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Full Idea
There may be a substance at the centre of an object, but is no reason to think so, since the group of events making up the object will produce exactly the same percepts; so the substance, if there is one, is an abstract possibility irrelevant to science.
Gist of Idea
An object produces the same percepts with or without a substance, so that is irrelevant to science
Source
Bertrand Russell (The Analysis of Matter [1927], 23)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'The Analysis of Matter' [Routledge 1992], p.244
A Reaction
All empiricists (as Russell is in this passage) seem to neglect inference to the best explanation. Things can be indirectly testable, and I would say that there are genuine general entities which are too close to abstraction to ever be testable.
Related Idea
Idea 14732 A perceived physical object is events grouped around a centre [Russell]
6402 | In 1927, Russell analysed force and matter in terms of events [Russell, by Grayling] |
6418 | Russell rejected phenomenalism because it couldn't account for causal relations [Russell, by Grayling] |
21706 | At first matter is basic and known by sense-data; later Russell says matter is constructed [Russell, by Linsky,B] |
14732 | A perceived physical object is events grouped around a centre [Russell] |
14733 | An object produces the same percepts with or without a substance, so that is irrelevant to science [Russell] |