Customer Reviews

On Berkeley (Wadsworth Philosophers Series)

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This book is not only a clear exposition of Bishop Berkeley's philosophy, but makes the strong case that Berkeley's "to be is to be perceived" is not a silly or trivial position as many like to write it off as, but rather a serious account of "reality" and more economical that most theories which take physical reality as an intuitive given.

I used the book as a text in a course on Modern Philosophy, making Berkeley my "featured philosopher" and it worked well. I learned a great deal and my students did as well.

I recommend the book for such courses, or for anyone curious to see and evaluate a strong claim that Berkeley's immaterialism is a persuasive and reasonable theory.

I didn't come away from Bruce Umbaugh's very readable book convinced that my world of perception is not undergirded by a physical reality, but I did come away knowing that I'd never again approach Berkeley with some smug sense of superiority over this "crazy view." Umbaugh makes one sit up and take note of Berkeley as one who deserves his place in early modern philosophy.

Bob Corbett Department of Philosophy Webster Univesity St. Louis, MO. and Vienna, Austria

Though the book is titled On Berkeley it really only covers Berkeley's most famous philosophical assertion that esse est percipi (to be is to be perceived). Umbaugh gives a good, detailed explanation of this concept and covers many of the problems that arise from Berkeley's world view. He also highlights some of the philosophical responses to Berkeley that have arisen throughout the years. The tone of this book is refreshing in that Berkeley is approached with scorn by much of the philosophical community these days, but Umbaugh gives Berkeley a chance to make his case and avoids making any presumptive judgments. A newcomer to modern philosophy may want to study Descartes, Locke, and Newton before picking this up in that the background information in this book is thin. Also, Umbaugh fails to adequately address today's most commonly discussed implications of Berkeley's philosophy, its relations to quantum physics, AI, multi-dimensional computer modeling, and neuroscience. Nevertheless this short book serves as a great refresher on Berkeleyan Idealism.