Abstract
In this chapter, we argue against what we call the atomist assumption that has governed the recent recovery of artefacts in metaphysics. By drawing some parallels between artefacts and concepts, we hold a relational and holistic view on the nature of artefacts. Artefacts acquire their identity conditions only within a constellation of other artefacts and objects. We will also defend that the identity of an artefact is given by the affordances that constrain our agency within a cultural niche or transformative environment. As constitutive elements of these environments, artefacts do not stand isolated; what they are, fixed by what they afford, cannot be specified without referring to other artefacts, (natural) objects, and the (normative) practices that regulate the engagement with them.
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Acknowledgments
This chapter has been written with the support of two research grants funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness on the nature of artefacts and their role in epistemic contexts (FFI2009-12054; FFI2013-45659-R). We would like to thank Fernando Broncano for very fruitful discussions on these topics and Diego Lawler that has read previous versions of the chapter.
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Vega Encabo, J., Muñoz Serrano, M. (2018). Atomism, Artefacts, and Affordances. In: Laspra, B., López Cerezo, J. (eds) Spanish Philosophy of Technology. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71958-0_1
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