Are There Scattered Objects?

Abstract

Abstract “That there are scattered material objects seems … beyond reasonable doubt.” Many have agreed with this confident assertion by Richard Cartwright. I give reasons to doubt it. While there is an uninteresting sense in which there are scattered material objects, what makes Cartwright’s claim startling is that he makes it clear that by ‘a material object’ he means ‘a body.’ I argue that the every-day examples Cartwright gives – and similar ones offered by others who endorse his claim – are not both material objects in that sense and scattered. There are no scattered bodies.