The Querist

George BerkeleyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 156K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Querist by George BerkeleyAuthor: Berkeley, George, 1685-1753,Language: English, Class: HC: Social sciences: Economic history and conditions, Special topics, Release Date: Oct 1, 2003

Editor's review

The Querist is an economic and social treatise by George Berkeley written in the form of questions; the book consists of a series of questions on wealth, poverty, credit, labor, and public governance. This question-based approach is both a rhetorical strategy and an expression of the author's intent to lead readers to think for themselves. Berkeley is best known as a philosopher, but this book shows his concern with social and economic issues, touching on Ireland's economic situation and policy debates of the time. The text is short but densely packed with questions, making it useful supplementary material for the study of economic thought and early modern social thought. Readers need not attempt to answer every question; instead, they should focus on the lines of argument behind the questions and their historical context. As a public-domain eBook, it is easily accessible and suitable for classroom discussion and thematic study.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and researchers in the history of economic thought and early modern philosophy
Readers interested in question-form writing and modes of argumentation
Teachers and reading groups who need a public-domain English text for thematic discussion
Readers who wish to learn about Berkeley's social concerns beyond his philosophy

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a systematic economics textbook or modern policy analysis
Readers who prefer continuous exposition and are unaccustomed to question-form writing
Beginners with limited English reading ability and no background preparation

Reading tips

Begin with the introduction or background on the work's context to identify the economic issues Berkeley addresses and the situation of his time.
Read the questions grouped by theme—such as poverty, credit, and labor—to trace the lines of argument.
There is no need to answer every question; select several for annotation and record your own judgments.
Read alongside works on the history of economic thought to understand the argumentative function of the question form at the time.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book an economics monograph?

It is better described as an economic and social treatise developed in the form of questions rather than a systematic economics textbook in the modern sense. It raises questions about wealth, poverty, credit, and governance and belongs to the study of economic thought and early modern social thought.

Does the question-form writing feel fragmented to read?

On the surface the questions stand as separate items, but they revolve around several core themes. Reading them grouped by theme and tracing the connections and lines of argument will keep them from feeling scattered and will help you appreciate the author's intent to provoke thought.

Do I need to read Berkeley's philosophical works first?

Not necessarily. This book deals mainly with economic and social issues and is not deeply tied to his philosophical system. If you wish to understand Berkeley's thought as a whole, you can read his major philosophical works afterward, but this book itself has no prerequisites.

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About the author

George Berkeley Author · Anglo-Irish · 1685–1753

George Berkeley (1685–1753) was an Irish philosopher and bishop, and one of the three major representatives of modern empiricism. His writings center on the relationship between perception and existence. In works such as A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision, and Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, he argues in a clear, dialectical style for the thesis that to be is to be perceived, thus formulating his distinctive subjective idealism. His works also address vision, church affairs, and social and economic questions, as in The Querist. Berkeley's thought had a profound influence on later philosophers, including Kant, and the city of Berkeley, California, is named after him. Six of his works are held in this collection.