Single Idea 17578

[catalogued under 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 8. Stuff / a. Pure stuff]

Full Idea

I have a great deal of difficulty with an ontology that includes 'stuffs' in addition to things. ...I prefer to replace talk of sameness of matter with talk of sameness of particles.

Gist of Idea

I reject talk of 'stuff', and treat it in terms of particles

Source

Peter van Inwagen (Material Beings [1990], 14)

Book Reference

Inwagen,Peter van: 'Material Beings' [Cornell 1995], p.160


A Reaction

Van Inwagen is wedded to the idea that reality is composed of 'simples' - even if physicists seem now to talk of 'fields' as much as they do about objects in the fields. Has philosophy yet caught up with Maxwell?