The Great Philosophers: Berkeley

Part of the GREAT PHILOSOPHERS series.

George Berkeley 1685-1753

A scientist, theologian and writer on medicine and economics, George Berkeley was in his way a most improbable philosopher. A master of English prose, he was suspicious of language; scornful of abstractions, he looked instead to immediate experience for the basis of his thought.

David Berman's readable guide traces Berkeley's experimentalism - for experiments with sight and touch to near-death experience - finding in his writings an intriguing marriage of philosophy and psychology.