{{Short description|Philosophical term referring to "making" or "doing"}} {{Other uses}} In Ancient Greek philosophy, '''techne''' ({{Langx|el|{{wikt-lang|en|τέχνη}}|tékhnē|art, skill, craft}}; {{IPA|grc|tékʰnɛː|lang|link=yes}}, {{IPA|el|ˈtexni|label=Modern Greek:|Ell-Techni.ogg}}) is a philosophical concept that refers to making or doing.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford companion to philosophy |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-866132-0 |editor-last=Honderich |editor-first=Ted |location=Oxford}}</ref> Today, while the Ancient Greek definition of techne is similar to the modern definition and use of "practical knowledge",<ref>{{Cite book |author-link=Thomas Kjeller Johansen|last=Johansen |first=Thomas Kjeller |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRgXEAAAQBAJ&dq=related:poXP40MywFkJ:scholar.google.com/&pg=PR7 |title=Productive Knowledge in Ancient Philosophy: The Concept of Technê |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-62415-2 |language=en}}</ref> techne can include various fields such as mathematics, geometry,{{Sfn|Angier|2010|p=33}}{{Sfn|Richter|Johnson|2017|p=374}} medicine, shoemaking, rhetoric, philosophy, music, and astronomy.{{Sfn|Richter|Johnson|2017|p=374}}
One of the definitions of techne led by Aristotle, for example, is "a state involving true reason concerned with production".{{Sfn|Cohoe|2022|p=3}}
== History of the term == Many Ancient Greek philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, had difficulty coming up with a single definition for techne and there is differentiation between the ways that these philosophers used the term.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Parry |first=Richard |title=Episteme and Techne |date=2021 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/episteme-techne/ |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |access-date=2023-06-05 |edition=Winter 2021 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref>
The word techne comes from the Greek word for art, skill, craft, and technique. The modern-day English word technology comes from the prefix techne and the suffix ology; both words are of Greek origin combined to mean "the practical application of knowledge".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-03 |title=Definition of TECHNOLOGY |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technology |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> Techne in Ancient Greece was thought of as dangerous in its virtues by many philosophers, including Plato.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Andrew Stewart, One Hundred Greek Sculptors, Their Careers and Extant Works, Introduction, Sources |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0008:part=1:chapter=1&highlight=techne |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Arts such as paintings and sculptures were particularly thought to be unvirtuous because of their "third-hand [representation] of "true" reality and absolute beauty".<ref name=":0" /> Other philosophers, such as Aristotle, believed that techne was virtuous because it uses natural materials "to create objects unknown in nature" and therefore it "completes nature".<ref name=":0" /> == Ancient Greek Philosophers ==
=== Socrates === The Ancient Greek philosopher Xenophon wrote down conversations he had with Socrates in the Socratic works Memorabilia and Oeconomicus.<ref name=":1" /> In both of these works, Socrates uses episteme and techne interchangeably.<ref name=":1" /> Crafts that Socrates classifies as techne include harp playing, flute playing, dancing, wrestling, medicine, carpentry, ruling, generalship, housebuilding, running a household, farming, and mathematics.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Memorabilia, by Xenophon |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1177/1177-h/1177-h.htm |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref>
=== Plato === alt=Plaster cast of Ancient Greek physician and patient from Wellcome Historical Medical Museum|thumb|Plaster cast of Ancient Greek physician and patient from Wellcome Historical Medical Museum The Ancient Greek Philosopher Plato often used episteme and techne interchangeably, much like Socrates.<ref name=":1" /> This is because Plato was a student of Socrates and also wrote Socratic works.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plato {{!}} Life, Philosophy, & Works {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Plato's works define techne as activities such as medicine, geometry, politics, music, shipbuilding, carpentry, and generalship.<ref name=":1" /> Plato's dialogues introduce the idea of a practitioner connected to a craft, such as a physician with medicine.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=CHARMIDES, by Plato |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1580/1580-h/1580-h.htm |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Republic, by Plato |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Laws, by Plato |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1750/1750-h/1750-h.htm |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> Plato introduced the idea of techne as a way to explain aspects of life such as virtue.<ref name=":1" /> This increased the complexity of the definition of techne, adding that crafts are separated by what the end product will be or what the activity accomplishes.<ref name=":1" /> Plato's writings also reveal that he believed the most important job of the practitioner was to be able to explain what they were doing and why they were doing it.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
=== Aristotle === alt=Model of Ancient Greek Trireme in Athens, Greece|left|thumb|Model of Ancient Greek Trireme in Athens, Greece Aristotle does not use techne and episteme interchangeably as Socrates and Plato did before him. He distinguishes clearly between the two terms.<ref name=":1" /> Aristotle includes techne and episteme in his five virtues of intellect: episteme, techne, phronesis, sophia, and nous.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, by Aristotle |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8438/8438-h/8438-h.htm |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle wrote that techne not only meant craft but also production (for example: the production of a ship).<ref name=":3" /> Richard Parry wrote that Aristotle believed techne aims for good and forms an end, which could be the activity itself or a product formed from the activity.<ref name=":1" /> Aristotle used health as an example of an end that is produced by the techne of medicine.<ref name=":1" /> Like Plato's beliefs about the importance of a practitioner being able to explain their craft, Aristotle believed that the practitioner with the knowledge of techne could teach their skill because they not only had the wisdom of the craft but also understood the outcome.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book 1, section 981b |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0052:book=1:section=981b |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> {{clear}}
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{Cite book |last = Angier |first = Tom |title = Techne in Aristotle's Ethics: Crafting the Moral Life |year= 2010 |publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn = 9781441134714 |language = en }} * {{Cite journal | last = Cohoe | first = Caleb Murray | date = 2022-01-07 | title = Knowing in Aristotle part 2: Technē, phronēsis, sophia, and divine cognitive activities | journal = Philosophy Compass | volume = 17 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–9 | doi = 10.1111/phc3.12799 | s2cid = 245055959 | language = en }} * {{Cite book |last1 = Richter |first1 = Daniel S. |last2 = Johnson |first2 = William A. |title = The Oxford Handbook of the Second Sophistic |date = 2017 |publisher = Oxford University Press |isbn = 9780199837489 |language = en }}
==Further reading== {{Portal|Philosophy}} * Dunne, Joseph. 1997. ''Back to the Rough Ground: 'Phronesis' and 'Techne' in Modern Philosophy and in Aristotle.'' Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. {{ISBN|978-0268006891}}.
{{authority control}}
Category:Concepts in ancient Greek epistemology