バークリーにおける「自然の言語」と自然法則の知識

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書誌事項

タイトル別名
  • バークリー ニ オケル 「シゼン ノ ゲンゴ」 ト シゼン ホウソク ノ チシキ
  • Bakuri ni okeru "shizen no gengo" to shizen hosoku no chishiki
  • The language of God and laws of nature in Berkeley's philosophy

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The aim of this paper is to clarify Berkeley's account of the laws of nature by reference to his thesis of 'the language of nature'. Throughout his career, Berkeley held that the natural world constitutes the language God addresses to us. According to the standard interpretation, the central import of his thesis of divine language lies in explaining our knowledge of the laws of nature in terms of customary association of ideas. In my view, however, this interpretation does not capture the whole implication of the thesis of divine natural language. In this paper, I shall highlight the aspect of the language of nature that it gives us 'foresight' of future experience for the regulating of our actions. By calling attention to this aspect, it will be observed that the meaning of the language of nature is the experience of pleasure or pain which God will excite in our mind, and that we are said to know it when we learn to act by this language successfully to attain pleasures or avoid pains. Knowing the laws of nature, therefore, does not just consist in the mind's habitual association of ideas but essentially involves adaptations of actions to the world of actual experience. I will discuss these points in connection with Berkeley's little-known doctrine of the mind's innate disposition toward pleasure. Thus combining Berkeley's thesis of the language of nature with his innatist doctrine, I will elaborate my interpretation that for Berkeley knowledge of the laws of nature consists in 'coordination' of man's foresight with the will of God.

投稿論文

収録刊行物

  • 哲學

    哲學 129 87-117, 2012-03

    三田哲學會

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