A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge

Berkeley set out to defend common sense and religion by way of one of the most startling claims in all of philosophy: that matter does not exist, and that to be is to be perceived. Everything we call the physical world, he argues, is really a collection of ideas in minds, held in being by the mind of God. Far from a mere paradox, the case is pressed with great rigor against Locke and the materialists, and it forced later thinkers from Hume to Kant to answer him. Clear and surprisingly readable, it is the classic statement of idealism in the English language. First published in 1710. Free to download as a PDF or EPUB.