Leonid Zhmud The Origin of the History of Science in Classical Antiquity

Top. 145a 14–18, 157a 10. It agrees with the passages from EN, where we find the
division into técnh, méqodo~, prãxi~ (1094a 1), práxei~, técnai, ëpist4mai
(1094a 6–7), práttein, poie$n, qewría (1178b 20–21). In EN 1140a 2–3, Aristotle
notes that he considered this matter in exoteric writings as well, probably those of the
Academic period. Cf. classification of técnai in Pl. Phileb. 55c.
18
Met. 1026a 6–19, 1064b 1–3; cf. Phys. 193b 22–36. Aristotle related logical
sciences to the field of propaedeutics, which precedes the study of science itself
(
Met. 1005b 2–5).
19
Met. 987b 14–16, 28–29, 1028b 19–21, 1059b 6–8. Merlan. From Platonism to Neo-
platonism, 59f.
20
In different parts of the
Metaphysics, Aristotle gives this science various names
(sofía, prøth filosofía, qeologik2) and provides various definitions for its
subject matter:
Aristotle’s Metaphysics, ed. by W. D. Ross, Oxford 1924, lxxvii;
Flashar, H. Aristoteles,
Die Philosophie der Antike, Vol. 3, 333ff.
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Chapter 4: The historiographical project of the Lyceum
124
istotle came to deny that mathematical objects belong to substances and can
exist apart from sensible things. He did not deny, however, that they are existing
things (Ónta), so that his classification of science retained mathe¯mata as an in-
dependent branch of knowledge. 3) Physics was not a priority in the Academy;
Plato, though discussing, by way of exception, many of its problems in his
Ti-
maeus, never accorded to physics the status of a theoretical science. Aristotle
rehabilitates the Presocratic perì fúsew~ îstoría, turning it into a theoretical
science of the objects of sense perceptions (tà aısqhtá).
Let us point out how this classification differs from the Sophistic theory of
técnh and the contemporary conception of science. Aristotle applies his funda-
mental notion, ëpist2mh, to subjects now covered by theology and meta-
physics, natural philosophy and science, arts and handicrafts. In modern lan-
guages, the only term embracing all these kinds of activities is ‘culture’. Aris-
totle, however, does not invent a new term that would
equally correspond to all
the fields he endeavors to classify, but extends the notion of ëpist2mh, signify-
ing
one of them, to all the rest. The opening words of the Metaphysics, “All men
by nature desire to know”, best illustrate that his classification emphasizes the
cognitive element even in those fields we hardly associate with cognition at
all.
21
Aristotle considers all these ‘sciences’ from a purely intellectual point of
view as containing a certain kind of knowledge (ëpist2mh) used by people to
different ends: cognition, action, production.
22
When applied to the cognitive
sphere itself, ëpist2mh, from ‘knowledge’, formerly the cognitive aspect of
técnh, or ‘skill’ equivalent to técnh, turns into a branch of theoretical science.
In this sense, its principal goal is not practical utility, but cognition as such,
with
mathe¯mata as its privileged model. Being already a part of the theoretical
sciences,
 mathe¯mata presented no serious problems for Aristotle, while, as re-
gards physics, he still had to prove that it really belongs to this kind of sciences;
as for the subject matter and tasks of theology, he had to formulate them him-
self. At the same time, outside theoretical sciences, the notion of ëpist2mh
does not so much oppose técnh as include it or serve as its synonym.
23
Aris-
totle’s productive sciences correspond to what before (as well as after) him
were referred to as técnh, e.g. medicine; the same is also true of many practical
sciences – rhetoric, politics, etc.
Enriched with many new features, ëpist2mh at the same time inherited
three of its four major characteristics from the old model of técnh: it can be ac-
quired by learning; it has a particular aim; there are specialists able to achieve
21
On the intellectualism of the Sophistic theory of técnh see above, 46f.
22
The latter two spheres of human activity could be called ëpist2mh, since they relied
on correct knowledge, and not on routine skills or blind luck.
23
On Aristotelian usage, see Walzer, R.