  The fact that single points in a true continuum “cannot be  exhibited” arises, Weyl asserts, from the fact that they are  not genuine individuals and so cannot be characterized by their  properties. In the physical world they are never defined absolutely,  but only in terms of a coordinate system, which, in an arresting  metaphor, Weyl describes as “the unavoidable residue of the  eradication of the ego.” This metaphor, which Weyl was to  employ more than   once[17],  again reflects the continuing influence of phenomenological doctrine  in his thinking : here, the thesis that the existent is given in the  first instance as the contents of a consciousness.