Experience and Expertise: Greek views concerning the acquisition of expert knowledge

Type: 
Lecture
Audience: 
Open to the Public
Building: 
Nador u. 13
Room: 
001
Thursday, December 1, 2011 - 5:30pm
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Date: 
Thursday, December 1, 2011 - 5:30pm to 7:30pm

The concept of techne, skill or expertise, had a long history in the Greek world. The term is found already in Homer; but it is in the Classical period that the concept itself begins to be investigated. In particular, the question of whether medicine qualifies or not was the subject of debate in the Sophistical milieu of the late 5th-century, as exemplified by the Hippocratic text On the Techne. Both Plato and Aristotle contribute to the attempt to characterize the boundaries of the concept, and hence to determine whether or not rhetoric (for instance) qualifies - Plato says 'no', Aristotle demurs. Such questions resurface in later antiquity, in the context both of philosophical definition and of practical as well as theoretical disputes as to the nature and foundation of medical practice. This talk will trace certain key features of this historical development.

R.J. Hankinson was educated in Britain, and has taught in Canada and the United States. He is currently professor of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Texas at Austin, and head of the Program in History and Philosophy of Science. He has published several books and numerous articles on various aspects of ancient philosophy and science, including The Sceptics and Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought. He is also the editor of the Cambridge Companion to Galen as well as the journal Apeiron.