By Schubert Ogden
The Notebooks of Schubert Ogden
What does one properly mean by "the determinate or concrete unit of reality"?
One properly means by "the determinate or concrete unit of reality" that "which true statements correctly, and at least indirectly, describe" (CSPM: 174). Otherwise put, one means what truth is, or true statements are, finally about (174 f.). One means the basic subjects of predication or the basic descripta of descriptions.
Such basic subjects or descripta—such determinate or concrete units of reality-are plural. But one such unit is "not merely something here, in contrast to something there," as in the common sense pluralism of enduring, self-identical things and persons; "it is something here—now, in contrast to something there-then; it is an event or experience, not a thing or person" (181).
Events may be said to be "short-lived individuals," as distinct from "individuals enduring long enough to exchange influences" (219).
October 1991
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