CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Thing theory - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy", "wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"76c80626-4ac4-421c-9e46-323c8fe5d50a","wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"Thing_theory","wgTitle":"Thing theory","wgCurRevisionId":1216247235,"wgRevisionId":1216247235,"wgArticleId":1615618,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Articles with short description","Short description matches Wikidata","Articles needing additional references from October 2014","All articles needing additional references","Literary theory","Critical theory"],"wgPageViewLanguage":"en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"Thing_theory","wgRelevantArticleId":1615618,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[], "wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":9000,"wgRelatedArticlesCompat":[],"wgCentralAuthMobileDomain":false,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q7784331","wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"],"GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false, "wgGEStructuredTaskRejectionReasonTextInputEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false};RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","jquery.makeCollapsible.styles":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.wikimediaBadges":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","site","mediawiki.page.ready","jquery.makeCollapsible","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP","ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","mmv.bootstrap","ext.popups","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init", "ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","ext.cx.uls.quick.actions","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","ext.growthExperiments.SuggestedEditSession","wikibase.sidebar.tracking"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediaBadges%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cjquery.makeCollapsible.styles%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.4"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="Thing theory - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_theory"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_theory"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-Thing_theory rootpage-Thing_theory skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-contents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Guides to browsing Wikipedia"><span>Contents</span></a></li><li id="n-currentevents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Articles related to current events"><span>Current events</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Visit a randomly selected article [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random article</span></a></li><li id="n-aboutsite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Learn about Wikipedia and how it works"><span>About Wikipedia</span></a></li><li id="n-contactpage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="How to contact Wikipedia"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-interaction" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-interaction" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Contribute </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-introduction" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Learn how to edit Wikipedia"><span>Learn to edit</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="The hub for editors"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard" title="Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia"><span>Upload file</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikipedia.png" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikipedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Encyclopedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-tagline-en.svg" width="117" height="13" style="width: 7.3125em; height: 0.8125em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Thing+theory" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Thing+theory" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="Log in and more options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=Thing+theory" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=Thing+theory" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Applications_of_thing_theory" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Applications_of_thing_theory"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Applications of thing theory</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Applications_of_thing_theory-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Criticism" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Criticism"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Criticism</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Criticism-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Thing theory</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 1 language" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-1" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">1 language</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%A1" title="نظرية الشيء – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="نظرية الشيء" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q7784331#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Thing_theory" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Article</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Talk:Thing_theory" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Thing_theory"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Thing_theory"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Thing_theory" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Thing_theory" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&oldid=1216247235" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-cite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Thing_theory&id=1216247235&wpFormIdentifier=titleform" title="Information on how to cite this page"><span>Cite this