Thomas Hobbes is famous for his pessimistic state of nature theory. According to Hobbes, the 'state of nature' (i.e. anarchy) is a "warre of every man against every man" (Leviathan, p. 63).

(Cross-posted from blog.kennypearce.net)

(Cross-posted from blog.kennypearce.net)

In my post, Does Philosophy 'Trickle Down', I noted that "Berkeley thinks he has discovered two philosophical doctrines which are indeed 'the Chief Causes of Error and Difficulty in the Sciences' and also 'the Grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion.' These are the epistemic/linguistic doctrine of abstraction, and the metaphysical doctrine of corporeal substance." In this post I want to examine how the doctrine of abstract ideas is supposed, according to Berkeley, to lead to "Error and Difficulty in the Sciences ... [and] ... Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion."

(Cross-posted from blog.kennypearce.net.)

One of the interesting things about George Berkeley as a historical figure is that he labors under the peculiar belief that he is writing philosophy out of pastoral concerns. I like to illustrate Berkeley's purposes by reference to the subtitles he gave to his works. The Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge is subtitled, "wherein the Chief Causes of Error and Difficulty in the Sciences, with the Grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion, are inquired into." Berkeley thinks he has discovered two philosophical doctrines which are indeed "the Chief Causes of Error and Difficulty in the Sciences" and also "the Grounds of Scepticism, Atheism, and Irreligion." These are the epistemic/linguistic doctrine of abstraction, and the metaphysical doctrine of corporeal substance.

Hello, Houyhnhnm Land! This is Kenny Pearce, ordinarily of blog.kennypearce.net. I'd like to thank Brandon for inviting me to kick off the guest blog here. I am, as he said in his introduction, a graduate student at the University of California, Irvine, and I'm interested in metaphysics and philosophical theology. I've been invited to Houyhnhmn Land because my research to date has focused primarily on the philosophy of George Berkeley.

One of the things we are beginning this month here at Houyhnhnm Land is a Guest Blog, which will allow HL to provide a wider selection of perspectives and a richer variety of information. We hope to draw Guest Bloggers from a wide variety of research interests and disciplines.

So this is how I'll organize Guest Blog posts.

If I get this right:

(1) There should be a separate Guest Blog page that will be linked to on the right.

(2) Guest Blog posts should also post to the main page (unlike Admin blog posts).