Technē

Technē (plural technai) is the ancient Greek term for an art or craft; examples include carpentry, sculpting and medicine. Philosophical interest in the technai stems from their use as a model and metaphor for all aspects of practical rationality, including its perfection in philosophy (the ‘art of living’). From Socrates onwards, the notion of technē is employed for thinking about the connections between reason, ends and action. Technai are held to possess epistemological virtues (such as coherence and explanatory power) and practical virtues (their delivering of detailed instructions for action) against which other bodies of belief or practical systems can be studied and judged.