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because they know the reasons of the
things which are done; but we think that the artisans, like certain
inanimate objects, do things, but without knowing what they are doing
(as, for instance, fire burns);only whereas inanimate objects perform all
their actions in virtue of a certain natural quality, artisans perform
theirs through habit. Thus the master craftsmen are superior in
wisdom, not because they can do things, but because they possess a
theory and know the causes.In general
the sign of knowledge or ignorance is the ability to teach, and for
this reason we hold that art rather than experience is scientific
knowledge; for the artists can teach, but the others cannot.Further, we do not consider
any of the senses to be Wisdom. They are indeed our chief sources of
knowledge about particulars, but they do not tell us the reason for
anything, as for example why fire is hot, but only that it
is hot.It is therefore probable that at first
the inventor of any art which went further than the ordinary
sensations was admired by his fellow-men, not merely because some of
his inventions were useful, but as being a wise and superior
person.And as more
and more arts were discovered, some relating to the necessities and
some to the pastimes of life, the inventors of the latter were always
considered wiser than those of the former,
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because their branches of knowledge did
not aim at utility.Hence
when all the discoveries of this kind were fully developed, the
sciences which relate neither to pleasure nor yet to the necessities
of life were invented, and first in those places where men had
leisure. Thus the mathematical sciences originated in the neighborhood
of Egypt, because there the
priestly class was allowed leisure.1The
difference between art and science and the other kindred mental
activities has been stated in theEthics2; the reason for our
present discussion is that it is generally assumed that what is called
Wisdom3 is concerned with the primary causes and
principles, so that, as has been already stated, the man of experience
is held to be wiser than the mere possessors of any power of
sensation, the artist than the man of experience, the master craftsman
than the artisan; and the speculative sciences to be more learned than
the productive.
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