Berkeley and Chambers

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with a hitherto unnoticed discussion of the philosophy of the Principles that appeared in the midst of the “doldrum decades.” For in London in 1728 Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences was published, containing large selections from and brief comments on, Berkeley’s Principles. The items employed by Chambers, as we shall see, constitute an alteration in Berkeley’s message and may account in part for the later eighteenth century interpretation of his immaterialism. Therefore, these selections which helped spread Berkeley’s views, and helped determine the understanding of his theory, deserve some detailed examination.