Single Idea 8464

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

Full Idea

Physical objects, conceived four-dimensionally in space-time, are not to be distinguished from events or concrete processes. Each comprises simply the content, however heterogeneous, of a portion of space-time, however disconnected and gerrymandered.

Clarification

'Gerrymandered' means put together rather randomly

Gist of Idea

Physical objects in space-time are just events or processes, no matter how disconnected

Source

Willard Quine (Word and Object [1960], §36)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'Word and Object' [MIT 1969], p.171


A Reaction

I very much like the suggestion that objects should be thought of as 'processes', but I dislike the idea that they can be gerrymandered. This is a refusal to cut nature at the joints (Idea 7953), which I find very counterintuitive.

Related Idea

Idea 7953 Reasoning needs to cut nature accurately at the joints [Plato]