Article
Details
Citation
Millar A (2017) 'Berkeley's Puzzle'. Analysis, 77 (1), pp. 232-242. https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anw070
Abstract
First paragraph: As represented by Campbell, Berkeley’s Puzzle is generated by two assumptions
‘It is because of sensory experience that we have knowledge of our surroundings’ (1) ?
All that sensory experience can contribute to our knowledge is knowledge of sensory experience itself (1)?
The problem is deep since its roots are in a conception of how our concepts are, as Campbell puts it, grounded. On Berkeley s assumptions, corresponding to (1) and (2) we have, respectively, the following.?
?
3. ‘Our understanding of concepts of the medium-sized world is grounded in our sensory experience’ (26) ?
4. ‘Sensory experience can provide only concepts of sensory experience itself’ (26)
?
Given these assumptions there is an issue as to how we can so much as think about, never mind know about, a mind-independent world (3–4, 26).
Journal
Analysis: Volume 77, Issue 1
Status | Published |
---|---|
Publication date | 31/01/2017 |
Publication date online | 05/11/2016 |
Date accepted by journal | 05/11/2016 |
URL | |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
eISSN | 2386-3994 |
People (1)
Emeritus Professor, Philosophy