I'm grateful for Lisa's philosophical promptings.
كتاب في معرفة الحيل الهندسية (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices), Al-Jazari.
... In any case, I find your correction of Aristotle, from
dynamis-energeia-entelechia to dynamis-techne-energeia-techne-entelechia-techne,
to be intriguing as well as needed. It does seem that Aristotle's triad is more
appropriate to the circle of nature. Also, what is missing in Aristotle is the
concept of Contingency as a form of human agency and mediation. Perhaps this is
necessarily aporetic for Aristotle because he presumes a certain teleological
anamnesis. The movement from dynamis/potentiality to energeia/being-at-work
presupposes that work brings about actuality. However, this bringing about of
actuality is mediated by the human agent of techne/memory, of
(re)production/recollection, or practice/theory. Also, the movement from
dynamis to energeia can represent an epistemic transition - that is, dynamis
then techne bring about new forces. This creates the (always-already) ground
for energeia to erupt spontaneously, contingently. Contingent movements as
Desire are the mediation to Actuality - that is, essence appears. Ousia
(Substance, essence) is recast by the subject-object becoming, in the movement
from energeia to techne. Lastly, in the movement to entelechia, to Actuality
proper, techne/memory has created a certain cosmological paradigm, or system(s)
of knowledge. However, like a fruit grown too ripe, it decays. Actuality must
pass into non-being, and what survives destruction gains objectivity. Sorry
for being Hegelian here but Aristotle may have benefitted from having a concept
of the human Subject. Throughout the movement of
dynamis-techne-energeia-techne-entelechia-techne, human subjectivities are at
work, mediating fulfillment of actual processes. It's also interesting that
your correction brackets or displaces the telos of entelechia, by ending with
techne. This is significant because it shows the space-time(s) of
reconfiguration. It allows for episteme (or paradigm) shifts, allows for
variances in recollective projects and not just (re)production of Actuality. Even as (re)production, techne outruns Actuality - innovation outruns its use
value. Relatedly, techne as aleatory invention (as opposed to Science) allows
for an outrunning of normative belief structures, for better or for worse. So,
I do see how techne as subjective and at times aleatory
(Re)production/Recollection is the mediation missing in Aristotle's triad.
Elephant Automaton Clock, 1600-1625. Gilt metal with enameling. Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago.
