BQ6

Class Responses and Instructor Comments

>From Natalie:

No image will do, since it would have to be short and tall, hairy and bald, and all other qualities which we may imagine humans having.
Many of these various qualities contradict each other.
To this commonality we give a name, and that's the object.
Since the name represents an idea, there must be some thing to correspond to the idea.
Berkeley says that we can give a name to the commonalities, but that's as far as it goes. We have no positive idea of man. Matter is an unknown something.

>rm says: These excerpts from my lecture notes are pretty much on target. One should explain the presence of the commonalities (which would go some way to answering Question 4, too).

Berkeley Reading Guide 6. How do we arrive at the abstract idea of man? Describe the specific qualities of this idea.		Back to Berkeley Reading Guide Back to Philosophy 101 Home Next Question
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