page</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FThing_theory"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FThing_theory"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Thing_theory&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q7784331" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Branch of critical theory</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-More_citations_needed plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Thing_theory" title="Special:EditPage/Thing theory">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22Thing+theory%22">"Thing theory"</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22Thing+theory%22+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Thing+theory%22&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22Thing+theory%22+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Thing+theory%22">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22Thing+theory%22&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">October 2014</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b>Thing theory</b> is a branch of <a href="/wiki/Critical_theory" title="Critical theory">critical theory</a> that focuses on human–object interactions in literature and culture. It borrows from <a href="/wiki/Martin_Heidegger" title="Martin Heidegger">Heidegger</a>'s distinction between objects and things, which posits that an object becomes a thing when it can no longer serve its common function.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Thing in Thing Theory is conceptually like <a href="/wiki/Jacques_Lacan" title="Jacques Lacan">Jacques Lacan</a>'s <a href="/wiki/The_Real" title="The Real">Real</a>; Felluga states that it is influenced by <a href="/wiki/Actor-network_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Actor-network theory">Actor-network theory</a> and the work of <a href="/wiki/Bruno_Latour" title="Bruno Latour">Bruno Latour</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>For <a href="/wiki/Bill_Brown_(critical_theory)" title="Bill Brown (critical theory)">Bill Brown</a>, objects are items for which subjects have a known and clear sense of place, use and role.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Things, on the other hand, manifest themselves once they interact with our bodies unexpectedly, break down, malfunction, shed their encoded social values, or elude our understanding.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> When one encounters an object which breaks outside of its expected, recognizable use, it causes a moment of judgement, which in turn causes a historical or narrative reconfiguration between the subject and the object which Brown refers to as thingness.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_3-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The theory was largely created by <a href="/wiki/Bill_Brown_(critical_theory)" title="Bill Brown (critical theory)">Bill Brown</a>, who edited a special issue of <i><a href="/wiki/Critical_Inquiry" title="Critical Inquiry">Critical Inquiry</a></i> on it in 2001<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and published a monograph on the subject entitled <i>A Sense of Things</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-Brown_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Brown-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>As Brown writes in his essay "Thing Theory": </p> <blockquote><p>We begin to confront the thingness of objects when they stop working for us: when the drill breaks, when the car stalls, when the window gets filthy, when their flow within the circuits of production and distribution, consumption and exhibition, has been arrested, however momentarily. The story of objects asserting themselves as things, then, is the story of a changed relationship to the human subject and thus the story of how the thing really names less an object than a particular subject-object relation.<sup id="cite_ref-Brown_5-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Brown-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> As they circulate through our lives, we look through objects (to see what they disclose about history, society, nature, or culture - above all, what they disclose about us), but we only catch a glimpse of things.</p></blockquote><p>Thingness can also extend to close interactions with the subject's body. Brown points to encounters like "cut[ing] your finger on a sheet of paper" or "trip[ping] over some toy" to argue that we are "caught up in things" and the "body is a thing among things."<sup id="cite_ref-:0_3-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Applications_of_thing_theory">Applications of thing theory</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Applications of thing theory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Thing theory is particularly well suited to the study of <a href="/wiki/Modernism" title="Modernism">modernism</a>, due to the materialist preoccupations of modernist poets such as <a href="/wiki/William_Carlos_Williams" title="William Carlos Williams">William Carlos Williams</a>, who declared that there should be "No ideas but in things" or <a href="/wiki/T._S._Eliot" title="T. S. Eliot">T. S. Eliot</a>'s idea of the <a href="/wiki/Objective_correlative" title="Objective correlative">objective correlative</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Thing theory has also found a home in the study of contemporary <a href="/wiki/Maker_culture" title="Maker culture">Maker culture</a>, which applies Brown's aesthetic theories to material practices of misuse.<sup id="cite_ref-Malewitz_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Malewitz-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Recent critics have also applied Thing Theory to <a href="/wiki/Hoarding" title="Hoarding">hoarding</a> practices.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Thing Theory also has potential applications in the field of <a href="/wiki/Anthropology" title="Anthropology">anthropology</a>. Brown refers to <a href="/wiki/Cornelius_Castoriadis" title="Cornelius Castoriadis">Cornelius Castoriadis</a>, who notes how perceptions of objects vary in <a href="/wiki/Cross-cultural_communication" title="Cross-cultural communication">cross-cultural communication</a>. Castoriadis states that the "perception of things" for an individual from one society, for instance, will be the perception of things "inhabited" and "animated". Whereas for an individual from another society may view things as "inert instruments, objects of possession".