Acknowledgements

This book began as a doctoral dissertation at the Munich School of Ancient Philosophy (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich). My primary debt is to my supervisor and mentor Christof Rapp for his profound and manifold influence on me as a scholar. I am indebted to my second reader, Peter Adamson, for his formative feedback, kindness, support and always prompt advice. I could not wish for a better place than MUSAΦ to conduct, and learn how to conduct, research in ancient philosophy. Christian Pfeiffer and Laura Castelli have been particularly generous and commented on various chapters during my PhD. I also owe them a great deal of gratitude for inspiring, with their respective work, many of the decisions I made in reconstructing Aristotle’s ontology of artefacts. I wish to thank Oliver Primavesi for unerringly sharing his most recent work on the text of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, thus securing a robust foundation and philological soundness for my project. Colleagues and friends at MUSAΦ have been an outstanding source of help too, in particular Andreas Anagnostopoulos, Jonathan Greig and Melina Vogiatzi.

The University of Milan is where I first became passionate about ancient philosophy and started rambling over lunch about whether there are Ideas of artefacts. I truly cannot thank enough Filippo Forcignanò, Mauro Bonazzi and Franco Trabattoni for instilling in me such a deep affection for the topic. Back then, I also had the fortune to have my PhD project idea discussed with Maddalena Bonelli and Simone Seminara, to whom I would like to show appreciation as well.

During and after having completed my PhD, I have fortunately been allowed to present part of my research on several occasions. I would like to offer thanks to the audiences in Berlin, Berkeley, Cambridge, Falconara, Milan, Pavia and Paris. I wish to express my gratitude to those who took extra time and showed interest in my research, by challenging it in an incredibly obliging and always sympathetic manner: Riccardo Chiaradonna, Nicholas Denyer, Andrea Falcon, Andreas Lammer, Gyula Klima and David Sedley. One who revealed to me connections I was not aware of was Thomas Kjeller Johansen, to whom I am exceedingly grateful for taking the time to meet with me in Oslo. Furthermore, I would like to extend thanks to Stephen Menn for allowing me to cite his work in progress.

My understanding of the contemporary metaphysics of artefacts owes an immense debt to Kathrin Koslicki. I wish to thank her for sharing and discussing with me her chapter on artefacts in Munich in 2017 and for continuing this conversation in Berlin in 2022. To tell the truth, I would not have been able to place Aristotle into dialogue with contemporary metaphysicians without her work.

The book in its final form owes the most gratitude to the anonymous referees, who provided a wealth of astounding advice. I cannot express how grateful I am for how thoroughly they engaged with my book and how attentive and acute their comments were. It is impossible to exhaustively name the ways their feedback improved my book, but I would like to especially highlight two major debts I collected towards them. I was guilty of underestimating the importance of the Platonic heritage and the role of Aristotle’s Physics. I owe to the reviewers the very structure of the book as revolving around Aristotle’s response to Plato, as well as the rehabilitation of the Physics and the emphasis on its significance even concerning Aristotle’s ontology of artefacts.

Individual chapters were considerably improved thanks to having been given the opportunity to present their drafts. I wish to thank Pierre-Marie Morel and Ulysse Chaintreuil for inviting me to Paris to present Chapter 8. Moreover, I thank Chiara Blengini, Federico Casella and Beatrice Michetti for inviting me to Pavia to share my thoughts on the very peculiar case of mixtures (Chapter 3.4.2).

I cannot fail to acknowledge the University of Bergen, where I am currently a post-doctoral researcher. Without a doubt, they have offered me the best conditions imaginable to bring the book to publication. I wish to thank Steinar Bøyum in particular, whose supportive leadership immediately made me feel in the right place. Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to Hallvard Fossheim and Kristian Larsen for their insightful feedback on the first chapter.

If this book is at all readable, it is thanks to Chad Jorgenson and his unmatched competence as English language editor. He not only made my English clearer and more idiomatic, but also acted as an encouraging teammate along the way. Moreover, if this book is at all a book, it is thanks to the editor Michael Sharp, with his brilliant guidance and great support along the way.

On a more personal note, this book has been written and revised in numerous locations, all of which have felt like home to me. This feeling plays no negligible part in the writing process. I cannot but wholeheartedly thank my parents – to whom I dedicate this book – and my family in Italy, in particular Alice and Ivan, as well as my friend Benny. Most of the effort that went into this book, however, was in Munich, where I was surrounded by great friends. Their presence, encouragement and interest has benefitted me and this book in ways that are nearly impossible to explain. My sincere thanks go to Biene, Blake, Brett, Connie, Elena, Felix, Minna and Tommaso. A special thank you also goes to the Center for Advanced Studies (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), and to Annette Meyer in particular. Nobody taught me to look outside of my own bubble and allowed me to understand my role, however small, in the wider academic and research world than Annette did. I was furthermore incredibly fortunate to often be able to revise my book in Norway, particularly in Bø in Telemark and on the island Jomfruland. I wish to thank Turid and Halvor for taking care of me and making sure I could work undisturbed in such wonderful places. It turns out that nothing helps me more as a writer than Norwegian kos. Finally, I would like to thank Jostein Gåra, for sharing this journey with me since its beginning and for infallibly being my compass and dearest human being. I cannot ever hope to repay him.