About this book
A Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision by George Berkeley provocatively rethinks how we see the world, arguing that distance and depth are not simply given by optics but constructed by the mind. Berkeley, writing in the early 18th century, challenges the prevailing optical theories of his day, examining ideas about visual angles, converging and diverging rays, and the role of eye movement, confusion, and experience in forming judgments of distance.
This philosophy classic unfolds as a careful argument: sensory data alone do not account for our perception of remoteness; instead, mental associations, learned experience, and the sensations produced by the eyes explain why objects appear near or far. Berkeley critiques then-current accounts in catoptrics and offers alternatives grounded in empiricism and his broader metaphysical commitments. The work combines precise optical observation with philosophical analysis, illuminating topics in perception, epistemology, and the history of science.
Ideal for students of philosophy, cognitive science, and the history of ideas, or anyone curious about how sight and mind interact, this audiobook offers a compact, thought-provoking exploration of vision that still resonates in contemporary debates about perception.
