““Paul (2004, 171) discusses the substance theory that makes the de re modal properties of objects primitive consequences of their falling under the sortals that they do: 'A statue is essentially statue shaped because it falls under the statue-sort, so cannot persist through remoulding into a pot' (171). This view apparently has 'intuitive appeal', but sadly, 'any counterintuitive consequences of the view are difficult to explain or make palatable'. The substance theory implies that two numerically distinct objects such as a lump of bronze and a statue can share their matter and their region, but this 'is radically counterintuitive, for it seems to contradict our usual way of thinking about material objects as individuated by their matter and region' (172). Such ways of thinking are not 'usual' except among metaphysicians and we do not share them.””
![“Just as the introduction of the irrational numbers ... is a convenient myth [which] simplifies the laws of arithmetic ... so physical objects are postulated entities which round out and simplify our account of the flux of existence... The conceptional scheme of physical objects is [likewise] a…” quote by Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/da9/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_accounts_just-as-the-introduction-of-the-irration_3191599.jpg)
