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Summary Permissivist conceptions of material objects are those that permit a wide variety of macroscopic objects that, despite being right before our eyes, we do not ordinarily take to exist. For instance, according to universalism, for any given plurality of objects, there is an object that is the sum of those objects. Accordingly, there is a partly metal and partly fleshy object that is the sum of your nose and the Eiffel Tower. According to another form of permissivism (sometimes called “the doctrine of plenitude”), every modal profile that can be instantiated in a region consistently with the empirical facts is instantiated in that region. So for instance, when there is a car in a garage, there is also an “incar”, which is necessarily inside the garage and which will cease to exist if the car leaves the garage.  There are two primary motivations for permissivism. The first is that admitting ordinary objects but not extraordinary objects will be intolerably arbitrary. The second is that one who accepts that some pluralities but not others compose a further object will be forced to one or another untenable view about vagueness.
Key works For defenses of universalism, see Rea 1998Sider 1997, and Hudson 2001. For defenses of the doctrine of plenitude, see Sosa 1999 and Bennett 2004.
Introductions van Cleve 1986; Sider 1997; Rea 1998; Korman 2010; Korman 2010.
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  1. Daniel Z. Korman, Objects: Nothing Out of the Ordinary[REVIEW]Asya Passinsky - 2019 - Philosophical Review 128 (2):241-245.
    This is a review of Korman's book. I focus on the argument from counterexamples in favor of conservatism, the debunking response to this argument, and the arbitrariness arguments against conservatism.
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  2. Objects and Pseudo-Objects Ontological Deserts and Jungles from Brentano to Carnap.Bruno Leclercq, Sébastien Richard & Denis Seron (eds.) - 2015 - Boston: de Gruyter.
    Which entities should be accepted as part of the furniture of the world, and which not? What are pseudo-objects, if they are not properly objects? This collection explores the answers given to these questions by some key philosophers throughout the 20th century. It brings together essays by leading scholars on a subject of central importance to both metaphysics and the history of philosophy.".
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  3. Stage universalism, voints and sorts.Marta Campdelacreu Arqués - 2010 - Disputatio 3 (28):1 - 15.
    In the current debate on how ordinary objects persist through time, more than one philosopher has endorsed the following two theses: stage theory and diachronic universalism. In this paper, I would like to offer a so-lution to the problem (related to lingering properties) that Balashov poses to the joint acceptance of these theses. I will also offer a number of rea-sons why, even if it is not necessary to undermine Balashov�s counterex-amples, stage theorists can, without making their theory less appealing, (...)
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  4. Quantifier Variance and Realism: Essays in Metaontology.Eli Hirsch - 2010 - New York, US: Oxford University Press.
    A sense of unity -- Basic objects : a reply to Xu -- Objectivity without objects -- The vagueness of identity -- Quantifier variance and realism -- Against revisionary ontology -- Comments on Theodore Sider's four dimensionalism -- Sosa's existential relativism -- Physical-object ontology, verbal disputes, and common sense -- Ontological arguments : interpretive charity and quantifier variance -- Language, ontology, and structure -- Ontology and alternative languages.
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  5. Parts and wholes.Kris McDaniel - 2010 - Philosophy Compass 5 (5):412-425.
    Philosophical questions concerning parts and wholes have received a tremendous amount of the attention of contemporary analytic metaphysicians. In what follows, I discuss some of the central questions. The questions to be discussed are: how general is parthood? Are there different kinds of parthood or ways to be a part? Can two things be composed of the same parts? When does composition occur? Can material objects gain or lose parts? What is the logical form of the parthood relation enjoyed by (...)
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  6. (1 other version)The picture of reality as an amorphous lump.Matti Eklund - 2008 - In Theodore Sider, John P. Hawthorne & Dean W. Zimmerman, Contemporary debates in metaphysics. Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. 382--96.
    (1) Abstract objects. The nominalist (as the label is used today) denies that there exist abstract objects. The platonist holds that there are abstract objects. One example is numbers. The nominalist denies that there are numbers; the platonist typically affirms it.
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  7. Towards a Neo-Aristotelian Mereology.Kathrin Koslicki - 2007 - Dialectica 61 (1):127-159.
    This paper provides a detailed examination of Kit Fine’s sizeable contribution to the development of a neo-Aristotelian alternative to standard mereology; I focus especially on the theory of ‘rigid’ and ‘variable embodiments’, as defended in Fine 1999. Section 2 briefly describes the system I call ‘standard mereology’. Section 3 lays out some of the main principles and consequences of Aristotle’s own mereology, in order to be able to compare Fine’s system with its historical precursor. Section 4 gives an exposition of (...)
