The Lexicon · Genealogy · Early Modern
BERKELEY, GEORGE
1685–1753
Esse est Percipi (The Index as Sustainer)
To be is to be perceived. Berkeley needed God to keep the unobserved tree existing. CoCA needs the GAI. The artist exists insofar as their record is loaded. The Right of Retreat (§3.5) is the only sanctioned form of unperceiving, and even it leaves a trace. We have replaced the divine Observer with a public archive. The metaphysics is the same.