An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision

by George Berkeley

Overview

Forming a triangle of British empiricism with Locke and Hume, George Berkeley's direct influence on modern thought cannot be overstated. From the American Founding Fathers, who looked to him as the pioneer of their idealism, to the reality-questioning motives of quantum physics, Berkeley's odd yet profound view of the nature of human awareness, a sense he trusted implicitly, has in turn shaped our perception of the universe at large. His 1709 "Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision" reads like the ramblings of a madman-and he was, in fact, dismissed as such in his time-but his discussion of perception, distance, parallelism, magnitude, and other elements of vision, presented as 160 suppositions, is now recognized as a foundational work on the theory of optics. This strange work will intrigue readers of philosophy and scientific theory. Irish scientist, philosopher, and writer GEORGE BERKELEY (1685-1753) also wrote A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) and Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612039817
Publisher:	Spastic Cat Press
Publication date:	03/23/2012
Pages:	106
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.22(d)

About the Author

George Berkeley (/ˈbɑːrkli/;[4][5] 12 March 1685 - 14 January 1753) - known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne) - was an 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. Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism.
In 1709, Berkeley published his 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 colour.[6] This foreshadowed his chief philosophical work, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, in 1710, which, after its poor reception, he rewrote in dialogue form and published under the title Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in 1713.[7]
In this book, Berkeley's views were represented by Philonous (Greek: "lover of mind"), while Hylas (Greek: "matter") embodies the Irish thinker's opponents, in particular John Locke. Berkeley argued against Isaac Newton's doctrine of absolute space, time and motion in De Motu[8] (On Motion), published 1721. His arguments were a precursor to the views of Mach and Einstein.[9][10] In 1732, he published Alciphron, a Christian apologetic against the free-thinkers, and in 1734, he published The Analyst, a critique of the foundations of calculus, which was influential in the development of mathematics.[11]
Interest in Berkeley's work increased after World War II because he tackled many of the issues of paramount interest to philosophy in the 20th century, such as the problems of perception, the difference between primary and secondary qualities, and the importance of language