2

I understand the contradiction in my title and this post is exactly about that.

Considering the definitions of a noun by Oxford and by Cambridge, an idea is very possibly a thing. My question is whether anything is not a thing? I have seen the definitions of a thing at Oxford and other places but these are confusing to me.

My question is two-fold:

  1. Is 'thing' a word we use to describe anything that we can imagine and is possible? (Both by definition and in casual social settings)
  2. Is the fact that the word 'thing' is part of the words everything and anything make every possible concept a thing?

They are kind of the same question but I would appreciate a slightly different outlook to answer each. Thanks!

Note: To be clear, I am asking about the actual definitions of these words and the usage of the word 'thing'. Please read the tags.

Edit: So far, the closest I have got to answers are:

  • Concepts that involve more than a singular unit of itself cannot seem to be called a thing. A thing can be a collection of things however (eg. keyboards are not a thing but are things. As are the keys that compose them. Individually, they are a thing though.)
  • We usually call solid instances things but this is not a rule at all. (eg. the sun, a bottle of water, an empty ballon vs. a filled balloon, etc...)
  • Scale seems to matter. Something we might call a thing from afar might not be a thing up close (eg. the sun, a city, a person, reflections, etc...)
  • What's next?
Laurel
  • 66,382
Akaisteph7
  • 411
  • 4
  • 8
  • 3
    I'll have what @Akaisteph7 is having. – EightyEighty Dec 12 '17 at 23:05
  • Not every "hit" hits the nail on the head, but about half of them: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=is+not+a+thing&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cis%20not%20a%20thing%3B%2Cc0 – Hot Licks Dec 12 '17 at 23:08
  • 5
    I'm not sure this is a linguistic question. You might get more analytical answers over at https://philosophy.stackexchange.com – Mitch Dec 12 '17 at 23:27
  • Even nothing is a thing. – Drew Dec 12 '17 at 23:32
  • @Mitch I understand what you mean but I am not asking about what the definition of the word 'thing' should be. I am asking about what it means and what its actual meaning entails. This is about the English language. – Akaisteph7 Dec 13 '17 at 00:49
  • 1
    @Akaisteph7 The nuances you're asking about the word are well beyond the simple language-bound lexical semantics. What you are asking is really about mental concepts that are only pointed at by individual words. Other languages have the word 'thing' that are just as broad (or limited) as in English. They may not be identical in semantic coverage as the word in English – Mitch Dec 13 '17 at 01:20
  • @Mitch Once again, good points but I am not asking about another language. I am asking about the English language. And I am asking about the definitions of these words and the usage of the word thing. Would it be better if I phrased it differently? – Akaisteph7 Dec 13 '17 at 01:28
  • 2
    Well, now, if your universe of discourse is anything*, I suppose they're all thing*s. – Lawrence Dec 13 '17 at 03:58
  • 3
    Flagged mods to consider migrating this to Philosophy.SE (I think it's a good question there). The question is more about the philosophy of (perhaps) ontology, rather than about the mechanics or common usage of the English language. I.e., in the ontological mapping between the word 'thing' and what that word signifies, ELU.SE is more relevant if the emphasis is on the word (e.g. definition, nuance, connotation) and Philosophy.SE is more relevant if the emphasis is on what the word signifies (e.g. zen nothingness, or here, anti(?)-zen thing-ness). – Lawrence Dec 13 '17 at 04:09
  • Is a number a thing? Is an action a thing? Is an attribute (like a color or weight) a thing? These are all I'm have an idea but it is very arguable and depends on a lot of ideas (and not just language specific definitions). google for ontology, specifically 'upper ontology'. – Mitch Dec 13 '17 at 13:07
  • 2
    This is one of those taking-the-piss questions. – Lambie Dec 13 '17 at 19:13
  • On the level of the detail in your Question it seems to me Drew is wholly correct and even nothing is a thing.

    On any level like that yes, thing is a word we use to describe anything we can imagine or is possible? (Both by definition and in casual social settings)

    Again on any level like that yes, the fact that the word 'thing' is part of the words everything and anything makes every possible concept a thing.

    Any number of WWW pages will take you much deeper into the philosophy or sophistry of things.