<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Brown remarks that thingness can result when an object from a previous historical epoch is viewed in the present. He states that "however materially stable objects may seem, they are, let us say, different things in different scenes" He cites <a href="/wiki/Nicholas_Thomas_(anthropologist)" title="Nicholas Thomas (anthropologist)">Nicholas Thomas</a>, who writes: "As socially and culturally salient entities, objects change in defiance of their material stability. The category to which a thing belongs, the emotion and judgment it prompts, and narrative it recalls, are all historically refigured."<sup id="cite_ref-:0_3-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Brown remarks how Thing Theory can be applied to understand perceptions of technological changes. He uses the example of a confused museum goer seeing <a href="/wiki/Claes_Oldenburg" title="Claes Oldenburg">Claes Oldenburg</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Typewriter_Eraser,_Scale_X" title="Typewriter Eraser, Scale X">Typewriter Eraser, Scale X</a> and asking "How did that form ever function?" In this sense, Oldenburg's deliberate attempt to turn an object into a thing 'expresses the power of this particular work to dramatize a generational divide and to stage (to melodramatize, even) the question of obsolescence.'<sup id="cite_ref-:0_3-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Criticism">Criticism</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Criticism"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Critics including Severin Fowles of <a href="/wiki/Columbia_University" title="Columbia University">Columbia University</a> and architect Thom Moran at the <a href="/wiki/University_of_Michigan" title="University of Michigan">University of Michigan</a> have begun to organize classes on "Thing Theory" in relation to literature and culture.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Fowles describes a blind spot in Thing Theory, which he attributes to a post-human, post-colonialist attention to physical presence. It fails to address the influence of "non-things, negative spaces, lost or forsaken objects, voids or gaps – absences, in other words, that also stand before us as entity-like presences with which we must contend."<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For example, Fowles explains how a human subject is required to understand the difference between a set of keys and a missing set of keys, yet this <a href="/wiki/Anthropocentrism" title="Anthropocentrism">anthropocentric</a> awareness is absent from Thing Theory. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFHeidegger1971" class="citation journal cs1">Heidegger, Martin (1971). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~ryanshaw/nmwg/the.thing-heidegger.pdf">"The Thing"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Poetry, Language, Thought</i>: 163–184.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Poetry%2C+Language%2C+Thought&rft.atitle=The+Thing&rft.pages=163-184&rft.date=1971&rft.aulast=Heidegger&rft.aufirst=Martin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fpeople.ischool.berkeley.edu%2F~ryanshaw%2Fnmwg%2Fthe.thing-heidegger.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFFelluga2015" class="citation book cs1">Felluga, Dino Franco (2015). <i>Critical Theory: Key Concepts</i>. Routledge. pp. 313–314. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-415-69565-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-415-69565-7"><bdi>978-0-415-69565-7</bdi></a>. <q>The Thing in this sense is close to Jacques Lacan's understanding of the <b>Real</b>, as Brown himself suggests (5). [...] Thing Theory is also influenced by <b>Actor-Network Theory</b>, especially the work of Bruno Latour.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Critical+Theory%3A+Key+Concepts&rft.pages=313-314&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2015&rft.isbn=978-0-415-69565-7&rft.aulast=Felluga&rft.aufirst=Dino+Franco&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:0-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_3-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_3-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_3-4"><sup><i><b>e</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_3-5"><sup><i><b>f</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBrown2001" class="citation journal cs1">Brown, Bill (2001). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/riverbed_seashore/files/brown.pdf">"Thing Theory"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Critical Inquiry</i>. <b>28</b> (1): 1–16 – via Harvard University.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Critical+Inquiry&rft.atitle=Thing+Theory&rft.volume=28&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=1-16&rft.date=2001&rft.aulast=Brown&rft.aufirst=Bill&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fprojects.iq.harvard.edu%2Ffiles%2Friverbed_seashore%2Ffiles%2Fbrown.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/books_things/">"Things"</a>. University of Chicago Press<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 Oct</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Things&rft.pub=University+of+Chicago+Press&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fcriticalinquiry.uchicago.edu%2Fbooks_things%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Brown-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Brown_5-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Brown_5-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Brown, B. (2004) <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3647251.html"><i>A Sense of Things</i></a>. University of Chicago Press<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 Oct</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Sense+of+Things&rft.pub=University+of+Chicago+Press&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.press.uchicago.edu%2Fucp%2Fbooks%2Fbook%2Fchicago%2FS%2Fbo3647251.