Advocates of the Aristotelian-Thomistic account of hylomorphism consistently distinguish natural substances like plants and animals from "artifacts" that are produced by human artists. The former have natures with substantial forms and natures that are interior principles of motion and rest. The latter have artificial forms which are accidental forms. Beyond this, there is little clarity or consensus on how Aquinas understands the product of human art and how to classify them. This lecture will briefly review the points of confusion and disagreement in recent scholarship and then present an outline of a coherent vision of human art and the products of human art that integrate it with Aquinas's broader hylomorphic vision of nature as well as offer principles to engage his thought with the vast expansion of human engineering and technology of the past several centuries.
12 April 2025
Aquinas on Artifacts and Artificial Forms
With Fr Thomas Davenport, OP, PhD, Asst Professor of Physics, Providence College.
Advocates of the Aristotelian-Thomistic account of hylomorphism consistently distinguish natural substances like plants and animals from "artifacts" that are produced by human artists. The former have natures with substantial forms and natures that are interior principles of motion and rest. The latter have artificial forms which are accidental forms. Beyond this, there is little clarity or consensus on how Aquinas understands the product of human art and how to classify them. This lecture will briefly review the points of confusion and disagreement in recent scholarship and then present an outline of a coherent vision of human art and the products of human art that integrate it with Aquinas's broader hylomorphic vision of nature as well as offer principles to engage his thought with the vast expansion of human engineering and technology of the past several centuries.
Advocates of the Aristotelian-Thomistic account of hylomorphism consistently distinguish natural substances like plants and animals from "artifacts" that are produced by human artists. The former have natures with substantial forms and natures that are interior principles of motion and rest. The latter have artificial forms which are accidental forms. Beyond this, there is little clarity or consensus on how Aquinas understands the product of human art and how to classify them. This lecture will briefly review the points of confusion and disagreement in recent scholarship and then present an outline of a coherent vision of human art and the products of human art that integrate it with Aquinas's broader hylomorphic vision of nature as well as offer principles to engage his thought with the vast expansion of human engineering and technology of the past several centuries.
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