School of Arts & Humanities Department of Philosophy 5AANA003 MODERN PHILOSOPHY II: LOCKE AND BERKELEY Syllabus Academic year 2012/3 Basic information Credits: 15 Module Tutor: Professor J. R. Milton Office: 607 Consultation time: Monday 12.00-13.00 Semester: 1 Lecture time and venue*: Monday 16.00-17.00 Room K 1.14 Strand Building *Please note that tutorial times and venues will be organised independently with your teaching tutor Module description (plus aims and objectives) This course will develop students familiarity with Modern Philosophy through an examination of the thought of John Locke (1632 1704) and George Berkeley (1685 1753). The students will gain a familiarity with the central epistemological and metaphysical claims of each philosopher, through a reading of central primary texts. Students will develop an appreciation of the historical context within which the empiricist tradition developed. The course will examine some key aspects of Locke s account and evaluate Berkeley s criticism of it as well as his own idealist philosophy. Module aims Through attention to the primary texts to communicate an understanding of the thought and core arguments of Locke and Berkeley. To convey how the problems under discussion were motivated for these thinkers. To develop a more advanced approach to the history of philosophy through engagement with more sophisticated secondary literature. To teach students to read texts in the history of philosophy with care and subject them to philosophical analysis. To gain an appreciation of the problems of interpretation that can arise in regard to figures in the history of philosophy as well as specifically philosophical challenges. 1
Assessment methods and deadlines Formative assessment: Two 1,500-word essays (deadlines 9 November, 21 December). Summative assessment: One 2-hour examination in May Formative essays must be completed by the deadline in order to receive feedback. This feedback is crucial for your summative assessment. Page 2
Outline of lecture topics (plus suggested readings) Week One 1 October: The Essay concerning Human Understanding and Locke s philosophical project Suggested reading: Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book I, ch. 1 Week Two 8 October: Ideas, Innatism and Empiricism Suggested reading: Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book II, ch. 2 4 Week Three 15 October: Primary and Secondary Qualities Suggested reading: Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book II, ch. 8 Week Four 22 October: Substance Suggested reading: Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book II, ch. 23 Week Five 29 October: Lockean semantics and the theory of real and nominal essences Suggested reading: Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book III, chs. 3, 6 READING WEEK FIRST FORMATIVE ESSAY DUE 16.00, FRIDAY 9 NOVEMBER Week Six 12 November: Berkeley s Philosophical Project Suggested reading: Berkeley, Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, Dialogue 1. Week Seven 19 November: Berkeley (and Locke) on Abstraction Suggested reading: Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, Introduction Week Eight 26 November: Berkeley s Arguments for Immaterialism Suggested reading: Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, 1 33 Week Nine 3 December: Objections against Immaterialism Suggested reading: Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, 34 84 Week Ten 10 December: Spirits, finite and infinite Suggested reading: Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, 135 56 SECOND FORMATIVE ESSAY DUE 16.00, FRIDAY 21 DECEMBER Page 3
