Abstract

It is commonly believed that Aristotle merely uses artefacts as examples or analogical cases. In this talk, however, I aim to show that Aristotle gives a specific, coherent account of artefacts that in various ways owes much to Plato. 

Moreover, I propose a new, definitive solution to the problem of artefacts' substantiality, which comprises two controversial positions: (i) that Aristotle holds a binary view of substantiality according to which artefacts are not substances at all; (ii) that artefacts fail to be substances because they exhibit less of a unity than natural wholes. 

Finally, responding to the contemporary debate on ordinary objects, I shall identify the main propositions for an ontology of artefacts that aspires to use Aristotle as its authority and can serve as a guideline for current metaphysical discussions.