The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4 Philosophical Works, 1705-21
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~200,000 words · 965 passages
Cite this work
- APAGeorge Berkeley. (n.d.). The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4 Philosophical Works, 1705-21. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/george-berkeley/the-works-of-george-berkeley-vol-1-of-4-philosophical-works-1705-21
- MLAGeorge Berkeley. The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4 Philosophical Works, 1705-21. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/george-berkeley/the-works-of-george-berkeley-vol-1-of-4-philosophical-works-1705-21.
- ChicagoGeorge Berkeley. The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4 Philosophical Works, 1705-21. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/george-berkeley/the-works-of-george-berkeley-vol-1-of-4-philosophical-works-1705-21.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The first volume of Berkeley's works: the early philosophical writings, among them the Principles of Human Knowledge and the Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous.
Context and history
The thesis is that to be is to be perceived, and that matter understood as a substance behind perceptions means nothing at all. Berkeley did not deny that things exist: he denied that anything exists beyond what is perceived. He published the Principles at twenty-five and, finding himself misunderstood, rewrote the argument as a dialogue three years later. The division into four volumes is the editor's, not Berkeley's, who published these books separately.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
outcome of a mind indisposed to take things upon trust, resolved to inquire freely, a rebel against the tyranny of language, morally burdened with the consciousness of a new world-transforming conception, which duty to mankind obliged him to reveal, although his message was sure to offend. Men like to regard things as they have been wont. This new conception of the surrounding world—the impotence of Matter, and its subordinate office in the Supreme Economy must, he foresees, disturb those accustomed to treat outward things as the only realities, and who do not care to ask what constitutes reality. Notwithstanding the ridicule and ill-will that his transformed material world was sure to meet with, amongst the many who accept empty words instead of genuine insight, he was resolved to deliver himself of his thoughts through the press, but with the politic conciliation of a persuasive Irish pleader. The _Commonplace Book_ steadily recognises the adverse influence of one insidious foe. Its world-transforming-Principle has been obscured by “the mist and veil of words.” The abstractions of metaphysicians, which poison human language, had to be driven out of the author’s mind before he could see the light, and must be driven out of the minds of others before they could be got to see it along with him: the concrete world as realisable only in percipient mind is with difficulty introduced into the vacant place. “The chief thing I pretend to is only to remove the mist and veil of words.” He exults in the transformed mental scene that then spontaneously rises before him. “My speculations have had the same effect upon me as visiting foreign countries,—in the end I return where I was before, get my heart at ease, and enjoy myself with more satisfaction. The philosophers lose their abstract matter; the materialists lose their abstract extension; the profane lose their extended deity. Pray what do the rest of mankind lose?…