Abstract

This dissertation examines the problems of relations as worked out in Berkeley's philosophy. ;In chapter one, I deal with Berkeley's life and the intellectual background from which his conception of philosophy is conceived. For Berkeley, the function of philosophy is to teach human beings how to: regulate their conducts, and know God and their duty, so as to promote their happiness, become spiritual beings, and thus restore human dignity. The way of achieving these aims is to obtain human knowledge. In order to go beyond Locke's focus on ideas, Berkeley emphasizes the realm of beings, constituted by minds and their relationships. Human knowledge can be achieved, only if relations are presented to us. Berkeley has extensively discussed relations in his writings. Thus, I specify those of his writings that deal formally with the notions of relations. ;The second chapter starts with a description of Berkeley's quest for certainty of sense. Without this certainty, human knowledge cannot be obtained. Berkeley does not take sense certainty for granted, however, but includes it in his criticism of human faculties. Then I deal with the nature and functions of ideas and spirits, since ideas and spirits are the two main heads of human knowledge. ;Chapter three starts with Berkeley's conception of knowledge, in contrast with the Lockean theory of knowledge. Berkeley's chief epistemological aim is to show how human knowledge of ideas can be obtained through relations. Thus I discuss some selected notions: identity and number, space and time, and causes and laws of nature. For Berkeley, these relations between ideas are not themselves ideas. They are notions instituted by the mind. But human knowledge does not merely consist in knowing those notions. It is a systematic-relational body of propositions. It has a unique methodology for knowing the world. This leads me to investigate the Berkeleyan scientific methodology and its specific contribution to human knowledge. . . . UMI.