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCabrerizo2011" class="citation web cs1">Cabrerizo, Belén Piqueras (2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3790586.pdf">"Bill Brown's "Thing Theory" and the Quest of Unique Epistemology in Modernist and Postmodernist Literature: a Study of Don DeLillo's "White Noise"<span class="cs1-kern-right"></span>"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">9 Dec</span> 2018</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Bill+Brown%27s+%22Thing+Theory%22+and+the+Quest+of+Unique+Epistemology+in+Modernist+and+Postmodernist+Literature%3A+a+Study+of+Don+DeLillo%27s+%22White+Noise%22&rft.pub=Universidad+Aut%C3%B3noma+de+Madrid&rft.date=2011&rft.aulast=Cabrerizo&rft.aufirst=Bel%C3%A9n+Piqueras&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdialnet.unirioja.es%2Fdescarga%2Farticulo%2F3790586.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Malewitz-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Malewitz_7-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Malewitz, R. (2014) <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.today/20141021042148/http://www-sup.stanford.edu/book.cgi?id=22814">"The Practice of Misuse"</a>. Stanford University Press. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www-sup.stanford.edu/book.cgi?id=22814">the original</a> on 21 October 2014<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 Oct</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=The+Practice+of+Misuse&rft.pub=Stanford+University+Press&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww-sup.stanford.edu%2Fbook.cgi%3Fid%3D22814&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Falkoff, R. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.scannersproject.com/hoarding.html">"Hoarding in the Digital Age"</a>. Scannersproject<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 Oct</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Hoarding+in+the+Digital+Age&rft.pub=Scannersproject&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scannersproject.com%2Fhoarding.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCastoriadis1987" class="citation book cs1">Castoriadis, Cornelius (1987). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://philpapers.org/rec/BLATII-5"><i>The Imaginary Institution of Society</i></a>. Translated by Blamey, Kathleen. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. pp. 334–335.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Imaginary+Institution+of+Society&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+Mass&rft.pages=334-335&rft.pub=MIT+Press&rft.date=1987&rft.aulast=Castoriadis&rft.aufirst=Cornelius&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fphilpapers.org%2Frec%2FBLATII-5&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFThomas1991" class="citation book cs1">Thomas, Nicholas (1991). <i>Entangled Objects: Exchange, Material Culture, and Colonialism in the Pacific</i> (1st ed.). Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. p. 125.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Entangled+Objects%3A+Exchange%2C+Material+Culture%2C+and+Colonialism+in+the+Pacific&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+Mass&rft.pages=125&rft.edition=1st&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=1991&rft.aulast=Thomas&rft.aufirst=Nicholas&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cddc.vt.edu/accs/syllabi/thingtheory.pdf">"Thing Theory"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. Sev Fowles<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">20 Oct</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Thing+Theory&rft.pub=Sev+Fowles&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cddc.vt.edu%2Faccs%2Fsyllabi%2Fthingtheory.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFFowles2010" class="citation web cs1">Fowles, Severin (2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.campusincamps.ps/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/People-Without-Things.pdf">"People Without Things"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. Springer Science+Business Media<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">9 Dec</span> 2018</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=People+Without+Things&rft.pub=Springer+Science%2BBusiness+Media&rft.date=2010&rft.aulast=Fowles&rft.aufirst=Severin&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.campusincamps.ps%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2FPeople-Without-Things.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AThing+theory" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Literary_criticism" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="3"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Literary_criticism" title="Template:Literary criticism"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Literary_criticism" title="Template talk:Literary criticism"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Literary_criticism" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Literary criticism"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Literary_criticism" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Literary_criticism" title="Literary criticism">Literary criticism</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Literary_theory" title="Literary theory">Literary theory</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Archetypal_literary_criticism" title="Archetypal literary criticism">Archetypal criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Biographical_criticism" title="Biographical criticism">Biographical criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chicago_school_(literary_criticism)" title="Chicago school (literary criticism)">Chicago school</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cultural_materialism_(cultural_studies)" title="Cultural materialism (cultural studies)">Cultural materialism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Darwinian_literary_studies" title="Darwinian literary studies">Darwinian criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deconstruction" title="Deconstruction">Deconstruction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Descriptive_poetics" title="Descriptive