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Here is a few lines from "Apples" by Peter Meinke which mention a "Dr. Johnson":
One sympathizes with Dr. Johnson here
when he kicked a stone
to dispute the Bishop: such
airy-fairy distinctions, so much
applesauce!
Is this some specific person called "Dr. Johnson"? (If so, who?) Or is there something else meant/represented by "Dr. Johnson"?
It's an allusion to the famous anecdote about Samuel Johnson's "refutation" of Bishop George Berkeley's philosophy of subjective idealism, as told by James Boswell in The Life of Samuel Johnson:
After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus."
See the Wikipedia article for further discussion.
