Abstract
Berkeley’s realism about sensible things is the starting point of Peter West’s chapter, in which he addresses a possible inconsistency in Berkeley’s epistemology: he rejects indirect realism about sensible things but defends indirect realism when it comes to the existence of other minds. Berkeley’s view is that we do not know other minds directly, like we know our ideas, but indirectly: via certain ideas which signify them. This account of knowledge of other minds looks structurally similar to the account of knowledge of external things (the indirect realist account) that Berkeley rejects on the grounds that it leads to skepticism. Should Berkeley’s own views lead him to reject indirect realism about other minds too? West provides reasons for thinking that Berkeley can consistently defend this account despite his criticisms of representationalism elsewhere.
