Publisher Description

David Hume wrote that Berkeley's arguments `admit of no answer but produce no conviction'. This book aims at the kind of understanding of Berkeley's philosophy that comes from seeing how we ourselves might be brought to embrace it. Berkeley held that matter does not exist, and that the sensations we take to be caused by an indifferent and independent world are instead caused directly by God. Nature becomes a text, with no existence apart from the spirits whotransmit and receive it. Kenneth P. Winkler presents these conclusions as natural (though by no means inevitable) consequences of Berkeley's reflections on such topics as representation, abstraction,necessary truth, and cause and effect. In the closing chapters Proefssor Winkler offers new interpretations of Berkeley's view on unperceived objects, corpuscularian science, and our knowledge of God and other minds.

Author Biography

Winkler is Professor of Philosophy at Wellesley College, Massachusetts.

Review

`This book is clear in style and argumentation. It challenges many of the standard interpretations of Berkeley's philosophy ... [Winkler's] thorough knowledge and careful examinations of the texts challenges any critic to provide a more coherent account.' Review of Metaphysics`Its arguments are cogent and its style clear and readable ... [Winkler's] book is one which all students of Berkeley should read.'Philosophical Books

Long Description

David Hume wrote that Berkeley's arguments `admit of no answer but produce no conviction'. This book aims at the kind of understanding of Berkeley's philosophy that comes from seeing how we ourselves might be brought to embrace it. Berkeley held that matter does not exist, and that the sensations we take to be caused by an indifferent and independent world are instead caused directly by God. Nature becomes a text, with no existence apart from the spirits who
transmit and receive it. Kenneth P. Winkler presents these conclusions as natural (though by no means inevitable) consequences of Berkeley's reflections on such topics as representation, abstraction, necessary truth, and cause and effect. In the closing chapters Proefssor Winkler offers new interpretations
of Berkeley's view on unperceived objects, corpuscularian science, and our knowledge of God and other minds.

Review Text

`This book is clear in style and argumentation. It challenges many of the standard interpretations of Berkeley's philosophy ... [Winkler's] thorough knowledge and careful examinations of the texts challenges any critic to provide a more coherent account.' Review of Metaphysics
`Its arguments are cogent and its style clear and readable ... [Winkler's] book is one which all students of Berkeley should read.'
Philosophical Books

Review Quote

[Winkler's] book is one which all students of Berkeley should read.

Details