An Essay towards a new Theory of Vision

by George Berkeley

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Berkeley's first major work, An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision, in which he discussed the limitations of human vision and advanced the theory that the proper objects of sight are not material objects, but light and color. This foreshadowed his chief philosophical work A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. George Berkeley was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism" (later referred to as "subjective idealism" by others). This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are only ideas in the minds of perceivers, and as a result cannot exist without being perceived. Thus, as Berkeley famously put it, for physical objects "esse est percipi" ("to be is to be perceived"). Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for idealism.
  • ISBN10 3734087619
  • ISBN13 9783734087615
  • Publish Date 25 September 2019 (first published 1 May 2004)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Imprint Outlook Verlag
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 58
  • Language English