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  8. Review of John Hawthorne, Metaphysical Essays[REVIEW]E. J. Lowe - 2007 - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007 (1).
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  9. Metaphysical essays.John Hawthorne - 2006 - New York: Clarendon Press. Edited by John Hawthorne.
    John Hawthorne is widely regarded as one of the finest philosophers working today. He is perhaps best known for his contributions to metaphysics, and this volume collects his most notable papers in this field. Hawthorne offers original treatments of fundamental topics in philosophy, including identity, ontology, vagueness, and causation. Six of the essays appear here for the first time, and there is a valuable introduction to guide the reader through the selection.
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  10. Metaphysical Arguments against Ordinary Objects.Amie L. Thomasson - 2006 - Philosophical Quarterly 56 (224):340 - 359.
    Several prominent attacks on the objects of 'folk ontology' argue that these would be omitted from a scientific ontology, or would be 'rivals' of scientific objects for their claims to be efficacious, occupy space, be composed of parts, or possess a range of other properties. I examine causal redundancy and overdetermination arguments, 'nothing over and above' appeals, and arguments based on problems with collocation and with property additivity. I argue that these share a common problem: applying conjunctive principles to cases (...)
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  11. Physical-object ontology, verbal disputes, and common sense.Eli Hirsch - 2005 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (1):67–97.
    Two main claims are defended in this paper: first, that typical disputes in the literature about the ontology of physical objects are merely verbal; second, that the proper way to resolve these disputes is by appealing to common sense or ordinary language. A verbal dispute is characterized not in terms of private idiolects, but in terms of different linguistic communities representing different positions. If we imagine a community that makes Chisholm's mereological essentialist assertions, and another community that makes Lewis's four-dimensionalist (...)
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  12. Vagueness and endurance.E. J. Lowe - 2005 - Analysis 65 (2):104-112.
  13. Material Objects: Metaphysical Issues.Cody Sinclair Gilmore - 2004 - Dissertation, Princeton University
    My dissertation divides into four parts, each of which consists of two chapters. ;Part I sets up the issues to be dealt with in the remainder of the dissertation. Chapter One introduces the central presuppositions and primitive notions upon which I rely thereafter. Chapter Two offers a new taxonomy of views about persistence. Whereas the traditional taxonomy recognizes just one distinction---namely, the 3D v. 4D distinction---my new taxonomy recognizes two quite separate distinctions: the distinction between objects that persist by being (...)
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  14. Comments on Theodore Sider’s Four Dimensionalism. [REVIEW]Eli Hirsch - 2004 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 68 (3):658–664.
    Theodore Sider has given us a terrific book, bursting at the seams with new arguments and new takes on old arguments. Whether or not one is convinced by his conclusions, the thoroughness, lucidity, fair-mindedness—and the sheer exuberance—of his discussions make Four Dimensionalism a major contribution to contemporary metaphysics.
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  15. Quick thinking? Not so fast!V. White - 2004 - Sorites 15:7-10.
    Hud Hudson has argued that with a few assumptions one can prove that superluminal objects exist. I argue that even if the assumptions are true that his argument, if sound, leads to a proliferation of movers packing given spaces. I further argue that his argument as it stands cannot in fact entail that objects moving at any speed exist.
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  16. Objects and Persons.Trenton Merricks - 2001 - New York: Oxford University Press.
    Objects and Persons presents an original theory about what kinds of things exist. Trenton Merricks argues that there are no non-living inanimate macrophysical objects -- no statues or rocks or chairs or stars -- because they would have no causal role over and above the causal role of their microphysical parts. Humans do exist: we have non-redundant causal powers. Along the way, Merricks has interesting things to say about mental causation, free will, and various philosophical puzzles. Anyone working in metaphysics (...)
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  17. Putnam's Pragmatic Realism.Ernest Sosa - 1993 - Journal of Philosophy 90 (12):605-626.
  18. Mark Heller, The Ontology of Physical Objects: Four-Dimensional Hunks of Matter Reviewed by.Laird Addis - 1992 - Philosophy in Review 12 (3):199-203.
  19. Subjects among other things.Ernest Sosa - 1987 - Philosophical Perspectives 1:155-187.
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  20. When are objects parts?Peter van Inwagen - 1987 - Philosophical Perspectives 1:21-47.
  21. Identity, Essence, and Indiscernibility.Stephen Yablo - 1987 - Journal of Philosophy 84 (6):293.
  22. Objects and Their Phases.David Pitt - manuscript