Full Idea
What shall we call a 'thing' anyhow? It seems quite arbitrary, for we carve out everything, just as we carve out constellations, to suit our human purposes.
Gist of Idea
A 'thing' is simply carved out of reality for human purposes
Source
William James (Pragmatism - eight lectures [1907], Lec 7)
Book Reference
James,William: 'Pragmatism - eight lectures' [Dover 1995], p.98
A Reaction
James wrote just before the discovery of galaxies, which are much more obviously 'things' than constellations like the Plough are! This idea suggests a connection between pragmatism and the nihilist view of objects of Van Inwagen and co.