Principles of Human Knowledge
George Berkeley's Treatise, published in 1710, is the foundational statement of immaterialism — the thesis that to exist is to be perceived (esse est percipi) and that matter, understood as mind-independent substance, is an incoherent invention of philosophers. Written in response to Locke's empiricism, Berkeley argues that only spirits and ideas exist: what we call the physical world is a stable system of ideas sustained by the mind of God. The book is a pillar of modern empiricism and the immediate provocation for Hume's skepticism and Kant's later transcendental response.
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