Suggested essay questions Locke 1. How effective is Locke s attack on innatism? John Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book I, chs. 2 4, especially ch. 2. Robert M. Adams, The Locke Leibniz debate, in Stephen Stich (ed.), Innate Ideas, pp. 37 67; and Where do our ideas come from? Descartes vs. Locke, ibid., pp. 71 87. Margaret Atherton, Locke and the Issue over Innateness, in Leigh S. Cauman et al. (eds), How many Questions? Essays in Honor of Sidney Morgenbesser, pp. 223 42; reprinted in Chappell (ed.), Locke, pp. 48 59. Jonathan Barnes, Mr. Locke s Darling Notion, Philosophical Quarterly, 22 (1972), pp. 193 214. Samuel C. Rickless, Locke s Polemic against Nativism, in Lex Newman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Locke s Essay concerning Human Understanding, ch. 2. Grenville Wall, Locke s Attack on Innate Knowledge, Philosophy, 49 (1974), pp. 414 19; reprinted in I. C. Tipton (ed.), Locke on Human Understanding. John W. Yolton, John Locke and the Way of Ideas, ch. 2 [on the historical background]. 2. Give a brief account of Locke s distinction between primary and secondary qualities. Is the distinction (a) more or less sound as it stands, (b) correct in principle, but in need of substantial revision in respect of detail, or (c) fundamentally mistaken? John Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book II, ch. 8 [read this chapter first, but see also ch. 4, Of Solidity ]. Martha Brandt Bolton, Locke and Pyrrhonism: The Doctrine of Primary and Secondary Qualities, in Myles Burnyeat (ed.), The Skeptical Tradition. (Berkeley, 1983), pp. 353 75. E. M. Curley, Locke, Boyle and the Distinction between Primary and Secondary Qualities, Philosophical Review 81 (1972), pp. 438 64; reply by Peter Alexander, Philosophical Review 93 (1974), pp. 229 37. Michael Jacovides, Locke s Distinctions between Primary and Secondary Qualities, in Lex Newman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Locke s Essay concerning Human Understanding, ch. 4. Edwin McCann, Locke s Conception of Body, in Vere Chappell (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Locke, pp. 56 67. A. D. Smith, Of Primary and Secondary Qualities, Philosophical Review 99 (1991), pp. 221 54. Robert A. Wilson, Locke s Primary Qualities, Journal of the History of Philosophy, 40 (2002), pp. 201 28. 3. So that of Substance, we have no Idea of what it is, but only a confused obscure one of what it does (Essay, II. xiii. 19). What led Locke to say this? Should he have discarded the notion of substance altogether? John Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book II, ch. 13, 17 20; ch. 23, esp. 1 14. M. R. Ayers, The Ideas of Power and Substance in Locke s Philosophy, Philosophical Quarterly 25 (1975), pp. 1 27; reprinted in Tipton, Locke on Human Understanding, pp. 77 104. [This paper is a response to Bennett 1965, listed below.] Page 4
M. R. Ayers, The Foundations of Knowledge and the Logic of Substance: The Structure of Locke s General Philosophy, in G. A. J. Rogers (ed.), Locke s Philosophy: Content and Context, pp. 49 74; reprinted in Chappell, Locke, pp. 24 47. Peter Alexander, Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles, ch. 11. Jonathan Bennett, Substance, Reality and Primary Qualities, American Philosophical Quarterly, 2 (1965), pp. 1 17; reprinted in Martin and Armstrong, Locke and Berkeley, pp. 86 124. Jonathan Bennett, Substratum, History of Philosophy Quarterly, 4 (1987), pp. 197 215; reprinted in Chappell (ed.), Locke, pp. 129 48. E. J. Lowe, Locke, Martin and Substance, Philosophical Quarterly, 50 (2000), pp. 499 514. Edwin McCann, Locke on Substance, in Lex Newman (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Locke s Essay concerning Human Understanding, ch. 6. Lex Newman, Locke on the Idea of Substratum, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 81 (2000), pp. 291 324. 4. Did Locke give a satisfactory account of personal identity? John Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book II, ch. 27. H. E. Allison, Locke s Theory of Personal Identity: A Re-examination, Journal of the History of Ideas 27 (1966), pp. 41 58; reprinted in I. C. Tipton (ed.), Locke on Human Understanding: Selected Essays, pp. 105 122. William Alston, Locke on People and Substances, Philosophical Review, 97 (1988), pp. 25 46. Margaret Atherton, Locke s Theory of Personal Identity, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 14 (1984), pp. 273 93. Vere Chappell, Locke and Relative Identity, History of Philosophy Quarterly, 6 (1989), pp. 69 83. Antony Flew, Locke and the Problem of Personal Identity, Philosophy 26 (1951), pp. 53 68; reprinted with revisions in Armstrong and Martin, Locke and Berkeley, pp. 155 78 and in