poetics">Descriptive poetics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ecocriticism" title="Ecocriticism">Ecocriticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Feminist_literary_criticism" title="Feminist literary criticism">Feminist criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Formalism_(literature)" title="Formalism (literature)">Formalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Geocriticism" title="Geocriticism">Geocriticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marxist_literary_criticism" title="Marxist literary criticism">Marxist criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/New_Criticism" title="New Criticism">New Criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/New_historicism" title="New historicism">New historicism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postcolonialism" title="Postcolonialism">Postcolonial criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postcritique" title="Postcritique">Postcritique</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Psychoanalytic_literary_criticism" title="Psychoanalytic literary criticism">Psychoanalytic criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reader-response_criticism" title="Reader-response criticism">Reader-response criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Russian_formalism" title="Russian formalism">Russian formalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semiotic_literary_criticism" title="Semiotic literary criticism">Semiotic criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sociological_criticism" title="Sociological criticism">Sociological criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Source_criticism" title="Source criticism">Source criticism</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Thing theory</a></li></ul> </div></td><td class="noviewer navbox-image" rowspan="2" style="width:1px;padding:0 0 0 2px"><div><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Antique-books-woodward.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Antique-books-woodward.jpg/70px-Antique-books-woodward.jpg" decoding="async" width="70" height="73" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Antique-books-woodward.jpg/105px-Antique-books-woodward.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Antique-books-woodward.jpg/140px-Antique-books-woodward.jpg 2x" data-file-width="981" data-file-height="1017" /></a></span></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Theorists and critics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Horace" title="Horace">Horace</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Longinus_(literature)" class="mw-redirect" title="Longinus (literature)">Longinus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plotinus" title="Plotinus">Plotinus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/St._Augustine" class="mw-redirect" title="St. Augustine">St. Augustine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Boethius" title="Boethius">Boethius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aquinas" class="mw-redirect" title="Aquinas">Aquinas</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dante" class="mw-redirect" title="Dante">Dante</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Boccaccio" class="mw-redirect" title="Boccaccio">Boccaccio</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christine_de_Pizan" title="Christine de Pizan">de Pizan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Valmiki" title="Valmiki">Valmiki</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lu_Ji_(Shiheng)" title="Lu Ji (Shiheng)">Lu Ji</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philip_Sidney" title="Philip Sidney">Sidney</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Torquato_Tasso" title="Torquato Tasso">Tasso</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Francis_Bacon" title="Francis Bacon">Bacon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes" title="Thomas Hobbes">Hobbes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pierre_Corneille" title="Pierre Corneille">Corneille</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Dryden" title="John Dryden">Dryden</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nicolas_Boileau-Despr%C3%A9aux" title="Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux">Boileau-Despréaux</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Locke" title="John Locke">Locke</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alexander_Pope" title="Alexander Pope">Pope</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Joseph_Addison" title="Joseph Addison">Addison</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Giambattista_Vico" title="Giambattista Vico">Vico</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edmund_Burke" title="Edmund Burke">Burke (Edmund)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/David_Hume" title="David Hume">Hume</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Samuel_Johnson" title="Samuel Johnson">Johnson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edward_Young" title="Edward Young">Young</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gotthold_Ephraim_Lessing" title="Gotthold Ephraim Lessing">Lessing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Joshua_Reynolds" title="Joshua Reynolds">Reynolds</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Denis_Diderot" title="Denis Diderot">Diderot</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Kant</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft" title="Mary Wollstonecraft">Wollstonecraft</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_Blake" title="William Blake">Blake</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller" title="Friedrich Schiller">Schiller</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Schlegel" class="mw-redirect" title="Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel">Schlegel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_Wordsworth" title="William Wordsworth">Wordsworth</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anne_Louise_Germaine_de_Sta%C3%ABl" class="mw-redirect" title="Anne