Question: Is there an—or the—indubitable reality? The Key Point of the Answers

Ch1 of Problems of Philosophy

[PARAGRAPHS #]

1. 
   [01-02] INTRODUCTION
   
   1. 
      [01] Posing the Question
      
   2. 
      [02] Drawing Attention: Everyday examples of ordinary beliefs about the world and how they are also ordinarily contradicted.
      

2. 
   [03-09] CONCRETIZATION
   
   1. 
      [03-04] Zooming in on one concrete example: the case of the table
      
      1. 
         [03] How people look at one and the same thing (= reality) differently (= appearances).
         
      2. 
         [04] Why the difference above is important.
         
   2. 
      [05] Drawing out the idea and form a skeptical hypothesis: The example above demonstrates that "the" reality may not exist: "the color"
      
   3. 
      [06-08] Reinforcing the skeptical idea above by introducing other relevant examples, step by step
      
      1. 
         [06] texture
         
      2. 
         [07] shape
         
      3. 
         [08] touch
         
   4. 
      [09] Reaffirming the conclusion/thesis: "Thus it becomes evident that the real table, if there is one, is not the same as …"
      

"Hence, two very difficult questions at once arise: namely,

(1) Is there a real table at all?

(2) If so, what sort of object can it be?"

3. 
   [10-16] CONCEPTUALIZATION
   
   1. 
      [10-11] Definitions of Terms
      
      1. 
         [10] Sense-data and Sensation
         
      2. 
         [11] Physical Object and Matter
         

So the same question, put more precisely and thoroughly "is: (1) Is there such a thing as matter?

2. 
   [12-15] Other Philosophers' Views on the Issue
   
   1. 
      [12] Berkeley: matter is nothing but ideas that God put in us.
      
   2. 
      [13] Berkeley denies matter, that is, something independent of our ideas.
      
   3. 
      [14] Other than Berkeley
      
   4. 
      [15] Leibniz, another Idealist, holds the view that matter is a collection/community of minds.
      

3. 
   [16] Evaluating/Interpreting Philosophical Views
   
   1. 
      Both Berkeley and Leibniz say yes, indirectly, to (1)
      
   2. 
      But Berkeley and Leibniz differ on the question of how (2), i.e., how reality/matter appears to us.
      

4. 
   [17-20] CONCLUSIVE REMARK
   
   1. 
      [17] Stating the key point conclusively, drawing on the discussions above: it is reasonable to suppose that there is a reality, "a real table at all."
      
   2. 
      [18] Summary of the Argument
      
   3. 
      [19] Showing, honestly and rigorously, what are the unresolved questions: the chair "has become a problem full of surprising possibilities.": "it is not what it seems."
      
   4. 
      [20] Pushing the force of the question further: "[…] doubt suggests that perhaps there is no table at all."