Flew, Philosophical Essays, pp. 61 79. Edwin McCann, Locke on Identity: Matter, Life and Consciousness, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 69 (1987), pp. 54 77; reprinted in Margaret Atherton (ed.), The Empiricists: Critical Essays, ch. 4. Harold Noonan, Locke on Personal Identity, Philosophy, 53 (1978), pp. 343 52; reprinted in Gary Fuller, Robert Stecker and John P. Wright (eds), John Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding in Focus, pp. 210 35. Harold W. Noonan, Personal Identity, ch. 2 Kenneth P. Winkler, Locke on Personal Identity, Journal of the History of Philosophy, 29 (1991), pp. 201 26; reprinted in Chappell, Locke, pp. 149 74. Berkeley 5. Why did Berkeley think it so important to attack Locke s theory of abstract general ideas? How damaging are his criticisms, and is his own theory an improvement? John Locke, Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book III, ch. 3. George Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, Introduction. Page 5
Margaret Atherton, Berkeley s Anti-abstractionism, in Ernest Sosa (ed.), Essays on the Philosophy of George Berkeley, pp. 45 60. Martha Brandt Bolton, Berkeley s Objection to Abstract Ideas and Unperceived Objects, in Ernest Sosa (ed.), Essays on the Philosophy of George Berkeley, pp. 61 81. Ian Hacking, Why does Language matter to Philosophy? ch. 3, Bishop Berkeley s Abstractions. Douglas M. Jesseph, Berkeley s Philosophy of Mathematics, ch. 1. George S. Pappas, Berkeley s Thought, chs. 2, 3. George Pitcher, Berkeley, ch. 5. 6. Describe and critically analyse Berkeley s arguments for the non-existence of matter. George Berkeley, Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, Dialogue 1. George Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, 1 33. Jonathan Dancy, Berkeley, chs. 2 and 5. André Gallois, Berkeley s Master Argument, Philosophical Review, 83 (1974), pp. 55 69. A. C. Grayling, Berkeley, ch. 2. A. C. Grayling, Berkeley s Arguments for Immaterialism, in Kenneth P. Winkler (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Berkeley, ch. 6. Nick Jones, Starting with Berkeley, ch. 4. Howard Robinson, The General Form of the Argument for Berkelian Idealism, in John Foster and Howard Robinson (eds), Essays on Berkeley, pp. 163 86. A. D. Smith, Berkeley s Central Argument Against Material Substance, in John Foster and Howard Robinson (eds), Essays on Berkeley, pp. 37 57. 7. What was Berkeley s conception of the nature and scope of natural philosophy? Is it a satisfactory one? George Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, 50 54, 58 66, 101 17. George Berkeley, De Motu [On Motion]. Lisa Downing, Berkeley s Natural Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, in Kenneth P. Winkler (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Berkeley, ch. 8. Lisa Downing, Berkeley s Case against Realism in Dynamics, in R. G. Muehlmann (ed.), Berkeley s Metaphysics: Structural, Interpretive, and Critical Essays, pp. 197 214. W. H. Newton-Smith, Berkeley s Philosophy of Science, in John Foster and Howard Robinson (eds), Essays on Berkeley, pp. 149 61. K. R. Popper, A Note on Berkeley as a Precursor of Mach and Einstein, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 4 (1953), pp. 26 36; reprinted in K. R. Popper, Conjectures and Refutations, pp. 224 36. Catherine Wilson, Berkeley and the Microworld, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 76 (1994), pp. 37 64. Kenneth P. Winkler, Berkeley: An Interpretation, ch. 8. Page 6
8. Describe and critically assess the role of God in Berkeley s system. George Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, 145 56. [There is also relevant material in Alciphron, Dialogue IV, and in the Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, Dialogues II and III.] Margaret Atherton, Berkeley without God, in R. G. Muehlmann (ed.), Berkeley s Metaphysics: Structural, Interpretive, and Critical Essays, pp. 231 48; response by C. J. McCracken, Godless Immaterialism: On Atherton s Berkeley, ibid., pp. 249 60. M. R. Ayers, Divine Ideas and Berkeley s Proofs of God s Existence, in Ernest Sosa (ed.), Essays on the Philosophy of George Berkeley, pp. 115 28. Talia Mae Bettcher, Berkeley: a Guide for the Perplexed, chs 7 and 8. P. A. Byrne, Berkeley, Scientific Realism and Creation, Religious Studies, 20 (1984), pp. 453 64. Stephen H. Daniel, Berkeley s Christian Neoplatonism, Archetypes, and Divine Ideas, Journal of the History of Philosophy, 39 (2001), pp. 239 58. Douglas M. Jesseph, Berkeley, God, and Explanation, in Christia Mercer and Eileen O Neill (eds.), Early Modern Philosophy, pp. 183 205. I. C. Tipton, Berkeley: the Philosophy of Immaterialism, ch. 8. Suggested additional readings Locke Locke s works Undergraduates writing weekly essays and preparing for examination questions are unlikely to need to look at anything other than the Essay concerning Human Understanding. There are many editions of this that can be used, perhaps the cheapest and most easily available being the Oxford World s Classics edition edited by Pauline Phemister, the Everyman edition edited by John Yolton and the Penguin edition edited by Roger Woolhouse. For more advanced study the only satisfactory version is the one edited by Peter Nidditch (OUP); this contains both a very accurate text and full details of all the changes that Locke made after the first (1690) edition. For those who might wish to look further afield there is a mass of interesting and still often underexploited material in the three very long letters that Locke wrote to the Bishop of Worcester, Edward Stillingfleet, in 1697 9. There is no modern edition of these, but they are included in all the old collected editions of Locke s works, of which the 1823 edition is probably the most widely cited; there is a copy of this in the college library, but the page images of this and other old editions are available online and pdfs of them can be easily downloaded using Google. Books on Locke There are so many books on Locke that no-one other than a specialist can be expected to read more than a small proportion of them. E. J. Lowe, Locke on Human Understanding (Routledge) is an elementary introduction. J. L. Mackie, Problems from Locke (OUP) is a little more advanced; it is often interesting but sometimes deeply unhistorical in approach. Roger Woolhouse, Locke (Harvester) pays more attention to the context in which Locke wrote, but perhaps the best introduction is Nicholas Jolley, Locke: his Philosophical Thought (OUP). Jonathan Bennett, Locke, Berkeley, Hume (OUP) is lively and frequently instructive, but sometimes brutal in its interpretative approach; the same characteristics are present in Page 7
his more recent Learning from Six Philosophers (OUP). The most elaborate and demanding recent book on Locke s philosophy is Michael Ayers, Locke (Routledge); it is densely written and often difficult, but is always intelligent and often rewarding. Vere Chappell (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Locke (CUP) contains chapters by a number of specialists, with a very full bibliography, as does the more recent The Cambridge Companion to Locke s Essay concerning Human Understanding, edited by Lex Newman. More specialised books on particular aspects of Locke s philosophy include Nicholas Jolley, Leibniz and Locke (OUP), a study of Leibniz s New Essays on Human Understanding. (Leibniz s New Essays are available in a translation by Jonathan Bennett and Peter Remnant (CUP); they are particularly valuable for the debate on innate ideas). Peter Alexander, Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles (CUP) has an extremely thorough though controversial discussion of the primary secondary quality distinction. Collections of articles The most recent collection (with a very good up-to-date bibliography) is Vere Chappell (ed.), Locke in the Oxford Readings in Philosophy series (OUP); an earlier but still valuable volume in the same series is Ian Tipton (ed.), Locke on Human Understanding. Both are aimed at the student market, as was another still older collection, D. M. Armstrong and C. B. Martin (eds), Locke and Berkeley (Macmillan). More extensive collections of reprinted journal articles can be found in Richard Ashcraft (ed.), John Locke: Critical Assessments (Routledge), Vere Chappell (ed.), Essays on Early