The previous chapter identified certain problems associated with explaining the relation between language and the things of the world in terms of names or signification. This chapter will look at a related question (as partially raised by Russell), namely, is it possible to talk accurately of the properties or qualities of the things of the world? A world of nouns alone would be a lifeless place with no characteristics or qualities. There would be no colours, no warmth, no size. Yet we are immersed in a world with a vast array of different properties. A specific class of words, namely adjectives, is deployed to describe how ‘terrible’, ‘beautiful’, ‘green’, ‘tiny’, ‘enormous’ or even ‘mundane’ things are. This chapter will outline a range of ideas and theories which have attempted to explain the relationship of human perception to the properties of things (or objects). In doing so, it will also introduce Whitehead's notion of the ‘bifurcation of nature’ which, although similar to aspects of Meillassoux's diagnosis of the correlationist circle, offers a distinct and more productive way of approaching this problem.

The Thingness of Things

It may have been noted that in the earlier pages, the word ‘thing’ has been used extensively, as well as the phrase ‘things of the world’, without any definition being provided. One reason for this is that the word ‘thing’ is open and not wedded to any specific standpoint or theory. All of the following could be said to be things, in one way or another: democracy, bottles, beetles, buttons, marriage, complex financial instruments such as futures, hope, despair, lust. Whitehead made a similar point when he stated that ‘I am using the word “thing” in its most general sense, which can include activities, colours […] and values. In this sense, “thing” is whatever we can talk about’ (Whitehead 1938: 193). There is a second reason for the use of thing, in preference to the word ‘object’. As Latour (1993) made clear, there is a striking difference between the words ‘thing’ and ‘object’. While things have been around for a long time, objects are of more recent origin.