The Study Of Greek Ideology Of "Techne" In The View Of Philosophy Of Art

When contemplating Greek aesthetics and the philosophy of art,we will think immediately of Plato and Aristotle,and of the ideas of them about art.Actually,there was not a concept of "art" or "Aesthetic" in ancient Greece,but only the Greek concept of " techne",which is translated into "art" and "ski11/technology" in modern English.So,when we want to study the Greek aesthetics and the philosophy of art,we should better firstly consider the Greek concept of " techne",which would broaden our research field,and,as a result,to help us more precisely grasp the ideas about art of ancient Greece.As a Greek philosophical term,the concept of "techne",covered a wide range of meanings,from what we today think as "Art",such as poetry,painting and drawing,music,drama,and so on,to what we do not think as "Art",such as technology,skill,science,medicine,rhetoric,logic,ethics,politic,economic,etc.,which all of the fields relevant to the survival of human beings.As a Vocabulary," techne,had emerged in the works of Musaeus,the ancient Greek prophet,and Homeric Hymns,in the works of Hippocrates and Sophists;it was also a key word in the medicine and rhetoric.Before Plato in the Greece,it was an honorary title when one was called a "technites" in his professional career.But," techn e",as a relatively mature philosophical concept,it was beginning from the philosophy of Plato.It is because,one hand,any mature vocabulary must depends on the corresponding philosophy,on the other hand,it had done its unique constitutive function in Plato philosophy.As we all known,the modern English concept "art" is a derivation of the Greek concept of "techne",so,the more valid way to study the art and aesthetics ideology of Plato and Aristotle,is to explore the Greek term of "techn e" in the view of philosophy of art,which include the examination ideology of " techne" of Plato and Aristotle,and,in this scope,to analyze philosophically their view and attitude to the poetry,painting and drawing,etc.,in the base of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle.The art and aesthetic ideology of Plato and Aristotle are not consistent with each other.It is concerns with the difference of their"techne" ideology which established in their respective philosophical foundation,which the start point of their thinking wholly ran in the opposite direction.Generally speaking,Plato was against the poetry,painting and drawing,which is imitated(mimesis)with the form,and Aristotle,on the contrary.The objection and critic attitude of Plato with mimetic arts,and the opposite attitude,the sustain and affirmation of Aristotle,was a logic result of Greek philosophy,that the notion of"phusis" in the Pre-Socratic natural philosophy and the ethical ideology of Socrates turned into the notion of "idea" in the philosophy of Plato.In fact,the critics of Plato to mimetic arts was the ethical and moral critique to poetry,painting and drawing,etc.,and its real intention was to make the Republic come true to fulfill his political ideal,the other hand,in the perspective of Plato' s philosophy,was to maintain the whole thinking system which represented with the logical culmination," idea".At the same time,because the philosophy of Aristotle,which started with sensibility and the concrete material,was opposite to the philosophy of Plato,which started with the abstract concept of " idea",Aristotle held an active and positive attitude to the mimetic arts.But,neither Plato nor Aristotle,also their negative or positive to " techn e" and "mimesis",at their most basic,was to critic or sustain the goal and realization which " techne" and "mimesis" would have achieved.For Plato,it was to realize the goal of the Republic,for Aristotle,it was to realize the "happiness" of everybody;and the " techne",was a value-neutral concept which only significance the ways and means to realize the purpose.In the ideology of ancient Greeks," techne" and"agathos","kalos","hedys",as well as "idea",which were the concept of ethical and moral critical criterion,were closely related;and in the mature progress of ancient Greek ideology,especially in the ideology of Plato and Aristotle,these concepts served as the key words to construct the ancient Greek philosophy.Relatively speaking,although neither Plato nor Aristotle had formulated more mature ideology of art and aesthetic,but their opinion about poetry,painting and drawing,indeed,in different aspects and different degree,provided a strong foundation for the later art philosophy and aesthetic.The ideology of "techne" of Plato and Aristotle has had a profound effect on the later generation of art and aesthetic.In contrast,the ideology of "techne" of Plato,transiting by the ideology of "hen"of Plotinus,made a greater impact on the Neo-Platonism;and then,Aristotle,his ideology of "techne" was more accord with the modern ideology of art and aesthetic which developed after the Renaissance.The distinction is determined by their different philosophy standpoint and ideological starting point,which were rational and abstract or sensual and realistic.Following are the main contents of each chaper:Chapter one:To analyze the etymology and meaning of ancient Greek concept "techne" and "phusis",especially in times before Plato,and on this basis,to introduce "mimes is" and "art",and the relationship