Ideas and Explanation in Early Modern Philosophy
Citation:
Kenneth L. Pearce, Ideas and Explanation in Early Modern Philosophy, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, 103, 2, 2021, 252 - 280Abstract:
Malebranche argues that ideas are representative beings existing in
God. He defends this thesis by an inference to the best explanation of
human perception. It is well known that Malebranche’s theory of vision
in God was forcefully rejected by philosophers such as Arnauld, Locke,
and Berkeley. However, the notion that ideas exist in God was not the
only controversial aspect of Malebranche’s approach. Another controversy
centered around Malebranche’s view that ideas are to be understood as
posits in an explanatory theory. Opponents of this approach, including
Arnauld and Locke, held that our talk about ideas was not explanatory but
instead merely descriptive: we use the word ‘idea’ to describe phenomena
that we observe by reflecting on our own minds. This controversy has not
received much attention from scholars, but in the present paper I will show
that it was an explicit and important subject of concern for Malebranche,
Arnuald, Locke, and Berkeley and that attention to this and that attention to this controversy can
illuminate several aspects of these philosophers’ work.
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/pearcekDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: Pearce, Kenneth
Type of material:
Journal ArticleCollections
Series/Report no:
Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie103
2
Availability:
Full text availableKeywords:
Nicolas Malebranche, Antoine Arnauld, John Locke, George Berkeley, Ideas, RepresentationalismSubject (TCD):
Making Ireland , Antoine Arnauld , George Berkeley , History of Philosophy , John Locke , Nicolas Malebranche , Philosophy of mindDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/agph-2018-0080ISSN:
1613-0650Metadata
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