The Thomistic Institute The Natural and the Artificial – Prof. Christopher Frey
Oct 2, 2025
Christopher Frey, McFarlin Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tulsa, dives into the intriguing distinction between the natural and the artificial. He explores how art imitates nature, emphasizing Aristotle’s views on internal principles of motion. Topics include the unity of fire as a natural body, the contingent nature of human artifacts like houses, and how living organisms are unified by the soul. Frey also discusses how human creativity can both enhance and subvert natural processes, using examples like agriculture and city-building to highlight these complex interactions.
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Core Natural vs. Artificial Distinction
- Nature is an internal principle causing movement and rest, while artifacts rely on external principles for their motion.
- Aristotle and Aquinas allow parallels between art and nature because human intellect imitates the divine principle of natural generation.
Uniformity And Ends Of Simple Bodies
- Simple bodies (earth, water, air, fire) are uniform and lack parts, each defined by contraries like hot/cold and wet/dry.
- Their formal ends make their motions natural, so fire moves to its proper place to fully realize its form.
How Artifacts Depend On Matter
- Artifacts require materially and situationally adequate matter poised for the craftsman's form to be realized.
- The artifactual form organizes parts but does not grant a single internal principle of movement and rest to the artifact.
