Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T17:53:33.057Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 5 - Aristotle on Productive Understanding and Completeness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2021

Thomas Kjeller Johansen
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Oslo
Get access

Summary

According to Aristotle, a technê is both a productive power and a kind of epistêmê. In so far as it is a kind of epistêmê, it deals with universals, involves grasping explanations and does not concern itself with the accidental. But a puzzle arises about how something can both be an epistêmê in this sense and at the same time be a power for producing things. Successful production requires the ability to make adjustments to take account of indefinitely variable circumstances. In this chapter, Coope argues that this essential flexibility of technê marks an important difference between it and theoretical epistêmê. Whereas a theoretical epistêmê is potentially complete (in the sense that it is possible in principle to possess all the explanations of the epistêmê), a technê is indefinitely improvable (however many explanations one grasps, there will always be further explanations to be worked out). Because of this, even an expert in a technê needs to have the capacity for working out new explanations. It is possible for Aristotle to think of technê in this way just because he (unlike, for instance, later Christian authors) does not think there is such a thing as a divine technê.

Type
Chapter
Information
Productive Knowledge in Ancient Philosophy
The Concept of <I>Technê</I>
, pp. 109 - 130
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×