Single Idea 8498

[catalogued under 9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 1. Physical Objects]

Full Idea

By bringing together scattered sense events and treating them as perceptions of one object, we reduce the complexity of our stream of experience to a manageable conceptual simplicity.

Gist of Idea

Treating scattered sensations as single objects simplifies our understanding of experience

Source

Willard Quine (On What There Is [1948], p.17)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.17


A Reaction

If, however, our consideration of tricky cases, such as vague objects, or fast-changing objects, or spatially coinciding objects made it all seem too complex, then Quine's argument would be grounds for abandoning objects. See Merricks.