between them.The original meaning of " techn" was concerned to"craftsmanship,carpenter,artifice" etc.,later,it was also concerned to other productive and non-productive activity of human beings.Before Plato,the intellect,value neutrality,ethics,and so on,had been considered preliminarily by ancient Greek."Techne",was associated with"phusis",the other ancient Greek concept which played an important role in Pre-Socratic philosophy.In the ideology of ancient Greek,the nature(phusis)was not the natural world of what we today generally talk about,but the "essence,intrinsic" which is the other meaning of nature in modern English.It was in the thought of Pre-Socratics who engaged in thinking about the essence and intrinsic of all of the things around of them,they enlarged their thinking scope about natural world and human beings.Chapter two:To interpret the efficacy of "techne" in the formulating of the philosophy of Plato,and the critic of Plato to poetry,painting and drawing,music,also,the concordance relationship among them and " techne".By dichotomizing of the term of " techne",Plato philosophized it.His negative attitude about "techne" was concerned with his ideology of ethics;and his ideology of ethics was concerned with"ideap" what was understood as "phusis" in Pre-Socratic philosophy.If we examined with Plato' s negative attitude to poetry,painting and drawing,music in the circumstance of Modern Art world,we could discover what was actually negated by Plato is not that we today thought as art,but the "kitsch" And on the other hand,what was supported in poetry,painting and drawing,music by Plato was that directly came from "idea",or what was going back to "idea" in ecstasy.In the philosophy of Plato,similar with "techne","mimesis" was a neutral concept too,it served the function as tool or method between God,"idea" and human,things human created.Plato did not opposed to "mimesis" itself,but the imitated things human created that were against the " idea" ·Chapter three:To interpret the Aristotle' s notion of " techne",and his positive attitude of art.The philosophy of Aristotle was based on Plato' s philosophy,but was a reverse of Plato.The " techne" in Aristotle' s philosophy was more emphasizing on the opposition of"phusis",and was just only to human' s "techne",had nothing to do with Gods.So,not only was there no need for the term " techne" to confront the critics of ethics in Aristotle' s philosophy,but also became the positive method and tool to achieve ethical objection.Certainly,it must be included an explanation,that is,because "techne" was often a kind of action that could be imitated by others,and that "mimesis"often caused pleasant sensation of human beings,for the more,because the sensation of pleasant is not same to the sensation of happiness(hedys),especially,not all of the pleasant were to be "hedys",so,by the discriminations and critics to the views of Plato,Speusippos and Eudoxus about the sensation of pleasant,Aristotle differentiated the sensations of pleasant and happiness to accomplish his ethic critics to"mimesis",via the good or evil result of activities that caused the corresponding sensation.It also must be pointed out,the largest contribution that Aristotle had devoted to Greek aesthetics and philosophy of art is that his approval to the noumenon of " techne" itself,that is to say,the approval of Aristotle to the form itself of art and the skill itself of art.That was the transcendence in philosophy of Aristotle to that of Plato,and that coordinated with the foundation of modern aesthetics and philosophy of art in modern times.Chapter four:To analyze the status and efficiency of " techne" and" agathos"," kalos","hedys" in ancient Greek philosophy."Techne" and "agathos","kalos","hedys",were not fitted to the artistic objections only in ancient Greek,but mainly fitted to all the objections of ancient Greek philosophy as a whole.In the wholly philosophy of Plato and Aristotle,one hand," techne" and "agathos","kalos","hedys" played a structural function,were the pivot term in each philosophy;on the other hand,"techne" and "agathos","kalos","hedys" played a function in ethic critic.The uniformity and identity of metaphysics and ethics is the most remarkable maturity that the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle overreached their predecessors.Chapter five:To summarize and conclude the notions of ancient Greek aesthetics and philosophy of art in the ideology of ancient Greek term" techne".Although Plato and Aristotle separately had some remarks on poetry,painting and drawing,music,etc.,that including some important issues about what in our views is the ideology of art and aesthetics of Plato and Aristotle,but all of them was not the evidence that there had existed a self-contained aesthetics and philosophy of art in ancient Greek.The ideology of aesthetics and art was lurking in the ideology of" techne" in ancient Greek.Through the integration of Plotinus,his philosophy of the "hen",the notion of art and aesthetics of Plato and Aristotle operated a profound influence on the Neo-Platonism and Scholasticism,and philosophy of art and aesthetics in modern times.To study the ancient Greek ideology of art and aesthetics more thoroughly and reliably,it must compare the ideology of art and aesthetics in ancient Greek and in modern times with each other.Conclusion:The summary of this paper.