Your alignment with Berkeley is understandable, especially when considering the way SFL (Systemic Functional Linguistics) positions meaning as immanent rather than transcendent. The idea that meaning emerges from the interactions and contexts of experience rather than existing independently of them fits quite well with both SFL and the perspective of quantum physics. In both, meaning is fluid and contingent on observation, relationship, and context, rather than being something static or predefined.
In light of this, there are a few other philosophers who might align with this view, especially those who emphasise immanence, context, or the relational nature of reality:
1. Merleau-Ponty (Phenomenology and Embodiment)
Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy might resonate with you as well, especially his focus on embodiment and perception. For him, meaning is not something abstract or removed from the world, but is rooted in our embodied experience. Perception itself is an active, interpretive process, always situated and relational. This might mirror the way you approach SFL's view of meaning as a social, situated phenomenon.
- Immanence and Perception: He emphasised that perception is how we engage with the world and co-construct meaning with it, much like how quantum mechanics views observation as integral to the collapse of potential into actuality.
2. Deleuze (Process Philosophy and Difference)
Deleuze's work might also be relevant, especially in terms of process and immanence. He rejects static, transcendental concepts of truth, focusing on the dynamic nature of reality. His idea of "difference" as fundamental to understanding reality might be aligned with your view that meaning emerges through relational processes, rather than from pre-existing, transcendent categories.
- Immanent Meaning: For Deleuze, reality is in constant flux, and meaning is immanent, emerging from difference rather than some absolute or transcendent source. This resonates with how you view the process of meaning-making, especially with the dynamic interplay between perception and the world.
3. Whitehead (Process Philosophy)
Whitehead’s process philosophy might be particularly aligned with your way of thinking. In his framework, reality is composed of processes, not static substances, and meaning (or value) emerges through those processes. Like Berkeley, Whitehead emphasised the relational nature of existence, but his work is often seen as a synthesis of both empirical and speculative elements. For Whitehead, the universe is fundamentally relational, and each event is influenced by and influencing others in an interconnected process.
- Quantum Resonance: Whitehead’s emphasis on the relational and emergent nature of reality is strikingly similar to the way quantum mechanics suggests that the state of a system depends on interactions and observations, and that reality itself is not a static "thing" but something that unfolds through processes.
4. Ludwig Wittgenstein (Language Games and Meaning)
Wittgenstein’s later work, particularly his idea of meaning as use (in Philosophical Investigations), might also be relevant. He suggested that meaning is not something fixed, but rather arises through the use of language in specific social contexts. His concept of "language games" highlights the social, contextual nature of meaning-making, which seems to align well with your interest in SFL and its view of meaning as something that unfolds in specific social and communicative situations.
- Relational Meaning: Like the view in SFL, Wittgenstein sees meaning as emerging through social interaction rather than being imposed from above or externally. This fits with your emphasis on immanence and meaning emerging from experience.
5. Spinoza (Immanent Philosophy)
Spinoza’s pantheism and immanent philosophy might also be a good fit. For Spinoza, God and nature are one, and everything in the universe is interconnected and immanent. Meaning and existence are not external or transcendent but are part of the fabric of reality itself, emerging from the relations between things.
- Immanent Meaning: His conception of substance as everything that exists and the interconnection of all things mirrors some of the ideas in quantum physics about the interconnectedness of all things at a fundamental level. His deterministic view of the world aligns with your thoughts on how meaning is immanent and tied to the relationships between things rather than to transcendent ideals.
It seems like you might be aligning with a mix of these philosophers, depending on the specific elements of immanence, relationality, and process that you find most resonant. If your focus is on meaning as emergent and contingent on experience and observation, Berkeley, Merleau-Ponty, and Deleuze all seem like natural fits. However, Whitehead’s process philosophy and Spinoza’s immanent pantheism also offer deep ways of thinking about how meaning emerges from the interconnected processes of existence.
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