On 11/11/02 8:03:00 AM, Julia Prociw
wrote:
>I noticed in the study guide
>the term "modern
>phenomenalism". I have not
>been able to locate info in
>the readings. Can someone
>point it out?

Thanks for bringing that up.
Phenomenalism is a view about the
meaning of words in ordinary language. It
says that objects are "permanent
possibilities of sensation", and that terms
which describe them derive their
meaning from their sensory qualities. For
example, water means "clear colorless
liquid which quenches thirst, etc." NOT
H20.

The motivation behind phenomenalism
was to salvadge Berkeley's theory as a
theory of language while abandoning
Berkeley's idealist metaphysics.
Phenomenalists can still believe in a
material word, they just assert that in
ordinary life we aren't thinking or
speaking about it directly.

Advocates of phenomenalism would say
that when you say "I'd sure like a glass of
water" you don't mean "I'd sure like a
material substance made of two atoms of
hydrogen and one atom of oxygen in a
covalent bond" you mean you'd like a
clear colorless liquid that quenches thirst.
That's what water refers to and
MEANS--the collection of sensations you
expect to receive.

So, in summary, phenomenalism is says
that the meaning of words comes from
the set of sensory qualities they denote.
This is different from Idealism, which
simply says that everything that exists is
mental.

Berkeley uses phenomenalism to try to
prove idealism, but many contemporary
philosophers have separated the two
views, accepting the phenomenalism
while rejecting the idealism.

Prof. Borrowdale

Prof. Borrowdale
borrowdalej@lanecc.edu
541-463-5434