George Berkeley: Religion and Science in the Age of Enlightenment (International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées (201))

George Berkeley was considered "the most engaging and useful man in Ireland in the eighteenth century". This hyperbolic statement refers both to Berkeley’s life and thought; in fact, he always considered himself a pioneer called to think and do new things. He was an empiricist well versed in the sciences, an amateur of the mechanical arts, as well as a metaphysician; he was the author of many completely different discoveries, as well as a very active Christian, a zealous bishop and the apostle of the Bermuda project. The essays collected in this volume, written by some leading scholars, aim to reconstruct the __complexity__ of Berkeley’s figure, without selecting "major" works, nor searching for "coherence" at any cost. They will focus on different aspects of Berkeley’s thought, showing their intersections; they will explore the important contributions he gave to various scientific disciplines, as well as to the eighteenth-century philosophical and theological debate. They will highlight the wide influence that his presently most neglected or puzzling books had at the time; they will refuse any anachronistical trial of Berkeley’s thought, judged from a contemporary point of view. George Berkeley:Religion and Science in the Ageof Enlightenment 4 Acknowledgments 6 Contents 8 Introduction 10 Part I 22 Chapter 1: How Berkeley’s Works Are Interpreted 24 Chapter 2: Berkeley’s Metaphysical Instrumentalism1 36 2.1 Enter Instrumentalism 36 2.2 Berkeley’s Instrumentalism 38 2.3 The Constraint of Possibility 41 2.4 The Complication of Siris 43 2.5 The Challenge of Geometry 48 2.6 Metaphysical Instrumentalism 50 Chapter 3: Causation, Fictionalism and Non-Cognitivism: Berkeley and Hume 52 3.1 I 52 3.2 II 54 3.3 III 57 3.4 IV 60 References 60 Part II 63 Chapter 4: Berkeley and His Contemporaries: The Question of Mathematical Formalism 64 4.1 Introduction 64 4.2 How to Understand Formalism 65 4.2.1 Some Features of the Modern Concept of Formalism 65 4.2.2 The Formalist Elements of Berkeley’s Mathematical Thought 66 4.3 The Limits of the Formalist Interpretation 68 4.3.1 Some Interpretations of Algebraic Symbolism: Descartes, Malebranche, Leibniz 68 4.3.2 Berkeley and Malebranche 68 4.3.3 Arithmetic and Algebra in the Recherche de la vérité 69 4.3.4 Leibniz and the Problem of Infinitesimal Quantities: A Stronger Interpretation of Formalism? 73 4.3.5 The Internal Constraints of Berkeley’s Account of Mathematics 75 4.4 Conclusion 75 References 76 Chapter 5: Locke, Berkeley and Hume as Philosophers of Money* 78 References 92 Chapter 6: Berkeley and Chemistry in the Siris 94 6.1 Section 202 of Siris 95 6.2 Why Does Berkeley Try To Reconcile Newton and Homberg? 97 6.3 The Rebuilding of a Non-existent Theory 100 Chapter 7: Berkeley and Newton on Gravity in Siris 108 7.1 I 108 7.2 II 110 7.3 III 112 7.4 IV 113 7.5 V 119 7.6 VI 122 7.7 VII 124 7.8 Appendix 127 Chapter 8: “Scire per causas” Versus “scire per signa”: George Berkeley and Scientific Explanation in Siris 128 8.1 “Scire per causas” 129 8.2 “Scire per signa” 134 8.3 Aether, or fire, or light i.e. spirit 32 137 Part III 142 Chapter 9: Berkeley, Theology and Bible Scholarship 144 9.1 Berkeley’s Notion of Theology: Science or Wisdom? 148 9.2 David Berman’s Reading of Berkeleian Notion of Theology 152 9.3 The Twofold Source of Theological Experience 154 9.4 Berkeley’s Defence of the Historical-Critical Method 157 Chapter 10: The Distrustful Philosopher: Berkeley Between the Devils and the Deep Blue Sea of Faith 162 10.1 Introduction1 162 10.2 The Unhappiness of Scepticism 164 10.3 Who Were the Unhappy Sceptics? 166 10.3.1 Sextus Empiricus 166 10.3.2 Hobbes and Spinoza 168 10.3.3 Descartes 168 10.3.4 Malebranche 170 10.3.5 Locke 171 10.3.6 Bayle 172 10.4 Was Berkeley the Unhappy Sceptic? 174 Chapter 11: Berkeley, Spinoza, and Radical Enlightenment 180 11.1 Ontological Monism 182 11.2 The Criticism of Language and General Ideas 184 11.3 The Human Mind as an Incorporeal Active Substance 189 11.4 Conclusion 190 Chapter 12: Was Berkeley a Spinozist? A Historiographical Answer (1718–1751) 192 12.1 Critics and reviewers: 1711–1727 193 12.2 Andrew Baxter 195 12.3 Andrew Michael Ramsay 198 12.4 Robert Clayton 205 12.5 Conclusion 208 Chapter 13: The Animal According to Berkeley 210 Index 222 9048192420,9789048192427 Front Matter....Pages i-xix Front Matter....Pages 1-1 How Berkeley’s Works Are Interpreted....Pages 3-14 Berkeley’s Metaphysical Instrumentalism....Pages 15-29 Causation, Fictionalism and Non-Cognitivism: Berkeley and Hume....Pages 31-40 Front Matter....Pages 41-41 Berkeley and His Contemporaries: The Question of Mathematical Formalism....Pages 43-56 Locke, Berkeley and Hume as Philosophers of Money....Pages 57-71 Berkeley and Chemistry in the Siris ....Pages 73-85 Berkeley and Newton on Gravity in Siris ....Pages 87-106 “Scire per causas” Versus “scire per signa”: George Berkeley and Scientific Explanation in Siris ....Pages 107-119 Front Matter....Pages 121-121 Berkeley, Theology and Bible Scholarship....Pages 123-139 The Distrustful Philosopher: Berkeley Between the Devils and the Deep Blue Sea of Faith....Pages 141-157 Berkeley, Spinoza, and Radical Enlightenment....Pages 159-170 Was Berkeley a Spinozist? A Historiographical Answer (1718–1751)....Pages 171-188 The Animal According to Berkeley....Pages 189-199 Back Matter....Pages 201-204