Does the Modern Usage of “Technology” Denote Something Very Different from What τέχνη Meant for the Ancient Greeks?

Authors

  • Hoda El Khouly Cairo University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56550/d.1.2.4

Keywords:

technology, τέχνη, knowledge, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, contemporary technology, logos

Abstract

This paper aims to trace the term technology back to its Greek origin, τέχνη. We recognize as its first meaning a mental activity based on knowledge and systematic study which aims to create a technical or a moral work. The present paper argues that the main difference between technology as seen by the classical Greek philosophers and our contemporary technology may lie in the goal that man sets for technology.

References

Aristotle (1998) Metaphysics, Translated with an Introduction by H. Lawson Tancred, London et. al.: Penguin Books.

Aristotle (2009) Nicomachean Ethics, Translated by D. Ross, Revised with an Introduction and Notes by L. Brown, New York: Oxford University Press.

Aristotle (1936) Physics, A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary by W. D. Ross, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Plato (2002) Phaedrus, Translated with an Introduction and Notes by R. Waterfield, New York: Oxford University Press.

Plato (2008) Timaeus and Critias, Translated by R. Waterfield, With an Introduction and Notes by A. Gregory, New York: Oxford University Press.

Plato (2015) Theaetetus and Sophist, Edited by C. Rowe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Plato (1979) Gorgias, Translated with Notes by T. Irwin, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Plato (1927) Charmides, Alcibiades I & II, Hipparchus, The Lovers, Theages, Minos, Epinomis, Translated by W. R. M. Lamb, London: William Heinemann.

Plato (1992) Republic, Translated by G. M. A. Grube, Revised by C. D. C. Reeve, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.

Plato (1927) Laches, Protagoras, Meno, Euthydemus, Translated by W. R. M. Lamb, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

Plato (1988) The Laws of Plato, Translated with Notes and an Interpretive Essay by T. L. Pangle, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Downloads

Published

2023-04-27

Issue

Section

Articles