Berkeley and Edwards

Abstract Berkeley’s immaterialism was not the only form of immaterialism on offer in the early modern period. In colonial America, Edwards, the Puritan preacher, theologian, and philosopher, put forward his own version of immaterialism. Edwards’s version of immaterialism, which was arrived at independently of Berkeley’s, is supposed to share many of its advantages. However, the line of thought that led Edwards to immaterialism ultimately also led him to deny the substantiality and causal power of created minds—something Berkeley was determined to avoid, at all costs. Thus, comparing Edwards’s view to Berkeley’s helps us better understand the logic of immaterialism. It also helps emphasize the importance of Berkeley’s claim that we have experience of an ongoing self, in addition to our experience of our ideas and volitions.