This collection of fourteen interpretative essays on the philosophy of George Berkeley (1685-1753) focuses specifically on Berkeley's theory of the nature and variety of existing things. The collection is notable for containing the first four winners of the Turbayne International Berkeley Essay Prize (only the first of which has been previously published).

The seven essays in the first part, entitled "Idealism," attempt to illuminate Berkeley's notorious thesis that to be is to be perceived, that the esse of sensible things (trees, mountains, rivers, etc.) is...