Technical Knowledge as Scientific Knowledge in Aristotle

Abstract

Doctors heal people, and architects build houses. Their expertise guides them in their performance. Aristotle calls this expertise a technē. He often tells us that technē comes with a productive form of knowledge (poiētikē epistēmē). But what kind of knowledge does he associate with technē? We argue that for Aristotle technical knowledge is scientific knowledge—knowledge that can be modeled in terms of demonstrations. The view we develop enjoys several explanatory advantages over alternative interpretations and shows how Aristotle’s conception of technical knowledge is consistent throughout his metaphysics, philosophy of science, and ethics.