Techne

For other uses, see Techne (disambiguation).

In Ancient Greek philosophy, techne (Greek: τέχνη, romanized: tékhnē, lit. 'art, skill, craft'; Ancient Greek: [tékʰnɛː], Modern Greek: [ˈtexni]) is a philosophical concept that refers to making or doing.[1] Today, while the Ancient Greek definition of techne is similar to the modern definition and use of "practical knowledge",[2] techne can include various fields such as mathematics, geometry,[3][4] medicine, shoemaking, rhetoric, philosophy, music, and astronomy.[4]

One of the definitions of techne led by Aristotle, for example, is "a state involving true reason concerned with production".[5]

  1. ^ Honderich, Ted, ed. (1995). The Oxford companion to philosophy. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866132-0.
  2. ^ Johansen, Thomas Kjeller (2021). Productive Knowledge in Ancient Philosophy: The Concept of Technê. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-62415-2.
  3. ^ Angier 2010, p. 33.
  4. ^ a b Richter & Johnson 2017, p. 374.
  5. ^ Cohoe 2022, p. 3.