The puzzle at the heart of Plato and Aristotle’s appraisal of work is that they both combine high praise for craftsmanship with frequent denigration of craftsmen. W.B. Yeats wondered, “[H]ow can we know the dancer from the dance?” We might ask how Plato and Aristotle distinguish craftsmanship from craftsmen and why they honor the first and disparage the second. Both thinkers exclude craftsmen from citizenship, and yet Plato calls his philosophical rulers “the best possible craftsmen” and he calls ruling “the royal craft.”