Name: Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous
Author: George Berkeley
ISBN: 9780198751489

Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous

George Berkeley

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Author Description

First published in 1713, this work was designed as a vivid and persuasive presentation of the remarkable picture of reality that Berkeley had first presented two years earlier in his Principles of Human Knowledge. His central claim there, as here, was that physical things consist of nothing but ideas in minds--that the world is not material but mental. Berkeley uses this thesis as the ground for a new argument for the existence of God, and the dialogue form enables him to raise and respond to many of the natural objections to his position. The text printed in this volume is that of the 1734 edition of the Dialogues.

Menrva's Summary

THE THESIS

Does the material world exist independently of the mind, or is reality composed entirely of ideas? George Berkeley, an influential 18th-century philosopher, utilizes the dialogue format to defend his doctrine of immaterialism. By presenting a debate between two characters, he systematically dismantles the notion of material substance and argues that all physical objects are merely collections of ideas perceived by minds, ultimately positioning this framework as evidence for the existence of God.

THE SCOPE MAP

What You Will Find

A rigorous defense of subjective idealism and immaterialism.
The application of the Socratic dialogue method to complex metaphysical problems.
A systematic refutation of skepticism and atheism through the lens of perception.
Arguments concerning the nature of sensory experience and the existence of a divine perceiver.

THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE

Experts regard this work as a foundational text in the history of empiricism and a primary source for understanding early modern metaphysics. Readers often note that while the prose is accessible due to its conversational structure, the underlying arguments require careful attention to the specific definitions of perception and substance employed by the author.

Page Count:
192

Publication Date:
1998-09-24

Publisher:
Oxford University Press

ISBN-10:
0198751486

ISBN-13:
9780198751489

Philosophy

Metaphysics

Epistemology

Idealism

Classic Philosophy

Soul