Louise Germaine de Staël">de Staël</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_Joseph_Schelling" title="Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling">Schelling</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge" title="Samuel Taylor Coleridge">Coleridge</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wilhelm_von_Humboldt" title="Wilhelm von Humboldt">von Humboldt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Keats" title="John Keats">Keats</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer" title="Arthur Schopenhauer">Schopenhauer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Love_Peacock" title="Thomas Love Peacock">Peacock</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley" title="Percy Bysshe Shelley">Shelley</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe" title="Johann Wolfgang von Goethe">von Goethe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel" title="Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel">Hegel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Giacomo_Leopardi" title="Giacomo Leopardi">Leopardi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Francesco_De_Sanctis" class="mw-redirect" title="Francesco De Sanctis">De Sanctis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle" title="Thomas Carlyle">Carlyle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill" title="John Stuart Mill">Mill</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson" title="Ralph Waldo Emerson">Emerson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Charles_Augustin_Sainte-Beuve" title="Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve">Sainte-Beuve</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/James_Russell_Lowell" title="James Russell Lowell">Lowell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe" title="Edgar Allan Poe">Poe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Matthew_Arnold" title="Matthew Arnold">Arnold</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hippolyte_Taine" title="Hippolyte Taine">Taine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Charles_Baudelaire" title="Charles Baudelaire">Baudelaire</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Marx" title="Karl Marx">Marx</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard" title="Søren Kierkegaard">Kierkegaard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche" title="Friedrich Nietzsche">Nietzsche</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Walter_Pater" title="Walter Pater">Pater</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/%C3%89mile_Zola" title="Émile Zola">Zola</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anatole_France" title="Anatole France">France</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Oscar_Wilde" title="Oscar Wilde">Wilde</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/St%C3%A9phane_Mallarm%C3%A9" title="Stéphane Mallarmé">Mallarmé</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy" title="Leo Tolstoy">Tolstoy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Benedetto_Croce" title="Benedetto Croce">Croce</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci" title="Antonio Gramsci">Gramsci</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Umberto_Eco" title="Umberto Eco">Eco</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sigmund_Freud" title="Sigmund Freud">Freud</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure" title="Ferdinand de Saussure">de Saussure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss" title="Claude Lévi-Strauss">Lévi-Strauss</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/T._E._Hulme" title="T. E. Hulme">Hulme</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Walter_Benjamin" title="Walter Benjamin">Benjamin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Viktor_Shklovsky" title="Viktor Shklovsky">Shklovsky</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/T._S._Eliot" title="T. S. Eliot">Eliot</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Carl_Jung" title="Carl Jung">Jung</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leon_Trotsky" title="Leon Trotsky">Trotsky</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Virginia_Woolf" title="Virginia Woolf">Woolf</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/I._A._Richards" title="I. A. Richards">Richards</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mikhail_Bakhtin" title="Mikhail Bakhtin">Bakhtin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Georges_Bataille" title="Georges Bataille">Bataille</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Crowe_Ransom" title="John Crowe Ransom">Ransom</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jacques_Lacan" title="Jacques Lacan">Lacan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gy%C3%B6rgy_Luk%C3%A1cs" title="György Lukács">Lukács</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_Val%C3%A9ry" title="Paul Valéry">Valéry</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kenneth_Burke" title="Kenneth Burke">Burke (Kenneth)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ernst_Cassirer" title="Ernst Cassirer">Cassirer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cleanth_Brooks" title="Cleanth Brooks">Brooks</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jan_Muka%C5%99ovsk%C3%BD" title="Jan Mukařovský">Mukařovský</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre" title="Jean-Paul Sartre">Sartre</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir" title="Simone de Beauvoir">de Beauvoir</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theodor_Adorno" class="mw-redirect" title="Theodor Adorno">Adorno</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Roman_Jakobson" title="Roman Jakobson">Jakobson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Northrop_Frye" title="Northrop Frye">Frye</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gaston_Bachelard" title="Gaston Bachelard">Bachelard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ernst_Gombrich" title="Ernst Gombrich">Gombrich</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martin_Heidegger" title="Martin