Work #1220 · Late period

Siris

George Berkeley's 1744 late philosophical synthesis — tar-water remedy, immaterialist metaphysics, the chain of being

George Berkeley · 1744 · English · Philosophical-scientific synthesis

Tradition: Early-modern philosophy / Immaterialism / Late-Berkeley Platonic synthesis

Berkeley's 1744 late synthesis — tar-water remedy, immaterialist metaphysics, the Platonic chain of being

Siris: A Chain of Philosophical Reflexions and Inquiries Concerning the Virtues of Tar-Water (1744) is George Berkeley's late-life philosophical-scientific-medical synthesis. The book begins with the medicinal virtues of tar-water (which Berkeley promoted as universal remedy), proceeds through chemical-medical theory, and ascends to a Platonic-Christian metaphysical chain-of-being culminating in the divine. Among Berkeley's most-read late works in his own time; the most explicitly Platonic of his major works.

Author

George Berkeley

Editions cited

Siris (Dublin, 1744; subsequent editions); standard editions in Berkeley's Works

Compare this work

School Embodiments

Idealism · 20%

Platonism (Classical) · 25%

Neo-Platonism · 15%

Anglican Broad-Church · 10%

Naturalism · 10%

Mysticism · 10%

Virtue Ethics · 10%

Idealism 20%

Major late-Berkeley idealist-Platonic synthesis.

"The mind is the proper-fundamental reality; matter is the dependent appearance; the Platonic-Christian chain of being properly ascends from material appearances to spiritual reality." (Siris)

Platonism (Classical) 25%

Major late-Berkeley turn to explicit Platonism.

"The Platonic chain of being — from sensible appearances ascending to the divine — is the proper-philosophical-religious framework; what Berkeley's early works only implied, Siris explicitly develops." (Siris)

Neo-Platonism 15%

Strong Neoplatonic-philosophical resonances — Plotinus, the medieval Christian-Neoplatonist tradition.

"What the Neoplatonist tradition recognised about the chain of being from the sensible to the supersensible is the proper-philosophical framework." (Siris)

Anglican Broad-Church 10%

Continued Anglican-philosophical framework — though the late-Berkeley position is more explicitly Platonist than the earlier work.

"The proper Anglican-philosophical framework can accommodate the Platonic synthesis; the chain of being is consistent with Christian doctrine properly understood." (Siris)

Naturalism 10%

Engagement with early-modern chemical and medical science.

"The empirical-medical claims about tar-water are consistent with the philosophical-religious chain of being; the chemical analysis ascends through the proper metaphysical-philosophical levels." (Siris)

Mysticism 10%

Some mystical-religious-philosophical resonances in the late-Berkeley work.

"The proper ascent from material appearances to the divine has a mystical-experiential character; this is what the late-Berkeley work develops." (Siris)

Virtue Ethics 10%

Strong practical-philosophical-medical framework — though the medical claims have not been historically vindicated.

"The proper philosophical work engages practical-medical questions alongside speculative-metaphysical ones; both are necessary." (Siris)

Internal Tensions

Siris was widely-circulated in eighteenth-century Britain; the tar-water medical claims have not been historically vindicated; the philosophical chain-of-being framework retains its philosophical-religious interest.

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I. Time

The 1744 late-Berkeley period.

Attributes

Extent: Infinite Ontological Status: Substantival Grain: Continuous Freedom: Non-Deterministic Traversability: Linear Direction: Uni-directional Dimensionality: One

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II. Space

The Cloyne (Ireland) episcopal setting; the broader early-modern philosophical-religious-medical conversation.

Attributes

Extent: Infinite Ontological Status: Substantival Curvature: Flat Dimensionality: Three Locality: Local

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III. Matter

The material-chemical phenomena (tar-water, etc.) as the ascending starting-point.

Attributes

Extent: Infinite Ontological Status: Substantival Conservation: Conserved Dimensionality: Three Locality: Local

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IV. Observer

Berkeley as late-philosophical-religious-medical synthesizer.

Attributes

Time Instance: Single Space Instance: Single Knowledge Extent: Partial Knowledge Retainment: Total Physicality: Embodied Agency: Active Number: Plural Metaphysical Agency: Personal

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V. Energy

The chemical-philosophical-religious energies ascending through the chain of being.

Attributes

Extent: Infinite Ontological Status: Substantival Conservation: Conserved Dispersibility: Irreversible

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VI. Information

The chain-of-being content of the synthesis.

Attributes

Ontological Status: Substantival Cosmic Conservation: Conserved Personal Conservation: Conserved Granularity: Continuous

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83%

LDS / Latter-day Saint Theology