Writing an Outline

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The Assignment:

Create an outline of the "Allegory of the Cave."

Suggestions

Every philosophical work presents ideas in a certain sequence and in a certain structure, usually in which some dominant points are explained or illustrated by subordinate points. The concise presentation of that sequence and structure is the outline of the material. With a little skill and practice, you can produce an outline to reduce a rather lengthy and complex philosophical essay to a few pages. Outlining is a skill that you can use in developing your own writing. Outlining someone else’s work may turn out to be a more creative task than you might originally think. Because there is often more than one way to outline a given reading, different outlines reveal different ways to "read" the structure of the original. An outline preserves the sequence of ideas in the original and conveys the content as well. It does so by laying bare the structure of the essay, which helps reveal the arguments, one by one, and their interrelation.

You will want to treat some paragraphs (or parts of paragraphs) as more important then others because they are more central or prominent in the original. The outline will reflect this hierarchy by introducing a visible subordination of some ideas to others, a subordination not always evident in the original. Subordination is the distinctive feature of an outline. A good outline shows the contrast between important and less important or supporting details in two ways: (1) sequential enumeration and (2) successive indentation. The finished outline thus plainly displays both the sequential structure and the various levels of the argument. That is, it model the very logic of the discourse in the original itself.

There is probably not an ideal length or degree of detail for an outline, but here are a couple of guidelines. First, try to state each entry in your outline briefly, in a sentence or sentence fragment. Second, write no more than a few entries for each page of the original; one entry per page is a useful rule of thumb. As with a summary, you don’t want the length and detail of your outline to rival those of the original. The point is to condense, and especially to lay bare the structure.

It is possible to capture the main features of a piece of philosophical writing by using only two levels of discourse--the main level (indicated by large roman numerals) and the subordinate level (indicated by capital letters). Other writings may require three or even four levels of discourse. This shows the descending parts of an outline; Logic requires that there be a II to complement a I, a B to complement an A, and so forth:

I.
	A.
		1.
			a.
			b.
		2.
	B.
II.

First, notice whatever structural markers the writer has used. For instance, many writers break their works into parts. But if not, try first to find the major sections into which the writing naturally falls. For example, every writing has an opening part and a closing part. Try treating the former as the introduction, and set it off in your outline. Next, mark off the closing part and designate it in your outline as conclusion. What remains between these two parts is of course the bulk of the writing. So far, you have a three-part initial structural outline. Now, give some content in your outline for the part you dubbed "Introduction." For instance, if the author explicitly states a thesis in the beginning, you ought to summarize the thesis in a few phrases or a sentence.

Now break up the middle third of the original into some appropriate parts, designating each with a roman numeral in sequence. To do this, you must read the original carefully and see how the author’s argument unfolds. Start by treating each of the author’s paragraphs as a unit to be designated with a separate numeral or letter in your outline. Try to detect any signs of subordination between the paragraphs, keeping your eye out for phrases like "For example" or "My second reason is" at the beginning of a paragraph. To show the subordination you have detected, label the more important ideas with large roman numerals and the less important or supporting ideas with capital letters or Arabic numerals. Finally, look for subordination within each paragraph.

The Text:

"Allegory of the Cave"

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   August 30, 1999