Modern Philosophers, vol. 9, and Udo Thiel (ed.), Locke: Epistemology and Metaphysics (Ashgate). There are a number of volumes of published essays on Locke, which tend to vary considerably in both level and quality. They include John Yolton (ed.), John Locke, Problems and Perspectives (CUP), Reinhard Brandt (ed.), John Locke: Symposium Wolfenbüttel (De Gruyter), G. A. J. Rogers (ed.), Locke s Philosophy: Content and Context (OUP), M. A. Stewart (ed.), English Philosophy in the Age of Locke (OUP) and Peter R. Anstey (ed.), The Philosophy of John Locke: New Perspectives (Routledge). The Continuum Companion to Locke, edited by S.-J. Savonius-Wroth, Paul Schuurman and Jonathan Walmsley has a large number of short articles on many of aspects of Locke s life and thought. Berkeley Berkeley s works Berkeley s two most important works are The Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, and anyone buying a volume of Berkeley s works should make sure that it contains both of these. There are numerous editions of these works aimed at the student market: one of the best is the revised Everyman edited by Michael Ayers (unfortunately now out of print), since it also contains several of Berkeley s other works, including A New Theory of Vision, The Theory of Vision Vindicated and Explained, De Motu, the Philosophical Commentaries [Berkeley s early notebooks] and the correspondence with Samuel Johnson. Another collection which contains the main works together with a rather different selection from Berkeley s other writings is Berkeley: Philosophical Writings, edited by Desmond Clarke (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy); this contains extracts from Alciphron and Siris. Other readily accessible editions include those edited by R. S. Woolhouse (Penguin) and Howard Robinson (OUP). The standard edition of Berkeley s works is by A. A. Luce and T. E. Jessop: vols. I and II contain the main philosophical writings; Alciphron is in vol. III, De Motu, The Analyst and the other mathematical works in vol. IV, and Siris in vol. V. Page 8
A translation of De Motu can also be found in, Douglas M. Jesseph (ed.), George Berkeley, De Motu and The Analyst. A Modern Edition with Introductions and Commentary (Kluwer). A selection of passages from Alciphron can be found in David Berman (ed.), Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher, in Focus (Routledge). Texts of Berkeley s works are widely available on the internet, but students should avoid using the modernized versions prepared by Jonathan Bennett. Secondary Literature: (a) General (and fairly elementary) Introductions: Talia Mae Bettcher, Berkeley: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum). Jonathan Dancy, Berkeley: An Introduction (Blackwell). Robert J. Fogelin, Berkeley and the Principles of Human Knowledge (Routledge). Nick Jones, Starting with Berkeley (Continuum). J. O. Urmson, Berkeley (OUP). (b) More advanced accounts: A. C. Grayling, Berkeley: the Central Arguments (Open Court). George S. Pappas, Berkeley s Thought (Cornell UP). George Pitcher, Berkeley (Routledge). John Russell Roberts, A Metaphysics for the Mob: The Philosophy of George Berkeley (OUP). Tom Stoneham, Berkeley s World: An Examination of the Three Dialogues (OUP). Ian Tipton, Berkeley: the Philosophy of Immaterialism (Methuen). G. J. Warnock, Berkeley (Penguin). Kenneth Winkler, Berkeley: an Interpretation (Clarendon Press). (c) Books concentrating on particular aspects of Berkeley s thought: Margaret Atherton, Berkeley s Revolution in Vision (Cornell UP). David Berman, George Berkeley: Idealism and the Man (Clarendon Press). Douglas M. Jesseph, Berkeley s Philosophy of Mathematics (Chicago UP). Gabriel Moked, Particles and Ideas (Clarendon Press). (d) Collections of essays D. M. Armstrong and C. B. Martin (eds), Locke and Berkeley (Macmillan). John Foster and Howard Robinson (eds), Essays on Berkeley (OUP). Ernest Sosa (ed.), Essays on the Philosophy of George Berkeley (Reidel). Colin Turbayne (ed.), Berkeley: Critical and Interpretative Essays (Univeristy of Minnesota Press). Kenneth P. Winkler (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Berkeley (CUP). Page 9