"That number is entirely the creature of the mind, even though the other qualities be allowed to exist without, will be evident to whoever considers, that the same thing bears a different denomination of number, as the mind views it with different respects."
— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)
Author
Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Printed by Aaron Rhames, for Jeremy Pepyat
Date
1710, 1734
Metaphor
"That number is entirely the creature of the mind, even though the other qualities be allowed to exist without, will be evident to whoever considers, that the same thing bears a different denomination of number, as the mind views it with different respects."
Metaphor in Context
That number is entirely the creature of the mind, even though the other qualities be allowed to exist without, will be evident to whoever considers, that the same thing bears a different denomination of number, as the mind views it with different respects. Thus, the same extension is one or three or thirty six, according as the mind considers it with reference to a yard, a foot, or an inch. Number is so visibly relative, and dependent on men's understanding, that it is strange to think how any one should give it an absolute existence without the mind. We say one book, one page, one line; all these are equally units, though some contain several of the others. And in each instance it is plain, the unit relates to some particular combination of ideas arbitrarily put together by the mind.
(Part I, §12, p. 46)
(Part I, §12, p. 46)
Categories
Provenance
Past Masters
Citation
George Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge: Wherein the chief cause of error and difficulty in the Sciences, with the grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion are inquired Into (Dublin: printed by Aaron Rhames, for Jeremey Pepyet, 1710). <Link to ECCO>
See also Tonson's London edition: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Wherein the Chief Causes of Error and Difficulty in the Sciences, with the Grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion, are Inquired Into. First Printed in the Year 1710. To Which are Added Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, in Opposition to Scepticks and Atheists. First Printed in the Year 1713. Both Written by George Berkeley, M. A. Fellow of Trinity-College, Dublin (London: Jacob Tonson, 1734). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Past Masters digitized version, based on second edition of 1734. From The Works of George Berkeley, ed. T. E. Jessop and A. A. Luce, vol. ii (Desirée Park: Thomas Nelson, 1979).
See also Tonson's London edition: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Wherein the Chief Causes of Error and Difficulty in the Sciences, with the Grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion, are Inquired Into. First Printed in the Year 1710. To Which are Added Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, in Opposition to Scepticks and Atheists. First Printed in the Year 1713. Both Written by George Berkeley, M. A. Fellow of Trinity-College, Dublin (London: Jacob Tonson, 1734). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Past Masters digitized version, based on second edition of 1734. From The Works of George Berkeley, ed. T. E. Jessop and A. A. Luce, vol. ii (Desirée Park: Thomas Nelson, 1979).
Date of Entry
02/18/2004
