LanCog seminar: Patrik Engisch on natural artifacts
Ricardo Santos
SEMINAR SERIES IN ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
2025-26: Session 20
The Naturefactual: Metaphysical and Normative Aspects
Patrik Engisch (University of Geneva)
10 April 2026, 16:00 (Lisbon Time – WET)
Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa
Sala Mattos Romão [C201.J] (Departamento de Filosofia)
Abstract: We routinely describe artifacts as “natural”—e.g., natural food, remedies, gardens, or wine—but it is philosophically puzzling what this could amount to. Can something be both genuinely natural and genuinely artifactual? And if so, what is at stake in describing artifacts in this way? In this talk, taking natural wine as a paradigm, I argue that we can make sense of so-called “natural artifacts” by introducing the notion of naturefactual artifacts, i.e., artifacts that function as vehicles for the appreciation of nature in the form of natural properties. After clarifying the notions of natural property and artifactuality involved in the notion of naturefactuality, I turn to the normative question of whether naturefactual objects ought to be appreciated in a distinctive way.
All are welcome, in-person!