Making Objects and Events

Amorphic Hylomorphism

Simon J. Evnine explores the view that some objects have matter from which they are distinct but that this distinctness is not due to the existence of anything like a form. He draws on Aristotle's insight that such objects must be understood in terms of an account that links what they are essentially with how they come to exist and what their functions are, emphasizing the coincidence of formal, final, and efficient causes.

Artifacts and Their Conditions

Artifacts are the most prominent kind of objects where these three features coincide. Evnine develops a detailed account of the existence and identity conditions of artifacts, and the origins of their functions, in terms of how they come into existence. This process generally involves objects being made out of their initial matter by an agent acting with the intention to make an object of the given kind.

Extension to Organisms and Actions

Evnine extends the account to organisms, where evolution accomplishes what is effected by intentional making in the case of artifacts, and to actions, which are seen as artifactual events.