Definition:
In classical rhetoric, a true art or discipline.
Unlike Plato, Aristotle regarded rhetoric as a techne--not only a skill for communicating effectively but a coherent system for analyzing and classifying speeches.
See also:
Etymology:
From the Greek, "art" or "craftsmanship"Examples and Observations:
- "[I]n the Phaedrus, Plato suggests that the ability to adapt arguments to various types of people is central to a true art or techne of rhetoric. The speaker 'must discover the kind of speech that matches each type of nature.'"
(James A. Herrick, The History and Theory of Rhetoric, 3rd ed. Pearson, 2005) - "The Rhetoric is the earliest extant example of a complete techne, or art, of rhetoric. Aristotle's major contribution to rhetoric was his systematic and thorough treatment of invention--the art of finding the available arguments in a given case. . . . While Aristotle may have borrowed some of these proofs from other rhetoricians, he was the first to combine them into a systematic treatment of available argumentative strategies."
(Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, 3rd ed. Pearson, 2004) - "The early sophists used techne to describe the knowledge they purveyed; Protagoras described his instruction as a political techne; Isocrates, Aristotle's contemporary, also referred to his instruction as a logon techne, or art of discourse. After Plato's bifurcation of techne into the true and the sham, however, Aristotle's classification of art in the domain of productive knowledge was one of the last and most serious treatments of techne as a model of knowledge."
(Janet M. Atwill, Rhetoric Reclaimed: Aristotle and the Liberal Arts Tradition. Cornell Univ. Press, 1998) - "[R]hetoric is techne in the fullest sense: the activity it performs is not only cognitive but also transformative and practical as well. It does not limit itself to conveying neutral, sterilized facts (that would be docere), but its aim is to carry away the audience; to produce an effect on them; to mold them; to leave them different as a result of its impact."
(Renato Barilli, Rhetoric. Trans. by Giuliana Menozzi. Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1989)
Pronunciation: TEK-nay
Alternate Spellings: techné
