Aristotle on Metaphysics(2004) - Bibotu.com

THE ULTIMATE EXPLANATIONS OF ALL THINGS 31for its consequences, but for its own sake, but he also thinks that the searchfor such knowledge, and the enjoyment and contemplation of it once found,is a central constituent in the happy life, the life worth living for a humanbeing (see especially Nicomachean Ethics, book X).2How explanatory knowledge differs from senseperception and experienceAt the opening of the Metaphysics (I. 1) <strong>Aristotle</strong> argues that there is afundamental difference between sense perception (aisthēsis) and experience(empeiria), on the one hand, and science (epistēmē) and art (technē), on theother hand. Each of these is a capacity for knowledge, and we humanspossess all of these capacities, whereas other animals possess only senseperception and, to a limited extent, experience. But the fundamentaldifference between the first two and the last two capacities for knowledgeis this: sense perception and experience are capacities for knowing thatsomething is the case, but not for knowing why it is the case; science andart, on the other hand, are capacities for knowing why something is thecase. So, unlike sense perception and experience, science and art arecapacities for explanatory knowledge, i.e. knowledge of why something isthe case or why it is as it is.The distinction between non-explanatory knowledge and explanatoryknowledge is absolutely central in <strong>Aristotle</strong>. But it is particularly importantto recognize what capacities for knowledge he thinks are capacities forexplanatory knowledge, and especially what capacities he thinks are notcapacities for explanatory knowledge. For he argues that neither senseperception (aisthēsis) nor experience (empeiria) are capacities forexplanatory knowledge.By ‘sense perception’ (aisthēsis), he means the capacity for knowledgeassociated with the senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste—botheach sense in isolation and the senses taken together. By ‘experience’(empeiria) he means a particular capacity for knowledge, which isgenerated from sense perception and memory:But from memory is generated experience in human beings [but hehas just said that other animals also possess experience, though to alimited extent]. For many memories of the same thing produce thecapacity for a single experience [of that thing].(I. 1, 980 b 28–981 a 1)