Plotinus on Artifacts

Debates around the ontological status of artificial objects were widespread in antiquity and the Middle Ages, with the question of whether artificial objects, such as chairs, houses, statues, and paintings, had the same kind of existence as living things. The “standard” view, which can be traced back to Aristotle, classifies artifacts as quasi-substances: things which possess certain features in common with genuine substances, but are ultimately nothing more than mere aggregates of parts. As such, the common view of artifacts is that they are not real unities; their unity simply consists in the physical contact of their parts. Within this view, a sharp line is drawn between artificial and natural objects, with only natural objects being considered genuine substances.

This talk will present an alternative conception of artificial objects which is found in the writings of the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus (c. 205 – 270 CE). In the text of the Enneads, Plotinus challenges the Aristotelian conception of substance, often through the use of examples taken from technical objects. As such, he develops a unique and distinctive philosophy of technology which holds that artificial objects have their own distinctive form of substantial unity which closely mirrors the unified activity of living beings. This talk will argue that Plotinus develops a model of technical objects that considers them to have features present at the level of the whole which are not entirely reducible to the parts, a feature which is especially apparent in the case of art objects (paintings, sculpture, etc.) but can also be found in other types of artifacts as well. Crucially, this means that artificial objects cannot be understood as mere collections or aggregates of parts, but rather that the artifact as a whole possesses some degree of unity and substantiality which determines the nature of its parts. As such, the various parts of a given object are best understood as the expression or manifestation of the essence of a substance, even in the case of artificial objects.

This talk will explore the philosophical consequences and significance of this view, in particular what this means for Plotinus’ account of teleology in the case of crafts and design. Perhaps surprisingly, Plotinus will downplay the functional or utilitarian aspects of technical objects. Instead, he understands craft activity (techne) to be primarily the externalization of human nature into an external object as its image. The functionality of technical objects, rather than being something which is directed toward external things, instead is geared around the realization of human nature in its fullest extent and, most interestingly, the harmonization of the soul with higher principles.

Max Wade completed his PhD in Philosophy from Boston College in May 2025 with his dissertation, “Plotinus’ Ontology of Artifacts.” His research in the history of philosophy focuses on ancient Greek and Roman metaphysics and natural philosophy, as well as its reception in medieval philosophy and cosmology. He has been published in the Springer Series, Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind and Ecology and Ethics, the journal History of Philosophy and Logical Analysis, and his work has been featured on the Journal of the History of Ideas Blog. He currently lives and teaches in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania