Emily Hulme

Philosophy Among Professionals: Techne in Plato

Under Contract with Cambridge UP

Who has a legitimate claim to “wisdom”? Socrates famously belittled politicians and artists with pretensions to wisdom; but he allowed that one often-overlooked group in his society—the craftsmen—actually might have some valuable expertise. Philosophy Among Professionals: Plato on Techne examines Plato’s use of the idea of techne—craft, skill, or profession—in his dialogues and argues that the radical proposals of the Republic are consequences of Plato’s vision of philosophy itself as a specialized craft.

The book develops a new understanding of this central term in Greek philosophy by synthesizing evidence from a number of usually separate streams in classical studies: literature, epigraphy, and art history. Current scholarship in the field has emphasized techne as an attractive model of rationality for Plato, Aristotle, and even contemporary philosophers working in the virtue ethics tradition. My account brings out a different side of techne: important pieces of evidence outside of Plato—such as the questions craftsmen asked at the oracle of Dodona in Northern Greece and depictions of craftsmen in vase painting—point to an idea of craft as an embodied social practice that involves lengthy training. This notion, far from being foreign to the Platonic dialogues, is actually crucial to our proper understanding of his epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy. For Plato thinks philosophy itself, like any of the trades pursued by craftsmen in his society, is not just the result of intellectual genius but also the product of long experience and hard work. Philosophers, on Plato’s reckoning, are not born, but made; not brilliant prodigies, but seasoned professionals.

Outline of Chapters:

1. What is Techne?
2. Plato’s Vocabulary of Expertise
3. Consumer Fraud in the Marketplace of Ideas: Plato on Rhetoric and Sophistry
4. Philosophers as Professionals: Philosophy-Rulership as a Techne
5. Kindred Arts of Philosophy: Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman