Berkeley`s "An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision” and his immaterialism

Abstract

The article discuses George Berkeley’s An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision with respect to his immaterialism. The author concentrates on works written by Berkeley circa 1709: his Philosophical Commentaries, a work not meant for publication, and A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge published in 1710. The end of the article is to show, firstly, that it is beyond doubt that in 1709 Berkeley was a mature immaterialist, secondly, that the shape of his Essay, problematic for interpretation in the light of his later philosophy, derives indeed from the strategy adopted by him in order to prepare his readers for immaterialism. The author offers an interpretation, according to which technical parts of the Essay are subsidiary to Berkeley’s immaterialistic project and were intended to consolidate religion, and, moreover, notices that notions essential for Berkeley’s philosophy of 1710 are already present in the 1709 Essay. The author finally discusses Berkeley’s conception of the object as well as the problem of stability of experience, arising after the exclusion of external objects from the world.