The Querist (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from The Querist

The original edition of the querist, which may be seen in the collections of the Royal Irish Academy, is very scarce. It consists of three parts, published anonymously with a Dublin imprint in 1735 and the two following years. An anonymous English edition, also in three parts, and now equally rare, was issued almost simultaneously. Three other editions were published in Berkeley's lifetime. The book reappeared in 1750, in London, with the author's name on the title page, and with his Word to the Wise appended. There was a similar Glasgow edition in I 751. In I 752, the year before his death, Berkeley included his tract on Irish economics in a collection of various pamphlets, entitled Miscellany.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Querist

In the development of economic thought as in the history of philosophy, Berkeley may be described as "the successor of Locke and the predecessor of Hume." The continuity is less apparent with respect to specific doctrines than in the matter of that common sense rationalism which distinguishes the best English economic thought of the eighteenth century. Berkeley sought to formulate no system - in his economic very much less even than in his philosophical writings: "What I have done," he wrote to a friend, "was rather with a view of giving hints to thinking men who have leisure and curiosity to go to the bottom of things and pursue them in their own minds." It was this quality In the most important of Berkeley's economic writings which led Sir James Mackintosh, in an oft-quoted passage, to declare: "Perhaps the Querist contains more hints, then original, still unapplied in legislation and political economy, than are to be found in any equal space."

Professor Fraser's scholarly studies have made accessible the details of Berkeley's remarkable career. Born in 1685 in Ireland of English extraction, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He remained at Trinity in various academic offices until he was twenty-eight, before which time he had written his three important philosophical works. He came to England in 1713, was warmly received in literary and political circles and spent the next seven years in travel on the continent and residence in London. In 1721 he returned to Ireland, receiving preferment in the church, and developing that curious religious-educational enthusiasm which culminated in the project of a college, to be located in the Bermudas, for the training of missionaries to convert "the savage Americans."

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.