friendship with Berkeley. Boullier never criticized Berkeley but did occasionally point out their differences. Boullier respected Berkeley's metaphysics and his arguments against materialism, skepticism and irreligion of the age. He translated Berkeley's Siris, a book that endorsed the therapeutic use of tar water. Boullier died on 23 December 1759 in Utrecht. Animal souls Boullier opposed the mechanistic philosophy of René Descartes that animals were machines devoid of a soul,