Plato's View in Human Knowledge
Plato presents three different views about knowledge in Meno, Republic, and Theaetetus. In Meno's case, Plato believes knowledge as something innate in us when we are born; in his later view, in Republic, Plato believes we perceive things and gain knowledge; and from the last view, in Theaetus, Plato believes knowledge is the combination of a true opinion and a rational opinion. Strangely enough, Plato's views in Meno, Republic, and Theaetetus are similar, regarding the characteristics of knowledge. Despite that, Plato's views in Meno, Republic, and Theaetetus have different degrees of weakness in developing his argument about knowledge.
The concrete characteristics of knowledge of Plato's views in Meno, Republic, and Theaetetus are similar. According to Ron's Palace,
there are two essential characteristics of the soul. First, knowledge must be certain and infallible. Second, knowledge must have as its object that which is genuinely real as contrasted with that which is an appearance only. Because that which is fully real must, for Plato, be fixed, permanent, and unchanging, he identified the real with the ideal realm of being as opposed to the physical world of becoming (Internet).
Before we are born, our souls stay in the in invisible world and saw all the "Forms" of all things. The "Form", according to Plato, is eternal, unchanging, and universal. In the dialogue between Socrates and Meno (slave boy), according to Moser's book, Socrates mentions that
his soul must remain always possessed of this knowledge…. And if the truth of all things always exists in the soul, then the soul is immortal….and try to discover by recollection what you do not now know, or rather wha...
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...he differences are the degree of weaknesses of each of his view. I think Plato presents a strong argument on we define knowledge. In Theaetetus's case, realistically we can tell that we have some degrees of knowledge by having tests; I think this argument is the best. This definition of knowledge, I think, can apply to our world today. Most importantly, knowledge is involved not only in what we learn, but also in what interpret and process from what we learn in our mind.
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Jowett, B. The Dialogues of Plato Translated into English with Analyses and
Introductions. New York: MacMillan and Co, 1892.
Plato. "Meno." "Republic." and "Theatetus." Eds. Paul K. Moser and Arnold vander
Nat. Human Knowledge Classical and Contemporary Approaches. New York:
Oxford University Press 1995.
"Ron's Palace." Feb 13 2000.
The Theaetetus is composed of three main parts, each part being allotted to a different definition of what constitutes as knowledge. While the Theaetetus is focused primarily on how to define knowledge, the arguments faced by Socrates and Theaetetus greatly resemble arguments made by different later theories of knowledge and justification. I will argue in this essay that due to the failure faced by Socrates and Theaetetus in their attempt at defining knowledge, the conclusion that would be best fit for their analysis would be that of skepticism. In doing this I will review the three main theses, the arguments within their exploration that resemble more modern theories of knowledge and justification, and how the reason for the failure of the theories presented in the Theaetetus are strikingly similar to those that cause later theories of epistemology to fail.
Socrates argues in premise one that the form will never admit its opposite, which is accurate if the argument is true. He relates the soul here to other examples of opposites further validating premise one. One example involves fire and ice. Snow is always cold, and cannot admit the opposite of cold, heat, without withdrawing or disappearing completely; fire is always hot, and cannot admit of the opposite of hot, cold, with...
It is thought that Meno's paradox is of critical importance both within Plato's thought and within the whole history of ideas. It's major importance is that for the first time on record, the possibility of achieving knowledge from the mind's own resources rather than from experience is articulated, demonstrated and seen as raising important philosophical questions.
Plato, like Pythagoras, believes that knowledge of pure Forms and of “Being” is the direct path to someone living a life of salvation and of the highest quality. Plato, like Pythagoras, also believed that all of the forms are geometric figures and mathematical in nature. Also, Plato, like Heraclitus, believed that our world is constantly changing, or in a constant flux. Plato, also agreed with Parmenides, who believed that the real world is not the same as the world of our experience.
In the Meno, Plato justifies the possibility for one’s mind to uncover knowledge. Knowing one can obtain knowledge motivates the mind to gain more knowledge. Plato explains the theory of recollection by first questioning what virtue is, then demonstrating the process through the questioning of a slave boy. Although a few weaknesses present themselves in Plato’s argument, Plato presents a valid theory on how our minds can obtain knowledge. This paper focuses on exploring Plato’s theory of recollection by examining the strengths and weaknesses of his discussion with Meno.
Our soul has already had to have these concepts before birth. Which brings him to believe the soul is capable of existing without the body, and so it is immortal.
