 Russell further asks whether the table is real and, if so, what it might be (1912 [1997: 11, 19–25]). He answers that the table most likely is a real material object, rectangular and brown. Accordingly, he assigns to material objects the role of causing sense data. Sense data then “represent” the objects that cause them (1912 [1997: 23]). This is not part of the base concept of sense data but is the result of further analysis. He has posited sense data as “third things”, standing between material objects and perceivers, and serving as the immediate objects of perception.