Berkeley and the doctrine of signs

In the final chapter of his Essay concerning Human Understanding , Locke divides all of human knowledge into three parts: the knowledge of things as they are; the skill of achieving what is good and useful; and the knowledge of signs. Locke calls the third part “logic,” “semiotics,” or “the doctrine of signs.” The present chapter is a survey and assessment of Berkeley's main contributions to this “great Province” (as Locke called it) of the early modern intellectual world. It was a province to which Berkeley attached particular importance and promise. In the seventh dialogue of Alciphron , his spokesperson Euphranor announces that he is “inclined to think the doctrine of signs a point of great importance and general extent, which, if duly considered, would cast no small light upon things, and afford a just and genuine solution of many difficulties” (ALC 7.13 [307]).