§1.1#2ἀλλʼ ὅμως τό γε εἰδέναι καὶ τὸ ἐπαΐειν τῇ τέχνῃ τῆς ἐμπειρίας ὑπάρχειν οἰόμεθα μᾶλλον, καὶ σοφωτέρους τοὺς τεχνίτας τῶν ἐμπείρων ὑπολαμβάνομεν, ὡς κατὰ τὸ εἰδέναι μᾶλλον ἀκολουθοῦσαν τὴν σοφίαν πᾶσι·
Yet we think that knowing and understanding belong to art rather than to experience, and we regard artists as wiser than men of experience, as wisdom closely attends all men rather in proportion to their knowing.
τοῦτο δʼ ὅτι οἱ μὲν τὴν αἰτίαν ἴσασιν οἱ δʼ οὔ.
And this because the former know the cause, but the latter do not.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔμπειροι τὸ ὅτι μὲν ἴσασι, διότι δʼ οὐκ ἴσασιν· οἱ δὲ τὸ διότι καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν γνωρίζουσιν.
For men of experience know that a thing is so, but they do not know why; whereas the others know the 'why' and the cause.
διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἀρχιτέκτονας περὶ ἕκαστον τιμιωτέρους καὶ μᾶλλον εἰδέναι νομίζομεν τῶν χειροτεχνῶν καὶ σοφωτέρους, ὅτι τὰς αἰτίας τῶν ποιουμένων ἴσασιν (τοὺς δʼ, ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν ἀψύχων ἔνια ποιεῖ μέν, οὐκ εἰδότα δὲ ποιεῖ ἃ ποιεῖ, οἷον καίει τὸ πῦρ—τὰ μὲν οὖν ἄψυχα φύσει τινὶ ποιεῖν τούτων ἕκαστον τοὺς δὲ χειροτέχνας διʼ ἔθος), ὡς οὐ κατὰ τὸ πρακτικοὺς εἶναι σοφωτέρους ὄντας ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ λόγον ἔχειν αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰς αἰτίας γνωρίζειν.
Therefore we also consider the master-craftsmen in each department to be more honorable and to know more than the manual laborers, and to be wiser, because they know the causes of the things that are done (whereas the latter, just as some inanimate things do make or do things but do them without knowing what they do—as fire burns—so while inanimate things do each of these things by a certain nature, manual laborers do them through habit), on the ground that they are wiser not from being practical, but from possessing the theory themselves and knowing the causes.
ὅλως τε σημεῖον τοῦ εἰδότος καὶ μὴ εἰδότος τὸ δύνασθαι διδάσκειν ἐστίν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν τέχνην τῆς ἐμπειρίας ἡγούμεθα μᾶλλον ἐπιστήμην εἶναι· δύνανται γάρ, οἱ δὲ οὐ δύνανται διδάσκειν.
And in general, a sign of one who knows and one who does not know is the ability to teach, and for this reason we think art rather than experience is science; for the former can teach, but the latter cannot.
ἔτι δὲ τῶν αἰσθήσεων οὐδεμίαν ἡγούμεθα εἶναι σοφίαν· καίτοι κυριώταταί γʼ εἰσὶν αὗται τῶν καθʼ ἕκαστα γνώσεις· ἀλλʼ οὐ λέγουσι τὸ διὰ τί περὶ οὐδενός, οἷον διὰ τί θερμὸν τὸ πῦρ, ἀλλὰ μόνον ὅτι θερμόν.
Again, we do not regard any of the senses as wisdom; yet they are indeed the most authoritative knowledges of individuals; but they do not tell the 'why' of anything, as why fire is hot, but only that it is hot.
τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον εἰκὸς τὸν ὁποιανοῦν εὑρόντα τέχνην παρὰ τὰς κοινὰς αἰσθήσεις θαυμάζεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων μὴ μόνον διὰ τὸ χρήσιμον εἶναί τι τῶν εὑρεθέντων ἀλλʼ ὡς σοφὸν καὶ διαφέροντα τῶν ἄλλων· πλειόνων δʼ εὑρισκομένων τεχνῶν καὶ τῶν μὲν πρὸς τἀναγκαῖα τῶν δὲ πρὸς διαγωγὴν οὐσῶν, ἀεὶ σοφωτέρους τοὺς τοιούτους ἐκείνων ὑπολαμβάνεσθαι διὰ τὸ μὴ πρὸς χρῆσιν εἶναι τὰς ἐπιστήμας αὐτῶν.
It is natural, then, that at first he who invented any art whatever beyond the common senses was admired by men, not only because some of his discoveries were useful, but as being wise and differing from others; and as more arts were discovered, some for the necessities of life and others for recreation, the inventors of the latter were always regarded as wiser than those of the former, because their sciences did not aim at utility.
ὅθεν ἤδη πάντων τῶν τοιούτων κατεσκευασμένων αἱ μὴ πρὸς ἡδονὴν μηδὲ πρὸς τἀναγκαῖα τῶν ἐπιστημῶν εὑρέθησαν, καὶ πρῶτον ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις οὗ πρῶτον ἐσχόλασαν·
Hence, when all such things had already been established, those of the sciences which do not aim at pleasure or at necessity were discovered, and first in those places where men first had leisure.
διὸ περὶ Αἴγυπτον αἱ μαθηματικαὶ πρῶτον τέχναι συνέστησαν, ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἀφείθη σχολάζειν τὸ τῶν ἱερέων ἔθνος.
This is why the mathematical arts were first established around Egypt, for there the caste of priests was allowed to be at leisure.
εἴρηται μὲν οὖν ἐν τοῖς ἠθικοῖς τίς διαφορὰ τέχνης καὶ ἐπιστήμης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ὁμογενῶν· οὗ δʼ ἕνεκα νῦν ποιούμεθα τὸν λόγον τοῦτʼ ἐστίν, ὅτι τὴν ὀνομαζομένην σοφίαν περὶ τὰ πρῶτα αἴτια καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς ὑπολαμβάνουσι πάντες· ὥστε, καθάπερ εἴρηται πρότερον, ὁ μὲν ἔμπειρος τῶν ὁποιανοῦν ἐχόντων αἴσθησιν εἶναι δοκεῖ σοφώτερος, ὁ δὲ τεχνίτης τῶν ἐμπείρων, χειροτέχνου δὲ ἀρχιτέκτων, αἱ δὲ θεωρητικαὶ τῶν ποιητικῶν μᾶλλον.
Now, the difference between art and science and the other things of the same class has been stated in the Ethics; but the purpose of our present discussion is to show this: that all men suppose what is called 'wisdom' to be concerned with the first causes and principles; so that, as was said before, the man of experience is thought to be wiser than those who have any sensation whatever, the artist than the men of experience, the master-craftsman than the manual laborer, and the speculative sciences than the productive.
ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἡ σοφία περί τινας ἀρχὰς καὶ αἰτίας ἐστὶν ἐπιστήμη, δῆλον.
It is clear, then, that wisdom is a science of certain principles and causes.