Berkeley's Theory of Vision

by D.M. Armstrong

Excerpt from Berkeley's Theory of Vision

This essay is a critical examination of Berkeley's Essay towards a New Theory of Vision. In section 2 Berkeley says that 'distance, of itself and immediately, cannot be seen', and this premiss is the basis of his conclusions. The most important of these are, firstly, that whatever is immediately seen has no existence outside the mind; and, secondly, that visible and tangible objects have no manner of spatial connection. The contributions to the psychology of vision, which the Essay also contains, are subsidiary to these two main themes. However, it will be argued that the first conclusion does not follow validly from Berkeley's premiss, and hence that the Essay really does nothing to support Berkeleyan Immaterialism. This means that, whatever Berkeley's confusions on the matter, we ought to abandon the tradition of interpretation that sees the Essay as a half-way house to the Principles of Human Knowledge.

120 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2015

About the author

David Malet Armstrong (born 8 July 1926), often D. M. Armstrong, is an Australian philosopher. He is well-known for his work on metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, and for his defence of a factualist ontology, a functionalist theory of the mind, an externalist epistemology, and a necessitarian conception of the laws of nature. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.