A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge

by George Berkeley

Overview

George Berkeley's "A Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge" advances the idea that the reality we perceive is merely a thought in God's mind.

"According to the 'esse is percipi' thesis, all the things surrounding us are nothing but our ideas. Sensible things have no other existence distinct from their being perceived by us. This also applies to human bodies. When we see our bodies or move our limbs, we perceive only certain sensations in our consciousness.

When identifying the sensuously perceived world with ideas of the knowing subject, Berkeley did not maintain that ideas exhausted the content of reality. There is perceiving, active being, or mental substance (mind, spirit, soul), in which ideas exist." [excerpted from Wikipedia]

Though largely discredited nowadays, Berkeley's ideas still have adherents, and it remains a milestone in epistemological thought.

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Product Details

BN ID:	2940012950802
Publisher:	Mobile Lyceum
Publication date:	03/07/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	140 KB

About the Author

Berkeley was born at his family home, Dysart Castle, near Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland, the eldest son of William Berkeley, a cadet of the noble family of Berkeley. He was educated at Kilkenny College and attended Trinity College, Dublin, completing a Master's degree in 1707. He remained at Trinity College after completion of his degree as a tutor and Greek lecturer.

His earliest publication was on mathematics, but the first that brought him notice was his Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision, first published in 1709. In the essay, Berkeley examines visual distance, magnitude, position and problems of sight and touch. While this work raised much controversy at the time, its conclusions are now accepted as an established part of the theory of optics.

The next publication to appear was the Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge in 1710, which was followed in 1713 by Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, in which he propounded his system of philosophy, the leading principle of which is that the world, as represented by our senses, depends for its existence, as such, on being perceived. [wholly excerpted from Wikipedia]