Berkeley's divine language argument

pp. 129-142

in: Ernest Sosa (ed), Essays on the philosophy of George Berkeley, Berlin, Springer, 1987

Abstract

Dean Berkeley wrote Alciphron during his somewhat impatient stay in Newport. He wanted to get on with the Bermuda project. Students of Berkeley have been impatient with the Alciphron — too much apologetics and too little philosophy. There is one apparent exception. The fourth dialogue, "The Truth of Theism," contains a proof of God's existence. But on a closer look many have found an unexciting version of the design argument, a version easily slain by Hume. T. E. Jessop, not one to underestimate Berkeley, puts it bluntly: "… the proof is the usual one from effect to cause, not the one peculiar to Berkeley."¹

Cited authors

Berkeley George