Perhaps the central theme of Reynolds's Discourses is that general ideas are more important than specific ones. The third of the Discourses characteristically states of painting that 'the whole beauty and grandeur of the art consists... in being able to get above all singular forms, local customs, particularities, and details of every kind.' This pervasive emphasis is closely linked to Reynolds's view of the intellect vs. technique. For instance in the same Discourse, Reynolds states that the ambitious student will:
disdain the humbler walks of painting, which, however profitable, can never assure him a permanent reputation. He will permit the lower painter, like the florist or collector of shells, to exhibit the minute discriminations, which distinguish one object of the same species from another; while he, like the philosopher, will consider nature in the abstract, and represent in every one of his figures the character of its species. ( Reynolds, Discourses pp. 44 and 50)