Liner Notes

Lyrics written by Kris McDaniel

Kris McDaniel: vocals, edrums, keyboards, bass guitar, electric guitar

Cover art by Carrie Jenkins

Numbers, propositions, properties, and types are examples of abstract objects. Abstract objects are not in space and time in the way that ordinary physical objects are. They might even be outside of space and time altogether—you won’t find the number five on a downtown bus, for example, but if it isn’t on a bus, then it’s probably nowhere else either.

Abstract objects are puzzling. If they are outside of space and time, how can we know about them? What kind of intrinsic features do they have? What makes them different from each other? Some philosophers argue that because they would be puzzling in these ways, we shouldn’t believe that they exist. W.V.O. Quine called them, “creatures of darkness”.

But did anyone ask about how they feel?

Lyrics

I’m a creature of darkness
And so you abjure me
But I’m really just a victim
Of your bad ideology

I never claimed to have a home
In the space in which you reside
But that there’s a realm in which I belong
You’ve completely denied

I’m a creature of darkness
My identity conditions are vague
So I’ve been sent to the ontological
Equivalent of the Hague

And maybe I’d be satisfied
To be just a little real
But you have said that I am nothing
And you have granted no appeal

I’m a creature of darkness
And though you’ve cast me away
You’ll need me when you theorize
And then I’ll certainly make you pay