Abstract

In view of the therapeutic and methodological significance Berkeley ascribes to the refutation and explanation of philosophical error, his treatment of the way in which language has been misunderstood and misused forms an integral part of his philosophical project. The task of the present study is to bring to light certain latent aspects in his analysis of the linguistic sources of philosophical error and perplexity. I seek to establish, within the perspective of Berkeley's system, the various kinds of ways in which misconceptions about language are instrumental in producing false principles about the nature of reality, and the conditions under which such linguistic misconceptions could arise in the first place. ;Chapter One offers a systematic exposition of the specific forms of linguistic misconception Berkeley addresses, the sorts of metaphysical difficulties they generate, and the erroneous assumptions on which they rest. Two main forms of linguistic misconceptions are distinguished and analysed: the false theory of language involved in the doctrine of abstract ideas and the deception inspired by misleading figures of speech. ;In Chapter Two the erroneous assumptions supporting those linguistic misconceptions are shown to have a common basis: they arise through a failure of attention, and a lack of perspective, with respect to the ultimate ends of things. The moral and theological presuppositions of Berkeley's account are elucidated. The condition for the possibility of such teleological short-sightedness is traced to certain natural limitations in the field of awareness of finite spirits. The compensatory measures Berkeley recommends in connection with those limitations are also discussed. ;The third chapter briefly examines Berkeley's claim that nature is a language by which God directs our actions. The wisdom which God displays in that language is seen as a model of the kind of wisdom which men must strive to achieve in their own linguistic conduct.