 First, there is the objection from commonsense. According to Burke, sculptors can destroy lumps of clay by doing nothing more than reshaping them in accordance with certain artistic intentions. In fact, given certain theories of what constitutes an artwork, the sculptor doesn’t even have to do that much. Suppose that an artist takes a liking to a particular rock in his yard. He gives it the title Rocky and invites art critics to admire his new work of art. If this is all it takes to create an artpiece, then this is all it takes to destroy a rock. After all, the rock at the beginning of the story has piece of rock as its dominant kind, while the rock at the end has piece of art as its dominant kind. Hence, the latter rock is numerically distinct from the former—the original rock is no more. This seems absurd. Burke replies by appealing to ambiguity (1994, 596–7). According to him, ‘the rock’ could denote the rock (a singular object) or the rocky stuff (the matter that constitutes that object). On the first reading, the rock from the beginning of the story is not the same as the rock at the end (since there is a new dominant kind). But, on the second reading, the rock from the beginning of the story is the same as the rock at the end (since it is the same matter throughout). Burke claims that this is enough to satisfy the demands of commonsense. (For more on mass terms and the distinction between stuff and things, see the entry on  the metaphysics of mass expressions.)