Socrates's Use of the Techne-Analogy

Socrates's Use of the Techne-Analogy DAVID L. ROOCHNIK IT HAS LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED that Socrates's use of both the term and concept of techn~in arguments that are analogical in structure is crucial in Plato's early dialogues.' Indeed, entire commentaries have made an interpretation of the "techne-analogy" (TA) a central motif. Recently thiswas the case in Irwin's Plato'sMoral Theory. The TA also figured prominently in Sprague's Plato's Philosopher King and Kube's Techne und Arete." Where there is interpretation there is disagreement, and this issue is no exception. Here the question under debate is, in what sense did Plato intend the TA to be understood? Most important, did he intend it to be read as a conceptual outline of a theoretical project? To clarify this question, consider Apology 2oa-c, Socrates's account of his conversation with CaUias. If Callias's two sons were colts or calves, he would hire a horsetrainer or farmer as their "overseer" (epistatgs: eoa8) to make them excellent in their specific virtue. His sons, however, are men. Who, then, is knowledgeable (epist~ngm) about the human, the political, virtue (2ob4-5)? Callias responds that Evenus of Paros, a sophist, has this techne (~ocl). Socrates's irony makes it certain that he i Hereafter I will not italicize techni, nor its plural, technai. "Techne" refers to the word itself: without the quotation marks I refer broadly to the concept of techne. All my citations of Plato are from Burnet's edition, and translations are either my own or from the Loeb Classical Library. With the name "Socrates" I refer onlyto the character appearing in Plato's early dialogues. The later dialogues, in which Socrates is not the principal speaker, involve a unique set of hermeneutical problems and I mention them only in passing. I am grateful to the Earhart Foundation for a research grant that made this paper possible and to two anonymous readers whose criticisms were valuable. ' Terence Irwin, Plato'sMoral Theory (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977). Rosamond Kent Sprague, Plato'sPhilosopherKing (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, x976), Jorge Kube, Techneund Arete(Berlin: de Gruyter, 1969). A large number of works discuss the TA. Irwin's bibliography is a good guide to this literature. My abbreviation "TA" is a variation of Irwin's "CA." [2951 296 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 24:3 JULY 1986 thinks Evenus has no such knowledge. In addition, he claims he himself does not possess it. Thus, the analogy is left as follows: as the horsetrainer is to the virtue of colts, so X is to the virtue of human beings. If hippik~, the techne of horsetraining, is substituted for the horsetrainer, X refers to a kind of knowledge. Did Plato believe that the X, moral knowledge, could be unambiguously supplied? If so, how strictly is X to be conceived as analogous to horsetraining ? Does it have, for example, a determinate and "separable" ergon, i.e., a result that is conceptually and physically distinct from both the "technician" and his techne? Is it teachable and precise? Does its possessor become an authority to whose judgments laypersons should submit? In sum, does the analogy provide a model by which a conception of moral knowledge is to be framed? s Scholars disagree. Irwin's account is at once the most extreme and most lucid. He believes the analogy is meant so stricdy that on the basis of it he attributes to Socrates a moral theory, one of whose axioms is, "virtue is simply craft-knowledge" (PMT, 7).4 Vlastos disagrees with his former student and thinks the analogy is only partial. "For though Socrates certainly wants moral knowledge to be in some respects like that of carpenters.., he knows that it is radically different in others. ''s Gould would agree. 6 Klosko argues against Irwin to the effect that there is no substantial evidence for attributing "a technical conception of virtue" to Socrates. 7 The importance of this debate should be emphasized, for the position taken on it will determine a commentator's conception of what Plato meant by moral knowledge (or virtue), and so will heavily influence an entire...