Is that Table really a Table?

Miss Nikki Nicole and I were discussing how philosophy sucks last night. Because, it gets down to a point where some socratic teacher asks the question, "So, is that table a table?"

And you say... YES. For heaven's sake, it looks like a table, it acts like a table, it functions or all intensive purposes as a table... so yes. It's a dang table.

But then they show you a picture of a table... and you say NO. It's a representation of a table. It isn't a real table, it's a reflection of a table, it looks as though it acts like a table, but really it's just a picture pretending to be something else.

But then you get into Marxist theory in which a table isn't just a table, it's a commodity, and the commodity is really just the product of exchange which is the product of production and labor. Because... why not?

So then no.. a table isn't a table... it's the product of the labor of humans who planted trees, and then harvested trees, and then cut the wood and nailed it together to form the shape of a table through hours of labor and sanding and sawing and staining... and then you think of the labor that goes into making a sander or sandpaper (if you're more rustic), and saws and stain.... yeesh.

I'm a simple girl.. I mean, I recognize everything has an intense history of how production happened... but I would rather just say... Yup. That's a table. 

Getting into the production chains can be really interesting though, I think it's relevant and can be extremely beneficial, if there's a purpose... but if the purpose is just to reflect further on Marx's theory and how he relates or doesn't relate to Hegel and Frichte.... I stop caring.

I'mAnEnglishMajorNotAPhilosophyMajor