"Daniel Flage's book provides much of value for all readers. His clear exposition and acute argumentation make it an excellentchoice for beginners to Berkeley, while his careful account of theepistemological grounding of Berkeley's theory will interest andchallenge Berkeley scholars.„
Margaret Atherton, University of Wisconsin
“Daniel Flage's clear, engaging, and wide-ranging introduction is awelcome resource for anyone who is studying Berkeley for the firsttime. Readers already familiar with Berkeley will beintrigued by its argument that Berkeley's idealism andimmaterialism rest on epistemological premises.„
Kenneth Winkler, Yale University
“One puts down this volume with admiration for the person of Bishop Berkeley and for the clarity in which Daniel Flage presents Berkeley's philosophy."
Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly
Irish philosopher George Bishop Berkeley was one of the greatestphilosophers of the early modern period. Along with David Hume andJohn Locke he is considered one of the fathers of BritishEmpiricism. Berkeley is a clear, concise, and sympatheticintroduction to George Berkeley's philosophy, and a thoroughreview of his most important texts. Daniel E. Flage explores hisworks on vision, metaphysics, morality, and economics in an attemptto develop a philosophically plausible interpretation ofBerkeley's oeuvre as whole.
Many scholars blur the rejection of material substance(immaterialism) with the claim that only minds and things dependentupon minds exist (idealism). However Flage shows how, bydistinguishing idealism from immaterialism and arguing thatBerkeley's account of what there is (metaphysics) isdependent upon what is known (epistemology), a careful andplausible philosophy emerges.
The author sets out the implications of this valuable insight forBerkeley's moral and economic works, showing how they are anatural outgrowth of his metaphysics, casting new light on theappreciation of these and other lesser-known areas ofBerkeley's thought.
Daniel E. Flage's Berkeley presents the student and generalreader with a clear and eminently readable introduction toBerkeley's works which also challenges standardinterpretations of Berkeley's philosophy.
