Three Dialogues Between Hylas And Philonous

The great philosopher George Berkeley centered his Three Dialogues upon an imaginary discussion on the subject of materialism. Over the period of three successive mornings, Hylas (a "materialist") and Philonous (an immaterialist who represents Berkeley's own views) argue in the garden of an unknown college. They share the view that all immediately perceived objects are ideas existing only in the mind, but they differ in what these ideas actually represent. For Hylas these are the affects and, at times, the resemblances of material entities unable to be perceived by human minds, but are "real things." Philonous, a former "materialist," now denies the existence of material entities, insisting that the ideas themselves (the things perceived) are the "real things." By the end of the three discussions, Hylas has been converted to immaterialism.