t of all those particulars which would naturally be called
"aspects" of the table from different points of view. (This is a first
approximation, modified later.)

It may be said: If there is no single existent which is the source of
all these "aspects," how are they collected together? The answer is
simple: Just as they would be if there were such a single existent. The
supposed "real" table underlying its appearances is, in any case, not
itself perceived, but inferred, and the question whether such-and-such
a particular is an "aspect" of this table is only to be settled by
the connection of the particular in question with the one or more
particulars by which the table is defined. That is to say, even if we
assume a "real" table, the particulars which are its aspects have to be
collected together by their relations to each other, not to it, since
it is merely inferred from them. We have only, therefore, to notice how
they are collected together, and we can then keep the collection
without assuming any "real" table as distinct from the collection. When
different people see what they call the same table, they see things
which are not exactly the same, owing to difference of point of view,
but which are sufficiently alike to be described in the same words, so
long as no great accuracy or minuteness is sought. These closely similar
particulars are collected together by their similarity primarily
and, more correctly, by the fact that they are related to each other
approximately according to the laws of perspective and of reflection and
diffraction of light. I suggest, as a first approximation, that these
particulars, together with such correlated others as are unperceived,
jointly ARE the table; and that a similar definition applies to all
physical objects.*

*See "Our Knowledge of the External World" (Allen & Unwin),
chaps. iii and iv.

In order to eliminate the reference to our perceptions, which introduces
an irrelevant psychological suggestion, I will take a different
illustration, namely, stellar photography. A photographic plate exposed
on a clear night reproduces the appearance of the portion of the sky
concerned, with more or fewer stars according to the power of the
telescope that is being used. Each separate star which is photographed
produces its separate effect on the plate, just as it would upon
ourselves if we were looking at the sky. If we assume, as science
normally does, the continuity of physic