Physical-Object Ontology, Verbal Disputes, and Common Sense

Abstract

This chapter offers a defense of common-sense ontology, by proposing that the usual disputes regarding the ontology of physical objects are verbal. Physical-object ontology has seen a number of popular movements that argue against common-sense ontology, such as mereological essentialism or four-dimensionalism. Yet such arguments are often a matter of interpretation of language, subject to interpretive charity between linguistic communities. Addressing such disagreements then, is a matter of applying common sense or ordinary language. The common-sense ontology denies previous arguments regarding the existence and identity of physical objects. Simply put, common-sense ontology asserts that these objects exist, persisting through changes in their parts, and are comprised of neither sums nor temporal parts. Such a philosophy can adequately resolve these verbal disputes.