Berkeley’s Revolution in Vision

Berkeley was very sensitive to the criticism that he was pursuing novelty for novelty's sake in order to draw attention to himself. For this reason, he postponed publication of his immaterialism and tried first to establish a philosophical reputation with the New Theory of Vision (1709), which makes no mention of immaterialism. While not shocking, the New Theory of Vision is an immensely creative work which dominated the psychology of vision for more than a century. In this lecture I will show that Berkeley's theory is so rich that it not only solved the problems he addressed but also solves problems in the theory of perception which have only been formulated in the past 20 years.

This seminar one in a series of seminars on creativity in the history of philosophy, involving evening talks by academic staff in the Department of Philosophy, organised by the Centre for Research into Imagination, Creativity and Knowledge (CRICK), in association with both CModS and the Centre for the History of Philosophy (CHiPhi).  A further series of seminars on creativity across the disciplines is planned, involving lunchtime talks by academic staff from a number of different departments in the University.  All talks are open to anyone who is interested. Please contact Robina Shaheen for further information.