A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge

Berkeley begins by reflecting on the nature of philosophy itself, which is “nothing else but the study of wisdom and truth” (5). The paradox of philosophy is that the search for wisdom does not lead to “a greater calm and serenity of mind” (5).. Those who make the effort to pursue philosophy open their minds to all kinds of difficulties, including what Berkeley considers the pitfall of Skepticism (see Index of Terms for more discussion). By contrast, non-philosophers, those who “walk the high road of plain common sense” (5), are in no such danger; they understand the world as they perceive it through their senses and experiences, without troubling themselves with intellectual complexities.

Berkeley rejects the idea that the existence of intellectual difficulties is rooted in a natural “obscurity of things” (5). If God has planted a natural desire for knowledge and wisdom in our souls, it must mean that knowledge and wisdom are within our reach. Berkeley states his opinion that philosophers themselves are responsible for most philosophical difficulties: “we have first raised a dust and then complain we cannot see” (6). As a Theist and Christian, Berkeley is convinced that there is order in the universe, rooted in the nature of God, and that human beings can discover this order.