What we don't talk about when we don't talk about craft

Wash U had a "craft lecture" last night by Michael Palmer. It was a very erudite and compelling talk, and I enjoyed meeting MP. What struck me is that there are two basic approaches: the "I don't know what technique" is approach and the nuts-and-bolts approach. Palmer is in the first camp. I waver every second between the knowable and the unknowable philosophy. There are quite specific particulars that can be known and studied. On the other hand, the approach that takes them as finally knowable is misguided. It's a dialectic, an aporia of multiple layers. I don't know how to resolve it.