     – Robbie Goodwin Dec 14 '17 at 20:54
  • 1
    It might be interesting to consider whether an uncountable noun can be "a thing" or whether it is more accurately viewed as "thing." That is, "a pie" is clearly "a thing"—but is "pie"? – Sven Yargs Jul 22 '18 at 02:47
  • @SvenYargs This is very interesting. Pie is definitely a concept. I agree that it seems that it cannot be called a thing... And I also do not know if it can be called something. Pie is definitely part of everything though. Your comment makes me think that anything that is not a singular instance of its concept might not be able to be called a thing; so uncountable but also multiple objects. So I guess two pies cannot be called "a thing" either... This is the closest I have come to an answer. It feels weird to say pie is part of everything then. Maybe everything includes more than just things – Akaisteph7 Aug 30 '18 at 20:27
  • Why didn't you link to a definition of 'thing'? If you just go through the Oxford list (but check other online dictionaries) you'll quickly see that 'thing' has multiple related meanings. Some of them emphasize the tangible ("An inanimate material object "), others emphasize the generality ("mourning and depression are not the same thing"). – Mitch Nov 07 '18 at 00:21
  • I have linked it. I get that but I am not sure that answers my questions. – Akaisteph7 Nov 07 '18 at 00:24
  • As has already been pointed out by Mitch and Lawrence, this is a philosophical question. It should, however, also, be pointed out that one should not expect to find within philosophy some definite, universally accepted answer to it. What one would learn by immersing oneself in the studies of the relevant fields of philosophy, is what different philosophical theories have been developed as answers to it, and by what arguments they have been defended and criticised. – jsw29 Nov 07 '18 at 01:07
  • 2
    I’m voting to close this question because it is in the philosophical domain more than the linguistic (certainly standard usage). The answer depends on stipulative definition of 'thing' (everyday definitions aren't intended to cover say 'something beyond human imagining'). – Edwin Ashworth Sep 30 '21 at 13:56

4 Answers4

0

Absolute zero (maybe)? Or, is that an oxymoron (an existing contradition)? Even a single question is not a singular, defined thing (until it is asked).

Elsewise, (probably) - (absolutely) nothing then (zero)... You can't define infinite ideas or impossibilities as absolutes (things).

https://www.sciencealert.com/after-a-century-of-debate-cooling-to-absolute-zero-has-been-declared-mathematically-impossible

https://www.livescience.com/25959-atoms-colder-than-absolute-zero.html https://www.thefreedictionary.com/absolute+zero

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/oxymoron

user22542
  • 4,492
  • I think an infinite set could be called a thing; infinity itself in the abstract I'm less sure about. – Stuart F Sep 30 '21 at 14:43
  • "Absolute zero" is a scientific "concept", but it is not a "thing" as in the real or tangible sense of the word. – user22542 Sep 30 '21 at 23:38
0

My question is two-fold:

  1. Is 'thing' a word we use to describe anything that we can imagine and is possible? (Both by definition and in casual social settings)

  2. Is the fact that the word 'thing' is part of the words everything and anything make every possible concept a thing?

The short etymology of “thing” is given at Online Etymology Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com/word/thing#etymonline_v_10758

As I agree that the question in more philosophical than linguistic, I’ll answer in a philosophical style:

In 1, “that we can imagine and is possible” is too restrictive. Not only are “things” abstract,

“The thing is that he can’t get up.” (circumstance)

“When things are as bad as this, we must think of how to save money.”

they are also concrete.

“What that thing you’re holding?”

Secondly, it does not matter if we can imagine them or not – if someone can (no matter how deluded that person or idea may be) they are a “thing”.

“There is this thing that lets my finundrum fly.”

”What’s a finumdrum?”

“Ah only I know that, a voice told me… it is a thing that we all have… you would not understand.”

(Don’t bother trying to find “finundrum” in a dictionary… I made it up.)

Finally, a thing does not need to be possible:

An aquatic leopard that changes to a lamppost each time Earth leaves the solar system is a “thing”.

In 2, the connection between the words everything and anything has no effect on thing. Every- and any- are simply adjectival.

To address a point raised elsewhere, a thing may be a person. “Thing” is often used in a derogatory sense to indicate that the person referred to does not qualify to be a person:

“A son! A son! You expect me to call that thing a son! He killed my wife!”

You do not say if you wish to consider the plural: “things” but whereas “thing” has a referent of one unit of something, “things” may refer to several units in one category or multiple units in multiple categories.

“What are those things doing on the table?”

“They are the screws for the cabinet I’m assembling.”

“What are those things doing on the table?”

“Sorry, the papers are my essay, the glass has oil in it, and I am using the tools to mend the clock.”

Thing appears to have no limit on its applicability to all objects (real or imagined) and concepts.

Greybeard
  • 41,737
0

OED, sense 3a of thing defines it as:

3a. A matter with which one is concerned (in action, speech, or thought); an affair, a business, a concern, a subject. Now usually in plural: affairs, matters, circumstances.

If it is anything with which one can be concerned, then it must cover anyTHING, including space which is noTHING.

WS2
  • 64,657
-5

Gases and liquids - stuff

solid objects - things

Of course there are exceptions to everything so I won't mention that thing in the corner, which happens to be a ghost.

Windle David
  • 1