Berkeley

Past Masters (Oxford)

by J.O. & Berkeley Urmson

Taken out of context, Berkeley's famous doctrine that there is no such thing as matter is easy to misunderstand and underestimate. But by viewing Berkeley against a wider intellectual background than is customary, J.O. Urmson achieves an unusually sympathetic assessment of Berkeley's philosophy.

He sees Berkeley's work as a serious critical analysis of the scientific thought of Newton and his predecessors, and of its metaphysical basis. Urmson starts with a chapter on the philosophy of science accepted from Galileo to Newton, and uses this as a basis for his discussion of Berkeley's writings. He gives a clear account of the relationshipo between Berkeley's metaphysics and his analysis of the concepts of science and common sense.

He shows, too, that Berkeley anticipated by more than two centuries a version of utilitarianism usually thought of as belonging to our own time.

Genres: Philosophy

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Derrick Walker]

This is a solid survey of Berkeley. Urmson also helps in understanding some key points via the way he explains them.

[Einzige]

I came to this book with fairly low expectations, given that the past masters work on Hume struck me as a bit of a cashgrab/citation grab. Fortunately this book did not follow this trend and provided a sound survey of all of Berkeley's thought, including his neglected ideas on mathematics and ethics.
A very nice starting point for the person who wants grasp his ideas without having to go into primary or lengthy secondary texts . A very quick, readable and balanced account

[Dani Lensen]

A good and readable summary of Berkeleys work. 3.5 stars