George Pappas Explained

Region:Western philosophy
Era:Contemporary philosophy
George Sotiros Pappas
Main Interests:Epistemology, early modern philosophy, Berkeley scholarship
Awards:International Berkeley Essay Prize (1993), emeritus professor

George Sotiros Pappas (born 1942) is a professor of philosophy at Ohio State University.[1] Pappas specializes in epistemology, the history of early modern philosophy, philosophy of religion and metaphysics. He is of Greek and English origin.

He is the author of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on "Internalist versus Externalist" conceptions of epistemic justification.[2]

He was co-editor (with Marshall Swain) of Essays on Knowledge and Justification (1978), an anthology of essays relating to the Gettier problem[3] used as a core text in undergraduate epistemology courses.[4]

Pappas is an editorial consultant of Berkeley Studies.[5]

Studies in Berkeley's philosophy

Pappas is known to be a leading Berkeley scholar; his essay "Berkeley and Scepticism"[6] was in 1993 awarded the International Berkeley Prize.[7] Pappas is a regular participant of International Berkeley Conferences.[8] At one such conference, celebrating the 300th anniversary of George Berkeley's birth, Pappas propounded a new approach to the relationship between Berkeley's anti-abstractionism and "esse est percipi"[9] principle. On Pappas' reading, Berkeley's two theses — that there are no abstract ideas and that sensible objects must be perceived in order to exist — entail one another.[10]

Pappas' interpretation of Berkeley's esse is percipi thesis has sparked much discussion.[11] In 1989, the Garland Publishing Company brought out a 15-volume collection of major works on Berkeley; Pappas' paper "Abstract ideas and the 'esse is percipi' thesis" was included in the third volume,[12] as it was considered to be a significant contribution to Berkeley scholarship.

Pappas developed his treatment of Berkeley's "esse est percipi" principle to repudiate the "inherence interpretation of Berkeley", upon which Edwin E. Allaire, among others, elaborated.[13] [14] [15]

That account is put forward to answer an extremely perplexing question in the history of philosophy: Why did Berkeley embrace idealism, i. e., why did he hold that esse est percipi, that to be is to be perceived?

After emerging in the early 1960s, the "inherence account" attracted numerous proponents and became an influential element of contemporary Berkeley scholarship. In his paper "Ideas, minds, and Berkeley"[16] Pappas revealed some discrepancies between fountain-head evidences and Allaire's approach to a reconstruction of Berkeley's idealism. Pappas' critical examination of the "inherence account" is greatly appreciated by Berkeley scholars. Pappas' penetrating remarks compelled Edwin B. Allaire to revise and improve his conception.[17] Even those who share Allaire's account of Berkeley's idealism acknowledge Pappas' article to be "an excellent review and critique of the IA [inherence account]."

In 2000, Pappas published his monograph Berkeley's thought in which some parts were based on earlier papers of his. While writings by A. A. Luce or Geoffrey Warnock are long outdated, Berkeley's thought is often included in lists of recommended literature on Berkeley's philosophy.[18]

Publications

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://philosophy.osu.edu/people/person.cfm?ID=1292 Departmental profile at OSU
  2. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justep-intext/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article
  3. http://www.iep.utm.edu/g/gettier.htm#H15 Gettier Problem bibliography at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  4. http://www.ditext.com/clay/morris1.html Suggested epistemology reading list
  5. Web site: Berkeley Studies: Editorial Staff . 2011-01-16 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20101110022451/http://people.hsc.edu/berkeleystudies/editorial.php . 2010-11-10 . dead .
  6. Pappas . G.S. . Berkeley and Scepticism . . 59 . 1 . 133–149 . 1999 . 10.2307/2653461. 2653461 .
  7. See: Berkeley Prize Winners.
    The annual International Berkeley Essay Prize competition was established by Colin Murray Turbayne and his wife in 1990.
  8. http://georgeberkeley.tamu.edu/conferences.html International Berkeley Conferences
  9. "To be is to be perceived." A core proposition of Berkeley's ontology.
  10. Pappas . G.S. . Abstract ideas and the 'esse is percipi' thesis . D. . Berman . George Berkeley: Essays and replies . Irish Academic Press . Dublin . 1985 . 0-7165-2395-7 . 47–62 . Proceedings of International Berkeley Conference in Dublin, 1985 . .
  11. Stroll . Avrum . Two lines of argumentation in Berkeley's Principles: a reply to George S. Pappas. In
    - McKim, Robert. "Abstraction and Immaterialism: Recent Interpretations", Berkeley Newsletter 15 (1997–1998): 1–13.
  12. w Doney (ed), Berkeley on abstraction and abstract ideas, N.Y.; L.: Garland, 1989. — XVII, 434 p. — (Philosophy of George Berkeley; 3; A Garland series)
  13. Allaire . Edwin B. . 1963 . Berkeley's Idealism . . XXIX . 3 . 229–44 . DjVu . 2011-01-16 . 10.1111/j.1755-2567.1963.tb00025.x . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120306000503/http://su-ltd.mylivepage.ru/file/2716/6138_Allaire_Berkeley_s_idealism.djvu . 2012-03-06 .
    The article is a classical work of Berkeley scholarship.
  14. For more detail, see:
    • Hausman . A. . Adhering to inherence: A new look at the old steps in Berkeley's march to idealism . . 14 . 3 . 421–443 . 1984 . 10.1080/00455091.1984.10716390. 170386920 . (A wide grasp of literature on the "inherence account".)
    • Book: Muehlmann, Robert G. . Introduction . Berkeley's Metaphysics: Structural, Interpretive, and Critical Essays . 2010 . 1995 . Pennsylvania State Press . 978-0-271-04228-2. (Muehlmann's Introduction provides further bibliographical information of the various articles in defense and in criticism of this view.)
    • Book: Saporiti, Katia . Ch. IV §2 Die Inhärenzhypothese . Die Wirklichkeit der Dinge: eine Untersuchung des Begriffs der Idee in der Philosophie George Berkeleys . https://books.google.com/books?id=kS1Ux2jxMIMC&pg=PP1 . 2006 . Vittorio Klostermann . 978-3-465-03510-7 .
  15. For up-to-date criticism of the "inherence account," see: Bettcher . Talia Mae (Ph. D., California State University, Los Angeles) . November 2008 . Berkeley's Dualistic Ontology . . 28 . 2 . 147–174 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120319211851/http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/tbettch/BerkeleyDualism.pdf . 2012-03-19 . dead .
  16. Pappas . G.S. . Ideas, minds, and Berkeley . . 17 . 3 . 181–194 . 1980 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120306000509/http://su-ltd.mylivepage.ru/file/2716/6145_Pappas_Ideas,_Minds,_and_Berkeley.djvu . 2012-03-06 .
  17. Book: Allaire, Edwin B. . Berkeley's Idealism Revisited . Colin M. . Turbayne . Berkeley: Critical and Interpretive Essays . 1982 . University of Minnesota Press . 978-0-8166-1066-2 . 197–206.
  18. As examples, take:
    • Book: Bettcher , Talia Mae . Berkeley: A Guide for the Perplexed. Guides for the Perplexed. January 2008. Continuum Publishing. 978-0-8264-8991-3. 208.
    • Downing. Lisa. Zalta. Edward N.. Winter 2008 . George Berkeley. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
    • Flage. Daniel E.. George Berkeley (1685–1753). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2005 .

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