There are no ordinary things

TLDR: In this article, the authors argue that none of these things exist, and so that the view of common sense is badly in error, and argue for this negative belief of mine.

Abstract: Human experience, it may be said, naturally leads us to have a certain view of reality, which I call the view of common sense. This view is t empered by cultural advance, but in basic fo rm it is similar for all cultures on this planet, even the most primitive and isolated. According to this prevalent view, there are various sorts of ordinary things in the world. Some of these are made by man, such as tables and chairs and spears, and in some ' advanced ' cultures also swizzle sticks and sousaphones. Some are found in nature such as stones and rocks and twigs, and also tumbleweeds and fingernails. I believe that none of these things exist, and so that the view of common sense is badly in error. In this paper , I shall argue for this negative belief of mine. It shall not be my business here to offer arguments concerning the question of whether there are any people, or conscious beings. I contras t these putat ive entities with mere things, and trust that my usage of the latter te rm follows one common way of allowing for such a distinction. Further, among such things, I shall discuss only those which are not living or alive; perhaps I may call them ordinary inanimate objects. Nothing of basic importance depends upon any such a division; it serves only to restrict my topic conveniently. A second restriction I impose on mysel f is not to discuss certain more general concepts which are intended to delineate in a 'thing-like way ' suitable portions or aspects of ' the external world ' , or of 'physical reality' . Accordingly, while I shall argue that our concept of a stone, for example , is devoid of application, I shall not make any such claim for our concept of a physical object, or for any similarly general idea. So far as these present arguments go, then, there may well be various physical objects , indeed, even of a great variety of shapes and sizes. But whatever the shapes and sizes of any such objects , none will ever be a table, a stone, or any ordinary thing. At