芸術と技術

Abstract

It is by means of clarifying the meanings of two words, 'art' and 'technique', that the author tries to defend the position of art in an age of technique. In the course of history words naturally changed their meanings, and these changes in the meanings of words tend to result in rendering our thoughts indefinite and even in obscuring the meaning of our own existence. A historical investigation, therefore, might be helpful to our task. As is well known, the separation of art from technique which serves only for practical purposes of daily life took place in Renaissance time, and since then art became not only a means to recognize various things in our world but also a human activity to materialize beauty. After Industrial Revolution, however, scientific technology has made an enormous progress, which gave rise to an age of technology; by now technique no longer means manual dexterity but academic knowledge. The fact is that technology is predominating over our age, and influencing our conception of nature; we are now liable to regard nature as something to exploit and conquer. The exploitation of nature, however, stands in a sharp contrast with the love for nature which to restore, the author suggests, would be a defense of art in the age of technology. If we loose our capacity for love, we loose art, too.