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The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy Peter Walmsley

The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy By Peter Walmsley

The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy by Peter Walmsley


Summary

The works of George Berkeley (1685-1753) have been the object of much philosophical analysis; but philosophers are writers as well as thinkers, and Berkeley was himself positively interested in the functions of language and style. This 1990 book offers rhetorical and literary analyses of his four major philosophical texts.

The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy Summary

The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy by Peter Walmsley

The works of George Berkeley (1685-1753) have been the object of much philosophical analysis; but philosophers are writers as well as thinkers, and Berkeley was himself positively interested in the functions of language and style. He recognized that words are used not just to convey ideas, but to stir the emotions and influence the behaviour of the hearer or reader. The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy, first published in 1990, offers rhetorical and literary analyses of his four major philosophical texts, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, Alciphron and Siris. The Berkeley that emerges from this study is an accomplished stylist, one who builds structures of affective imagery, who creates dramatic voices in his texts, and who masters the range of philosophical genres - the treatise, the dialogue and the essay. Above all, Berkeley's awareness of the rhetorical functions of language is everywhere evident in his own style. His texts persuade as well as prove, enacting a process of inquiry so that the reader may, in the end, grasp Berkeley's truths as his own.

The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy Reviews

...the reader can turn from Walmsley's work not only with fresh insights, but with new tools for approaching the works of Berkeley's contemporaries (especially Hume) and relating them to Berkeley's own works. Studies in English Literature
The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy, particularly Walmsley's chapter on the character of the elenchus, can be strongly recommended to readers. Bob Robinson, South Atlantic Review
Walmsley provides a very thorough account, showing how Berkeley's studied choice of language aids him in manipulating the reader. One comes away from this book filled with admiration both for Walmsley as an analyst and for Berkeley as a stylist. Margaret Atherton, Eighteenth-Century Studies

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Note to the reader; Introduction; Part I. The Principles of Human Knowledge: 1. Ideas and the ends of language; 2. Locke, roles, and passion; 3. The ends of morality and religion; 4. Metaphor and the evidence of things not seen; Part II. Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous: 5. The opportunities of dialogue; 6. The character of the elenchus; 7. Comic characters; 8. Comic form; Part III. Alciphron: 9. Argument into satire; 10. Conversations with ingenious men; Part IV. Siris: 11. The rude essay; 12. The method of inductive analogy; 13. The hoary maxims of the ancients; Conclusion; Select bibliography; Index.

Additional information

NPB9780521374132
9780521374132
0521374138
The Rhetoric of Berkeley's Philosophy by Peter Walmsley
New
Hardback
Cambridge University Press
19900831
222
N/A
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