A Coherent Common Sense View

Abstract

Abstract This chapter begins by bringing out three common mistakes that lie behind the various arguments against ordinary objects discussed in this book. It goes on to suggest that all of these mistakes may be avoided by adopting a unified picture, based on the thesis that our singular and general nominative terms have a basic conceptual content in the form of frame-level conditions of application and coapplication collectively established by competent speakers. It shows how to develop a workable ontology of ordinary objects — one that can avoid all of the standard arguments against such objects — from that basis, and defends the claim that this provides a common sense view. The closing sections consider some prominent objections to the positive view, including that it posits too many objects and that it leads to some form of anti-realism.