Heidegger">Heidegger</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Noam_Chomsky" title="Noam Chomsky">Chomsky</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jacques_Derrida" title="Jacques Derrida">Derrida</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Roland_Barthes" title="Roland Barthes">Barthes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michel_Foucault" title="Michel Foucault">Foucault</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Georges_Poulet" title="Georges Poulet">Poulet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Raymond_Williams" title="Raymond Williams">Williams</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lionel_Trilling" title="Lionel Trilling">Trilling</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Julia_Kristeva" title="Julia Kristeva">Kristeva</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_de_Man" title="Paul de Man">de Man</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Harold_Bloom" title="Harold Bloom">Bloom</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chinua_Achebe" title="Chinua Achebe">Achebe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edward_Said" title="Edward Said">Said</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gilles_Deleuze" title="Gilles Deleuze">Deleuze</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Guattari" title="Félix Guattari">Guattari</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Girard" title="René Girard">Girard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne_Cixous" title="Hélène Cixous">Cixous</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wolfgang_Iser" title="Wolfgang Iser">Iser</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hayden_White" title="Hayden White">White</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hans-Georg_Gadamer" title="Hans-Georg Gadamer">Gadamer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_Ricoeur" class="mw-redirect" title="Paul Ricoeur">Ricoeur</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/M._H._Abrams" title="M. H. Abrams">Abrams</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Clifford_Geertz" title="Clifford Geertz">Geertz</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Filippo_Tommaso_Marinetti" title="Filippo Tommaso Marinetti">Marinetti</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tristan_Tzara" title="Tristan Tzara">Tzara</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Breton" title="André Breton">Breton</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mina_Loy" title="Mina Loy">Loy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Oswald_de_Andrade" title="Oswald de Andrade">de Andrade</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hu_Shih" title="Hu Shih">Hu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Octavio_Paz" title="Octavio Paz">Paz</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&oldid=1216247235">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&oldid=1216247235</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Literary_theory" title="Category:Literary theory">Literary theory</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Critical_theory" title="Category:Critical theory">Critical theory</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_short_description" title="Category:Articles with short description">Articles with short description</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Short_description_matches_Wikidata" title="Category:Short description matches Wikidata">Short description matches Wikidata</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_needing_additional_references_from_October_2014" title="Category:Articles needing additional references from October 2014">Articles needing additional references from October 2014</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_needing_additional_references" title="Category:All articles needing additional references">All articles needing additional references</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 29 March 2024, at 23:10<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy policy">Privacy Policy</a>. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.</a>, a non-profit organization.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thing_theory&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" loading="lazy"></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-settings" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul></ul> </div><script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-5jk64","wgBackendResponseTime":142,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.338","walltime":"0.510","ppvisitednodes":{"value":901,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":45679,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":422,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":9,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":2,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":51925,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 447.370 1 -total"," 33.80% 151.233 1 Template:Reflist"," 27.57% 123.358 1 Template:Litcrit"," 24.64% 110.231 1 Template:Navbox"," 19.96% 89.309 2 Template:Cite_journal"," 18.64% 83.374 1 Template:More_citations_needed"," 17.86% 79.908 1 Template:Short_description"," 17.42% 77.940 1 Template:Ambox"," 9.88% 44.193 2 Template:Pagetype"," 5.66% 25.315 6 Template:Cite_web"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.230","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":5776399,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.eqiad.main-5dc468848-rnl2r","timestamp":"20241122144729","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","name":"Thing theory","url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thing_theory","sameAs":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q7784331","mainEntity":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q7784331","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Contributors to Wikimedia projects"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/static\/images\/wmf-hor-googpub.png"}},"datePublished":"2005-03-17T20:01:13Z","dateModified":"2024-03-29T23:10:10Z","headline":"branch of critical theory"}</script> </body> </html>