The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4: Philosophical Works, 1705-21Berkeley, George
Philosophy
The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4: Philosophical Works, 1705-21
Berkeley, George
Philosophy -- Early works to 1800
The 1871 edition of the Works originated, I believe, in an essay on “The
Real World of Berkeley,” which I gave to _Macmillan’s Magazine_ in 1862,
followed by another in 1864, in the _North British Review_. These essays
suggested advantages to contemporary thought which might be gained by a
consideration of final questions about man and the universe, in the form
in which they are presented by a philosopher who has suffered more from
misunderstanding than almost any other modern thinker. During a part of
his lifetime, he was the foremost metaphysician in Europe in an
unmetaphysical generation. And in this country, after a revival of
philosophy in the later part of the eighteenth century, _idea_, _matter_,
_substance_, _cause_, and other terms which play an important part in his
writings, had lost the meaning that he intended; while in Germany the
sceptical speculations of David Hume gave rise to a reconstructive
criticism, on the part of Kant and his successors, which seemed at the
time to have little concern with the _a posteriori_ methods and the
principles of Berkeley.
The success of the attempt to recall attention to Berkeley has far
exceeded expectation. Nearly twenty thousand copies of the three
publications mentioned above have found their way into the hands of
readers in Europe and America; and the critical estimates of Berkeley, by
eminent writers, which have appeared since 1871, in Britain, France,
Germany, Denmark, Holland, Italy, America, and India, confirm the opinion
that his Works contain a word in season, even for the twentieth century.
Among others who have delivered appreciative criticisms of Berkeley within
the last thirty years are J.S. Mill, Mansel, Huxley, T.H. Green, Maguire,
Collyns Simon, the Right Hon. A.J. Balfour, Mr. Leslie Stephen, Dr.
Hutchison Stirling, Professor T.K. Abbott, Professor Van der Wyck, M.
Penjon, Ueberweg, Frederichs, Ulrici, Janitsch, Eugen Meyer, Spicker,
Loewy, Professor Höffding of Copenhagen, Dr. Lorenz, Noah Porter, and
Krauth, besides essays in the chief British, Continental, and American
reviews. The text of those Works of Berkeley which were published during
his lifetime, enriched with a biographical Introduction by Mr. A.J.
Balfour, carefully edited by Mr. George Sampson, appeared in 1897. In 1900
Dr. R. Richter, of the University of Leipsic, produced a new translation
into German of the _Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous_, with an
excellent Introduction and notes. These estimates form a remarkable
contrast to the denunciations, founded on misconception, by Warburton and
Beattie in the eighteenth century.
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