Techne and Formation
Art intervenes when a boundary or limitation is recognized, and it creates a path that both transgresses and redefines that boundary: Fate and necessity may set temporary limits for invention, but the boundaries are perpetually redrawn by techne.
A techne is never one tangible “thing”. It can be described as a power, an ideology that guides, a strategy, a cunningly conceived plan, a coincidence, a painting, an installation (the list literally can go on). This knowledge is stable enough to be taught and transferred but flexible enough to be adapted to particular situations and purposes. (47)
Techne resists the ideology of what normal is and often can be seen as in a stage to transformation. It can be perceived as good or evil, dull or bright, brilliant of genius, or even mediocre.(48)
Techne marks intervention and invention, and may spark a conflict or end a transgression.(48)
Techne: Cunning Intelligence, Time, and Power
In the earliest works of Homer and Hesiod Techne is often associated with deception (53) Techne may refer to a "set of rules, system or method of making or doing," but it may also denote artistic products and concrete examples that might be used to illustrate those methods (books, which are also forms of rhetoric).(53)
Techne also refers to a craft or trade that can generate money. it is generally identified with something artificial as opposed to something natural. The material of techne may be taken from nature, however the artist produces something that nature on its own could not create. A great a example of this is through Technology, and in particular the computer ( which is derived from natural elements but perfected by unnatural means). Depending on usage, economic value, and culture technology can be defined I various degrees of craft forms and
One of the most important dimensions of techne is its complex relationship to subjectivity. "Techne" is related to the ancient verb teuchein, which in Homer means to fabricate', 'to produce', 'to construct'”. At the same time, in its a noun form teuchos which can mean tool or instrument (53).
An artisans identity is often defined, by technities or craftsmanship, and sets them apart from society which there elevates the artisans social status. Artisans also formed guilds that also played in the ride of social status. (54)
There is a battle between what is Techne in terms of technology versus art. Engineers products
are more accurately characterized a agalmata, luxury items that serve less as "material objects" than as symbols of "personal value and social superiority". Artisan's products are classified as thaumata-objects designed to evoke wonder and awe. As hierichies developed amongst competing guilds of artists the definition of techne became more ambiguous. (Ie: Is a manual labor who is a craftsman also an artist?) Overall, technes value and class status are largely dependent on one's perspective.(56)
Techne and Kairos
1. If Metis is the intelligence identified with techne, then kairos is the time "associated with techne. Kairos defines the correct time in relation to Techne. Aristotle distinguishes the rationality of techne from philosophical reasoning in its relationship to time, Both Plato and Aristotle said, the highest and most true knowledge transcends time; it is knowledge about things that "could not be otherwise" because the subjects of philosophical knowledge are immune to the contingencies of time and context. The sophists were keenly aware of the importance of "knowing when" to gesture, exhort, and intervene. (57)
According to Isocrates, Deploying an art at the "right moment" in a particular situation is a sign of the true rhetor, yet it is something that cannot be taught rules. Acquiring a "sense” of the right way and right moment requires careful speculation.
Art of Resistance and Transformation
Both bia and kraatos can refer to bodily strength, kraatos is more explicitly identified with the sense of "power over" either subjects or another force. Kraatos often refers to a kind of master/slave relationship and to "mastery" itself, as well as to victory. Bia may denote force and even a specific act of violence. bia and Kraatos generally refer to an external agency, force, or source of motion (60) As for Transformation the discovery of art shifts the balance of power between humankind and nature, and in a way that nature always win (61).
Challenging the Boundaries of Necessity and Fate
Although techne can mitigate lines of force and power, its most challenging boundaries may be anankii and moira. Generally translated as necessity, ananke can also refer to "force, constraint”. Aristotle also uses ananke in a technical sense in logic, philosophy, and the natural sciences to describe operations or processes that "cannot be otherwise”. Moira is a complex and ambiguous term with regard to techne. Though moira is generally associated with fate," its meanings vary and, at times, appear almost contradictory. On the one hand, moira refers to "one's portion of life" in the sense of destiny or fate. The Greek term for the contradiction that generally signals the end of a round of dialectic is aporia. Formed from the word poros, aporia means literally "no path," The distinctions between aporia as "no exit" and poros as a "way out" may mark the difference between philosophical and rhetorical traditions of inquiry and invention. (63)(64)
Greek Characters that Promote the Ideology of Techne
In the Ancient World mythical Gods and Goddesses are manifestations of Techne. These mystical beings defined by techne often demonstrate power, craft, and disruption of power, with identities that are caught between dual realities, often from humankind to transformative (49)
1. Prometheus and Techne
Promethesus, a fictional character in greek literature is often used, threw prom. Gift of art and technology he is able to help transform society. (50)
2. Hephaestus and Techne
Hephaestus is the God of fire and craft. As the son of zeus and hana he is described as having been “skilled din all the crafts of heaven”. He is the god of the smith, frequently referred to as the "famous
god of the twO strong arms" He appears as the artisan who crafts the first woman, Pandora. In Homer's Odyssey, he is husband to Aphrodite. (50) In Homer’s the Odyssyey hephaestus is known to devise to have crafted a weapon for punish aphrodite and her lover ares, with whom she was having an affair with.(51) The anger which inspired him to turn an act of love into bondage is a personification of techne(52)
3. Hermes
Hermes appears in Protagoras's version of the Prometheus narrative to deliver to humankind dike (justice and aidos (respect). Hermes i known as the messenger god, hence identified with good speaking or oratory )form of rhetoric. He is also associated with invention. (50)
4. The Goddess Metis
Meti 's unique character lies in her power of metamorphosis. Metis is Zeus's first wife, the "wisest among gods and mortal men" and mother of Athena. (50)What passes for art in this realm of appearances is the product of a different kind of reasoning, known as metis.(55) A number of terms might be used to describe meti : "flair, wisdom, forethought, subtlety of mind, deception, resourcefulness, vigilance, opportunism, various skills, and experience acquired over the year"(55)
5. The Goddess Athena
Athena" is the armed goddess who oversees cities and the crafts and arts. Athena is one
who "loves deeds of war" but who "saves the people as they go out to war and come back." Athena sexual identity as seen as adrognynous due to he attire of amour she adorns, must like Joan of Arc (51). Athena is often tied into physical and figuratively make references to the arts through her thoughts and actions, which illustrate the action of techne of skill they can be transferred or learned (art, knowledge, craftsmanship, a lesson, war tactic). (51)
Fun Words with New Meaning
anake (necessity)
moiria (fate),
heuriskein (discover),
bia (compulsion),
poros (way out),
apate (deception),
dolos (contrivance), Kratos (force)
technites (craftsmen),
Metis ( cunning intelligence),
chromos (time),
Kairos (right time),
aporia (no path),
hodos (way, road),
physis (nature),
automaton (spontaneity),
tychne (chance),
episteme (pure science),
mechane (trick or experiment),
Theoria (spectacle),
theorein (to look at, behold),
mimesis (imitation)
emperiria (experience, practice, craft),
emperirias (experience)
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