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Full-Text Articles in Ancient Philosophy
Plato's Critique Of Scientific Management In Charmides, Kenneth Knies
Plato's Critique Of Scientific Management In Charmides, Kenneth Knies
Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications
I discover resources in Plato’s Charmides for a critique of management as a form of knowledge. After interpreting in a practical register Critias’ idea of a science that would comprehend all sciences without understanding any of their objects (166c – 175a), I argue that the paradoxes with which Socrates confronts this idea can be overcome. With reference to F.W. Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management, I show how this overcoming depends upon transforming productive activity so that it no longer requires the knowledge of products that characterizes techne. As Socrates foresaw, a science that has all ways of working as …
Taking The Strict Account Of Techne Seriously: An Interpretive Direction In Plato's Republic, Kenneth Knies
Taking The Strict Account Of Techne Seriously: An Interpretive Direction In Plato's Republic, Kenneth Knies
Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications
I argue that the strict account of techne agreed to by Socrates and Thrasymachus in Republic I provides a useful framework for addressing a central question of the dialogue as a whole: how philosophy might belong to the polis. This view depends upon three positions: 1) that Plato invites us to interpret the relationship between techne and polis outside the terms of the city-soul analogy, 2) that the strict account contributes to a compelling description of vocational work, and 3) that this description determines what Socrates means by a true polis, and thus frames the problem of philosophy’s political inclusion.
Failure And Expertise In The Ancient Conception Of An Art, James Allen
Failure And Expertise In The Ancient Conception Of An Art, James Allen
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
The ancient notion of an art (τέχνη) embraced a wide range of pursuits from handicrafts like shoemaking and weaving to more exalted disciplines not excluding philosophy (cf. Plato Gorgias 486b; Hippolytus Refutatio. 570,8 DDG; Sext. Emp. Μ II13). Nevertheless, there was a sufficient amount of agreement about what was expected of an art to permit debates about whether different practices qualified as arts. According to the conception which made these debates possible, an art is a body of knowledge concerning a distinct subject matter which enables the artist to achieve a definite type of beneficial result. Obviously, the failure of …
Organic Models In The Poetics, David Gallop
Organic Models In The Poetics, David Gallop
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
According to Aristotle, art (technë) imitates nature. This celebrated doctrine is not limited to what we call the 'fine arts', or to works of 'art' in any narrow modern sense; and it does not mean that such art-works copy things in the natural order. It means, more generally, that craftsmen adopt means to produce ends; and that in doing so, they follow a pattern found throughout organic nature. The crafts, in their respective domains, do what nature does everywhere. This parallel often provides Aristotle with analogies from the crafts to illuminate the workings of nature. ,The Poetics is uniquely interesting …
A New Look At The Ergon Argument In The Nicomachean Ethics, Alfonso Gomez-Lobo
A New Look At The Ergon Argument In The Nicomachean Ethics, Alfonso Gomez-Lobo
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
It is commonly assumed that the ergon argument consists in an inference which starts from the powers specific or peculiar to man and arrives at a definition of the human good. This would commit Aristotle to some form of naturalism which is either fallacious or at least not available to us because we cannot share his views about human nature. The purpose of the present paper is to show that this interpretation is unsatisfactory. Aristotle's argument is based on a general principle which may be reformulated as follows: "For any x, if x has an ergon y_, then x will …
On Natural And Unnatural Arts, Jerry Clegg
On Natural And Unnatural Arts, Jerry Clegg
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
The analogy between art and nature is basic in Aristotle's work, but he keeps it from degenerating into an identity. We explore the differences between artificial and natural processes.
The Aristotelian Doctrine Of Qualitative Change In Physics Vii.3, Gerard Verbeke
The Aristotelian Doctrine Of Qualitative Change In Physics Vii.3, Gerard Verbeke
The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter
Aristotle wonders whether it is possible to translate into terms of qualitative change the most important activities of man, such as technical activities, culture of the body, moral conduct, and scientific knowledge. The confrontation between the notion of qualitative change on the one hand and certain fundamental forms of human activity on the other makes it possible to define even more precisely the notion of alloiosis and to lead us to a more thorough understanding of the distinctive nature of properly human activities.