Berkeley’s Doctrine of Signs

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2024

Berkeley’s Doctrine of Signs

Edited by: Manuel Fasko and Peter West
Funded by: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111197586

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

This volume focuses on Berkeley’s doctrine of signs. The ‘doctrine of signs’ refers to the use that Berkeley makes of a phenomenon that is central to a great deal of everyday discourse: one whereby certain perceivable entities are made to stand in for (as ‘signs’ of) something else. Things signified might be other perceivable entities or they might also be unperceivable notions – such as the meanings of words.

From his earliest published work, A New Theory of Vision in 1710, to those works written towards the end of life, including Alciphron in 1732, Berkeley is at pains to emphasise the crucial role that sign-usage, particularly (but not only) in language, plays in human life. Berkeley also connects sign-usage to our (human) relationship with God: an issue that was right of the heart of his philosophical project. The contributions in this volume explore the myriad ways that Berkeley built on such insights to better understand a range of philosophical issues – issues of epistemology, language, perception, mental representation, mathematics, science, and theology.

The aim of this volume is to establish that the doctrine of signs can be seen as one of the unifying themes of Berkeley’s philosophy. What’s more, this theme is one which spans his whole philosophical corpus; not just his best-known works like the Principles and the Three Dialogues, but also his works on science, mathematics, and theology.

Author / Editor information

Manuel Fasko, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Peter West, Northeastern University, London, UK.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
List of Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction Manuel Fasko and Peter West Open Access Download PDF	1
1 APuzzle about Mediate Perception Robert Schwartz Open Access Download PDF	9
2 Did Berkeley Endorse the Resemblance Theory of Representation? Dávid Bartha Open Access Download PDF	27
3 Resemblance and Representation: The Complexity of Berkeley’s Notion of Likeness and Mental Representation Manuel Fasko Open Access Download PDF	49
4 Why Berkeley was not a Representationalist Katia Saporiti Open Access Download PDF	67
5 Is There Anybody Out There? Berkeley’s Indirect Realism About Other Minds Peter West Open Access Download PDF	81
6 Does Berkeley Have a Theory of Meaning? Margaret Atherton Open Access Download PDF	99
7 Berkeley On the Meaning of General Terms Keota Fields Open Access Download PDF	127
8 Natural Causes and Berkeley’s Divine Language Hypothesis Todd DeRose Open Access Download PDF	143
9 Reading the Signs of my Body: Berkeley and Descartes on Signs and Sensations Lauren Slater Open Access Download PDF	161
10 Mathematics: Signification and Significance Clare Marie Moriarty Open Access Download PDF	185
11 The Future State and the Signs of Desire Tom Stoneham Open Access Download PDF	211
List of Contributors Open Access Download PDF	227
Index Open Access Download PDF	229

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Historians of philosophy, scholars of Early Modern philosophy, Berkeley scholars, institutes, libraries
Pages
- Front matter: 9
- Main content: 231
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 1
Keywords: Berkeley; George; signs; representation; Early Modern Philosophy

eBook

Published: April 22, 2024
ISBN: 9783111197586

Hardcover

Published: April 22, 2024
ISBN: 9783111197289