Truth HQ by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

T R U T H H Q

9. Things, Somethings and

Someones

What is it that makes a thing into a ‘something’? A thing in general into some particular thing? It’s a tricky question, but one that leads into a lot of thoughts on the meanings of such topics as ‘matter’, ‘form’, ‘substance’ and ‘essence’. As such, I’m hoping the journey will prove worthwhile.

So let’s begin with the rather disturbing observation that we cannot ever know a thing as it REALLY is. All we can see of a thing is the qualities it displays to the world. It used to be that qualities were divided into primary and secondary. Primary qualities were such things as extension in space and endurance through time. Secondary qualities were things that

depended on an observer – for instance, colour, taste and smell.

But we can note that even the primary qualities rely on someone being there to do some kind of measurement. We can simply say that all of the qualities need some kind of RELATIONSHIP. Either they must be compared to other objects in order to deduce their size and shape and how

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