The Thoughts Of Berkeley In Systemic Functional Linguistics [3]

Russell (1961: 624-5):

Philonous [Berkeley] now sets to work to prove that 'the reality of sensible things consists in being perceived', as against the opinion of Hylas, that 'to exist is one thing, and to be perceived is another'.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, 'sensible things' are construals of perceptual experience as meaning — as too are existing and being perceived.

In terms of the grammar, the latter distinction is between an existential process and a mental process. In the unmarked case, existential processes construe the outer domain of material being, whereas mental processes construe the inner domain of sensing, through which the semiotic order of experience — meaning — is projected.