This tutorial presumes that in thinking about the readings, lecture, and discussion, you have arrived at a topic you wish to write on. We will follow a fictional student who decides to write on the relationship between abstract ideas and Berkeley’s argument for Idealism. The main text is the student’s writing, while annotations are in yellow.
General Tips for Approaching Writing
BERKELEY PAPER
NOTES
| Start with a short summary of the general idea behind the part of the work that you want to talk about. |
Hylas tries to rescue his belief in matter by claiming that we have an abstract idea of matter. I think that he does this because every time he appeals to his particular idea of a thing, Philonous shows that it’s only a perception of that thing, and that perceptions are in the mind. (If perceptions are in the mind, and every idea is a perception, then every idea is in the mind. If all of our ideas are in the mind and ideas are all we have, then everything is in the mind. At least, that appears to be the main strategy, as in the argument with the vessel of water, or the argument about the color of the clouds.)
So, Hylas is trying to avoid committing to a particular idea, which would always be a sensation, by talking about abstract ideas. This argument is kind of at the end of the first dialogue.
| Be able to say why you want to write on this topic. |
Hylas seems to have a point. We do seem to have abstract ideas of things. If I could show that our idea of matter is abstract, then Philonous’ main argument would be short circuited.
| Formulate a plan. Be specific enough to use it as a guide for your next efforts. |
1. Look up how Hylas and Philonous use the term ‘abstract idea.’
2. Contrast this with particular idea (so I need to find out how they talk about particular ideas).
3. Find some passages where they have this conversation.
4. Find the exact argument about abstract ideas in the text.
5. Think up an example of something that I have an abstract idea of.
| Sketch your own idea. |
Maybe I have an abstract idea of sound or shape, without thinking of any particular sound or shape. But what is an ‘abstract’ sound?
| Create an outline of the overall paper. The headings should be specific enough so that you could use them as names of sections in your paper. |
Tentative Outline:
I. Introduction (summary of my paper and what is at stake)
II. Berkeley’s argument against abstract ideas
III. My argument for abstract ideas
IV. What Berkeley would say in reply
V. My rebuttal to Berkeley’s reply