The Essential Berkeley and Neo-Berkeley

The Essential Berkeley and Neo-Berkeley is an introduction to the life and work of one of the most significant thinkers in the history of philosophy and a penetrating philosophical assessment of his lasting legacy.

Written in clear and user-friendly style, Berman provides:
- A concise summary of George Berkeley (1685-1753)’s life and writings
- An accessible introduction to the structure of Berkeley’s most authoritative work, ThePrinciples of Human Knowledge
- An overview of common misunderstandings of Berkeley’s philosophy, and how to avoid them

Beyond solely an introduction, Berman also gives us a broader and deeper appreciation of Berkeley as a philosopher. He argues for Berkeley’s work as a philosophical system with coherence and important key themes hitherto unexplored and provides an analysis of why he thinks Berkeley’s work has had such lasting significance. With a particular focus on Berkeley’s dualist thinking and theories of ’mental types’, Berman provides students and scholars with a key to unlocking the significance of this work.

This introductory text will provide an insight into Berkeley’s full body of work, the distinctiveness of his thinking and how deeply relevant this key thinker is to contemporary philosophy.

David Berman is Professor Emeritus Fellow in the Philosophy Department, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is author of A History of Atheism in Britain: From Hobbes to Russell (2013), Berkeley and Irish Philosophy (Bloomsbury, 2005), Berkeley: The Great Philosophers (2008), Images of Berkeley (1986)and editor of George Berkeley (Routledge Revivals): Eighteenth-Century Responses: Volumes 1&2 (2020)