SECTION 8.- OBJECT, FACT, ENVIRONMENT. .~>5 



by the senses or the intelligence, cpmmonly determine classi- 

 fication. 



Sundry aspects in the conception of objects, derived from a 

 methodical analysis based on Conclusion 25 /, and in agreement 

 with Conclusion 20, should be noted: (1) the several atoms or 

 smallest particles in an apple, for instance, are judged to be 

 objects. (2) An apple, consisting as it does of various parts 

 (peel, pips, etc.), is regarded as one object. (3) We separate 

 sense impressions derived from many apples and name these 

 qualities, as solidity and sweetness. (4) We disregard those 

 special states of the apple which are ascribable to particular 

 causes, e.g., disease. (5) The apple, conceived as changing 

 from an arbitrary point (the fertilised ovum) to another arbitrary 

 point (the state of decay), is considered as possessing an in- 

 dependent existence. (6) As with the development of the apple, 

 so with its antecedent and subsequent states the time before 

 fertilisation of the ovum and after decay, practical reasons 

 induce men to pass them over. (7) We form classes of objects 

 in time sequence, of higher and higher categories, as in the 

 theory of evolution where the rich life of to-day, including our 

 apple, is traced back to the detachment of our planet and prior. 

 (8) We combine smaller into larger aggregates in order of 

 space apple, apple tree, orchard, village, district, province, 

 country, continent, earth, solar system, Western Universe, 

 Island Universe, Universe. (9) Influences of temperature and 

 moisture, of atmospheric pressure, of gravitation, the constant 

 removal and addition of minute particles, and the environmental 

 influences generally as summed up in external physical, bio- 

 logical, and cultural influences are, for practical purposes, 

 arbitrarily ignored in the concept of an apple. (10) In all 

 observation of an apple or of any other object memory enters 

 in at least two forms as (a) special memory, in that we cannot 

 focus an ordinary object in one single act or moment of time, 

 and as (b) general memory, in that we only recognise an object 

 by connecting it with preceding experiences. 1 



Human convenience, then, determines the definition of an 

 object, and, omitting- the Universe as object, we might define 

 an object as a more or less arbitrarily selected or framed portion 

 of the differences-containing Universe- which, for the sake of 

 convenience, we choose to regard as having a more or less 



* 



1 We pass methodically, according to Conclusion 27, from extreme minimum 

 to extreme maximum. (1), (2), (3), and (4) are the four different aspects 

 of an average apple or object other than single "atom". (5) and (6) follow 

 development within, before, and after the apple's life time. (7) and (8) furnish 

 the relations in time and space. (9) enumerates environmental factors. And 

 (10) allows for the psychological aspect. 



- The less differentiated we imagine the constitution of the Universe to 

 be, the greater will be our difficulty to perceive "objects". For instance, a 

 white sheet of paper, viewed from a little distance by even illumination, 

 can only be broken up with difficulty into subsidiary objects. 



