 What is the real thing? A botanist described the daisy as being in the plant family of Asteroideae. The gardener said this idea of the daisy is an abstraction, the unreal thought-picture which botany has put together out of the characteristics common to all daisies. “The daisy in my garden is real because I can see it with my eyes and grasp it with my hand” The botanist responds, “The daisy you see is real today; in a year it will have vanished into nothingness. What persists is the species of the daisy. The species is the thing that is real.” Which is the real thing, the perceived flower or the idea flower? adapted from POF Chapter 7 |