Publication Date
2021
Faculty Department
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Document Type
Article
Abstract
There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding abstract artifacts and how such entities (e.g., fictional characters like Sherlock Holmes, and mythological planets like Vulcan), if they indeed exist, could possibly be our creations. Much of this debate has been carried out by Stuart Brock and David Friedell in this journal. One interesting aspect of their discussion concerned the extent to which creative intentions play a role in the creation of artifacts, both abstract and concrete. I here address the creation of concrete artifacts in particular. I ultimately defend a Brock-inspired, heterodox view on which creative intentions are not at all necessary for the creation of concrete artifacts. A concrete artifact is just a hunk of matter having a certain configuration owing to human activity, and given that configuration, is disposed to participate in other human activities.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
“On Inadvertently Created Tables: A Brockean Theory of Concrete Artifacts,” Acta Analytica, Vol. 36, No. 1 (2021)
