Philosophy
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Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied
Psychology
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Natural objects and artifacts. Topics in analytic metaphysics and semantics
Research Topic A
Natural objects and artifacts. Topics in analytic metaphysics and semantics
In the philosophical literature it is sometimes assumed, sometimes discussed, that it is possible to divide the domain of concrete objects into natural and artificial ones. Such assumption strongly derives from our pre-theoretical idea on the classification of material objects. These intuitions are well expressed in natural language and have, as an extension, the distinction between artifact kinds conceived in contrast with natural kinds. What is the conception in contemporary analytic metaphysics of natural objects? What is the one of artifacts? What are the best semantic theories for natural and artifact kinds terms?
