Western Philosophy and the Becoming of Possibility: 13 Modulatory Voices: Supplementary Perspectives on Construal and Possibility

While the main series traces decisive re-cuts of construal through history, these thinkers serve as modulatory voices, offering critical inflections that nuance, deepen, or complicate the genealogy without restructuring it.

Locke (1632–1704) — Empiricism and the Tabula Rasa

Situated after Renaissance humanism, Locke reconceives possibility through experience. The mind is a blank slate, shaped by sensory input. Construal is grounded in empirical interaction; potential is realised through observation and engagement with the world. His work introduces the individual as a situated agent, prefiguring perspectival and relational accounts of knowledge.

Berkeley (1685–1753) — Idealism and the Primacy of Perception

Following Locke, Berkeley radicalises relationality: existence depends on perception (esse est percipi). Possibility is co-constituted by perceivers, and ultimately grounded in divine observation. His insight reinforces the ontological interdependence of subject, world, and divine relationality.

Hume (1711–1776) — Skepticism, Habit, and Contingent Construal

Hume anticipates Kant by foregrounding contingency and habit. Causal relations are not necessary but inferred; possibility is probabilistic, emerging from patterns of experience. Knowledge is relationally constructed, highlighting the limits of reason and the emergent character of potential.

Sartre (1905–1980) — Existential Freedom and Projective Possibility

Alongside phenomenology and Nietzsche, Sartre situates possibility in human freedom. Construal is existentially grounded: potential is realised through projects, choices, and engagement with the world. The individual actively shapes both self and world, extending perspectival construal into ethical and ontological dimensions.

Camus (1913–1960) — Absurdity, Limits, and Constrained Potential

Camus complements Sartre by emphasising the tension between human desire for meaning and worldly contingency. Possibility is constrained by the absurd, yet becomes meaningful through action and revolt. Construal is both projective and situational, highlighting relational and existential limits.

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Summary:

These modulatory voices refine the genealogy of construal:

• Early modern empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, Hume) explore mind-world relations and contingency.

• 20th-century existentialists (Sartre, Camus) deepen the perspectival, embodied, and ethical dimensions of potential.

Together, they demonstrate that the becoming of possibility is neither monolithic nor predetermined. Each thinker opens an interpretive window — a relational and reflexive modulation — that enriches the historical and philosophical architecture traced in the main series.