Theaetetus replies by mentioned geometry, the sciences and crafts, but Socrates points out that this is no answer to his question, for he had asked, not of what knowledge is, but what knowledge is. The young mathematical student Theaetetus enters into conversation with Socrates and the latter asks him what he thinks knowledge to be. Sense-perception is neither the one nor the other. His method is to elicit dialectically a clear statement of the theory of knowledge implied by the Heraclitean ontology and the epistemology of Protagoras, to exhibit its consequences and to show that the conception of "knowledge" thus attained does not fulfil the requirements of true knowledge at all, since knowledge must be, Plato assumes, (i) infallible, and (ii) of what is. Accordingly he sets himself the task of challenging the theory of Protagoras that knowledge is perception, that what appears to an individual to be true is true for that individual. In the Theaetetus Plato's first object is the refutation of false theories. Plato inherited from his Master this conviction that there can be knowledge in the sense of objective and universally valid knowledge but he wished to demonstrate this fact theoretically, and so he came to probe deeply into the problems of knowledge, asking what knowledge is and of what. He was convinced that ethical conduct must be founded on knowledge, and that that knowledge must be knowledge of eternal values which are not subject to the shifting and changing impressions of sense or of subjective opinion, but are there are for all men and for all peoples and all ages.
Socrates, interested like the Sophists in practical conduct, refused to acquiesce in the idea that truth is relative, that there is no stable norm, no abiding object of knowledge. We will make an attempt to separate the epistemology from the ontology, but the attempt cannot be wholly successful, owing to the very character of the Platonic epistemology. This means that ontological and epistemological themes are frequently intermingled or treated pari passu, as in the Republic.
Plato was not a critical thinker in the sense of imanuel Kant, and though it is possible to read into his thoughts an anticipation of the Critical Philosophy (at least, this is what some writers have endeavoured to do), he is inclined to assume that we can have knowledge and to be primarily interested in the question what The task of summarising the Platonic epistemology and giving it in systematic form is complicated by the fact that it is difficult to separate Plato's epistemology from his ontology. Positive epistemological doctrine is certainly contained in the Republic, but some of the logically prior presuppositions of that doctrine are contained in the later dialogue, the Theaetetus. This procedure would seem to be justified by the fact that the Republic is not primarily an epistemological work at all. Accordingly, we propose first of all to summarise the argument of the Theaetetus, before going on to examine the doctrine of the Republic in regard to knowledge. We may say, then, that the positive treatment preceded the negative and critical, or that Plato, having made up his mind what knowledge is, turned later to the consideration of difficulties and to the systematic refutation of theories which he believed to be false. 1 In a book like the present one, however, it seems best to treat first of the negative and critical side of the Platonic epistemology, before proceeding to consider his positive doctrine. Moreover, Plato had already, by the time he came to write the Theaetetus, elaborated his theory of degrees of "knowledge," corresponding to the hierarchy of being in the Republic. The Theaetetus is indeed devoted to the consideration of problems of knowledge, but its conclusion is negative, since Plato is therein concerned to refute false theories of knowledge, especially the theory that knowledge is sense-perception. Plato's theory of knowledge cannot be found systematically expressed and completely elaborated in any one dialogue. The text, and illustrations except as noted,
0 kommentar(er)
