The object rule
A key opens or fails to open before it becomes authority. A chair bears weight before it becomes inheritance. Paper stains, tears, folds, and arrives late before it becomes public grammar. Meaning remains answerable to use.
Frau Klemper’s test
Klemper repeatedly asks who carries, heats, washes, pays, or clears the passage. Her questions prevent philosophy from treating material provision as a minor implementation detail.
Damage has provenance
A broken cup, torn card, faulty seam, soot, paste, blood, and paper dust preserve the hand and event that changed them. Repair does not restore innocence; it makes alteration visible and usable.