Language and the Structure of Berkeley's World

This monograph offers a systematic reconstruction of George Berkeley's immaterialist metaphysics through careful analysis of his philosophy of language. Pearce argues that Berkeley's semantic theory provides the key to understanding his radical claim that reality consists entirely of minds and ideas, with no material substances existing independently of perception. The work demonstrates how Berkeley's linguistic insights ground his theological vision of a world whose very structure depends on divine communication.

Central to Pearce's interpretation is Berkeley's theory of signification, which treats both words and ideas as signs within interconnected systems of meaning. On this reading, Berkeley conceives the sensible world as a divine language through which God communicates with finite minds. Physical objects are reconceived as stable patterns of ideas that God presents to creatures according to regular rules - the laws of nature functioning as divine grammar. This linguistic model explains how Berkeley can maintain both the reality of the sensible world and its fundamental dependence on mind, since languages require speakers and interpreters to exist.

The monograph carefully traces how Berkeley's philosophy of language developed from his early notebooks through his major published works. Pearce shows that Berkeley's critique of abstract ideas and his account of general terms are not merely negative attacks on Lockean philosophy, but positive contributions to understanding how finite minds can achieve genuine knowledge within an immaterialist framework. By treating physical reality as a meaningful discourse rather than a collection of mind-independent substances, Berkeley provides resources for explaining scientific laws, common-sense realism, and religious experience within a unified metaphysical vision.

Pearce's reconstruction engages extensively with recent Berkeley scholarship while defending controversial interpretative claims. Against readings that minimize the theological dimensions of Berkeley's thought, this work insists that divine language theory is essential to Berkeley's entire philosophical project. The monograph also challenges interpretations that render Berkeley's immaterialism unstable or incoherent, arguing instead that the linguistic framework provides principled solutions to standard objections.

The study makes significant contributions to understanding how early modern philosophers deployed linguistic models in metaphysics and theology. By illuminating the systematic connections between Berkeley's semantics, epistemology, and philosophical theology, Pearce demonstrates that Berkeley's immaterialism represents a sophisticated attempt to secure divine presence within the structure of experience itself. This work establishes Berkeley's philosophy of language as central to his distinctive form of theistic idealism.