via braden: My question is, what about inventors? The person who came up with the couch, wheel, table, iPod? Does an "inventor" as such even exist?

Plato suggests that inventors and artisans pull the idea of an object, such as the couch, out of a world of ideals that exists on some other plane, or in the gods' world. In his philosophy, there would be no real invention. I think it would be more along the lines of divine inspiration, or even, to give humanity a little more credit, divine discovery. Instead of inventing, they tap into something greater. This doesn't necessarily devalue their talent. They're explorers instead of inventors, but the two are very close together in the first place. Both discover new things and bring people into new territory. An artisan has to hone his skill to get closer and closer to the goal of the best thing he can make, the divine form. Isn't this what all good artisans and creators do -- try to get better and better to create some kind of magnum opus?