In Plato’s Theaetetus, Socrates examines the first definition of knowledge that theaetetus gives that knowledge is perception. Socrates gives us many example that both supports and refutes that knowledge is perception. The basic claim from Protagoras is that truth is based on the perception of every man. This means that things are to any person as they seem to that person. Socrates explains to us Protagoras’s view with the cold wind example. He say that through Protagoras theory, the wind is cold to the person that feels cold, and the wind is warm to the person that feels warm. Both “the wind is cold” and “the wind is war” is true according to Protagoras and it is based on the perception of the person. Then we learn from Socrates that if knowledge and truth is based on perception then everything that has perception has his own set of knowledge and truth. Also sense Protagoras not considering himself to be a god, and is on the same level of us then wouldn’t the truth and knowledge he definite in his doctrine only be his own set truth and knowledge for he only knows his own perspective.
Thirdly, Plato and Aristotle hold contrasting views on the mechanism of finding the truth. Plato relied on the ability to reason in his attempt to explain the world. He produced his ideal world based on reason since such a world lies beyond the realm of the five senses. Plato ignored his senses because he believed his senses only revealed the imperfect forms of the ordinary world.
For Plato, Forms are eternal and changeless, but there is a relationship between these eternal and changeless Forms and particular things we perceive by means of our senses in the world. These particular things change in accordance to the perceiver and the perceiver’s environment and this is why Plato thought that such things do not possess real existence. For Plato, onl...
Plato claims that self-existent and unchanging forms and not the reality obtained through sensory experience are perfect concepts for objects that can be seen in our physical reality. In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato explains how a slave could be set free from chains to the shadows of this world by becoming aware of the higher reality of forms (the objects’ true forms once they leave the cave). His allegory claims that all humans are held prisoner in darkness as we believe actual reality to be the things that we can see around us. However, there is a true reality that exists beyond the physical world. For Plato, he believed we experience this absolute reality when our soul detaches from the body. He believed that the body and soul are two
The soul can be defined as a perennial enigma that one may never understand. But many people rose to the challenge of effectively explaining just what the soul is about, along with outlining its desires. Three of these people are Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine. Even though all three had distinctive views, the similarities between their views are strikingly vivid. The soul indeed is an enigma to mankind and the only rational explanation of its being is yet to come and may never arrive.
Plato. 1941 [385 B.C.E.]. The Republic of Plato. Trans. Francis Macdonald Cornford. New York: Oxford University Press.
...ver changing and so is the world we live in. Plato: What it comes down to is that true knowledge is that of which is truly real. This is because objects that are of the true knowledge are just forms and that is because objects of a person's sense perception are only real to a certain extent and that certain extent is only because they participate in the Forms. Plato: Well class that is all we have for today. Thank you for listening to our theories, and we hope that it gave you something to think about. Class dismissed! The side I believe with most would be based on Plato's Theory of Knowledge. The reason I chose his theory is because I do truly feel knowledge is a true belief of one's own perception. The way I view things is different than how someone else views them. For example; an very old wilted tree would look beautiful to me but someone else may see it as ugly
This essay attempts to present a critical analysis of the literary works of Plato. Plato's literary work span is wide containing issues pertaining to justice, social life, specific virtues, good ruler's knowledge, value of justice, love and many others. The philosophical tones of Plato resembled very much with that of Socrates addressing the similar issues in his own Platonic version of dialogues. The Republic and the citizen played an important role in his work in addressing to the various social issues and intricate understanding of the human nature of human responsibilities in a republic. Plato's parents were wealthy and influential Athenian who chose Socrates as a teacher of Plato. After the death of Socrates, Plato undertook travel journeys to Egypt and Italy and analyzed the life specific issues alongside the students of Pythagoras spending several years advising the ruling family of Syracuse. Plato was a literary fellow who had established his own philosophy school trying to convey the teachings of Socrates. His works included Scoratic thinking style and mathematical learning.
He believes that the soul takes shelter within the body. The three parts are all located in three different areas: reason is in the mind, spirited is in the heart, and desire is in the stomach. Reason is what controls the whole soul (Plato p. 49). The mind tells the body what to do, how to feel, what to say. The mind controls our appetites and decides who to honor according to memories about those people or events. The spirit is in the heart, the heart is what shows us how we feel about others. The stomach is desire as we crave to have certain possessions such as food or other physical materials in life. If what Plato is saying is any truth, than the argument presented that our soul is our life and our body is nothing but what carries our soul, is therefore false and unsupported by this idea of the mind, heart and stomach. Then so, our thought that Plato’s idea that we can make ourselves alive, is fairly reasonable and true. This is because it is more understandable to say that the reason why our souls are what makes us alive is because our souls are physically made of three parts that control the way we live. Our body is now not only what carries life for us, but what allows us to keep it. Our soul is different from the body because it represents life, but it is our body that allows our lives to