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Essays on Plato’s Epistemology

Franco Trabattoni
Series: Ancient and Medieval Philosophy - Series 1
Copyright Date: 2016
Edition: 1
Published
by: Leuven University Press
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp
Pages: 336
OPEN ACCESS
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1b9x1mp

Table of Contents

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Front Matter
(pp. I-VI)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.1

Table of Contents
(pp. VII-VIII)
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INTRODUCTION
(pp. IX-XXVI)
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CHAPTER 1 THOUGHT AS INNER DIALOGUE (Theaet. 189e4–190a6)

(pp. 1-12)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.4
In the essays published under the title of Wahrheit und Methode – Ergänzungen – Register¹
Hans Georg Gadamer makes several references to the passage from the Theaetetus (189e4–
190a6) in which Socrates claims that thinking (διανοεῖσθαι) is a conversation the soul has
with itself on the matters it is investigating.² Gadamer invokes this statement in support of
one of the fundamental assumptions of philosophical hermeneutics: the idea that thought is
inseparable from speech,³ and hence that there can be no kind of thought prior to language.
Indeed, in this case – or rather only in this case – the exercise of understanding amounts to...

CHAPTER 2 LOGOS AND DOXA The Meaning of the Refutation of the Third Definition of
Epistêmê in the Theaetetus
(pp. 13-30)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.5
The three definitions of knowledge (epistêmê, ἐπιστήμη) Theaetetus presents in the dialogue
named after him are matched by three different refutations on Socrates’ part, so that
ultimately the dialogue ends without having reached any real conclusion. Critics have found
all this rather surprising, at least for three plausible reasons:
1. from a thematic and chronological point of view, the Theaetetus falls within the group of so-
called ‘dialectical dialogues’; hence, it is not quite clear why Plato with this work chose to
revert to the aporetic-elenchic method centred around the critical teaching of Socrates – a
method typical of the philosopher’s early...

CHAPTER 3 THE AETETUS 200D–201C Truth without Certainty¹

(pp. 31-46)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.6
In a paper written many years ago² Myles Burnyeat addressed the final argument of the
second part of the Theaetetus, where Socrates aims to prove that knowledge is not identical
with true belief (200d–201c). In order to reach such a conclusion, Socrates introduces the
notion ITHAKA
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CHAPTER 4 FOUNDATIONALISM OR COHERENTISM? On the Third Definition of Epistêmê

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in the Theaetetus
(pp. 47-64)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.7
In an essay on Donald Davidson, Mario De Caro writes:
According to a classic definition, knowledge is a “true belief that is justified”.¹
It is easy to see that this definition is a rather faithful rendition of the last definition of
ἐπιστήμη analysed (and refuted) in the Theaetetus (201C9–d1):

knowledge is true opinion accompanied by logos (τήν … μετὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀληθῆ δόξαν
ἐπιστήμη εἶναι).

This definition closely resembles what Plato had written in the Meno , where Socrates states
that opinions (doxai) only grow firm through reasoning about the cause (which is how I believe
the iunctura αἰτίας...

CHAPTER 5 WHAT IS THE MEANING OF PLATO’S THEAETETUS? Some Remarks on a New

Annotated Translation of the Dialogue
(pp. 65-94)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.8
In an attempt to define the overall meaning of the Theaetetus, and especially explain its
aporetic outcome, Ferrari draws upon the old thesis suggested by Cornford:² that no
definition of epistêmê may be provided without referring to the ideas; and since the ideas are
never mentioned in the dialogue, an aporetic outcome seems like a natural and in a way
inevitable conclusion. More in particular, according to Ferrari the Theaetetus does not reach
any conclusions since it – at least apparently – draws a link between epistêmê and doxa.
According to Ferrari, the problem may be solved, however, by turning to other...

CHAPTER 6 DAVID SEDLEY’S THEAETETUS

(pp. 95-110)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.9 Cookie Settings
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possess a conclusive character. What makes the matter even worse is the fact that this
scepticism seems to concern the very issue of epistemology: for the dialogue provides a
series of attempts to define knowledge that ultimately lead to no definite outcome. In...

CHAPTER 7 THE “VIRTUOUS CIRCLE” OF LANGUAGE. On the Meaning of Plato’s Cratylus

(pp. 111-138)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.10
The analysis I intend to carry out here rests on the general presuppositions I have already
expounded and relied on in the previous chapters, and which I shall be concisely listing below
(starting from the most obvious and unanimously shared ones, for which no specific remarks
are required).
1) According to Plato, knowledge ¹ may be divided into sensory knowledge and intellectual
knowledge.
1) Only intellectual knowledge has any philosophical value and may therefore be described as
knowledge in the proper sense of the term.
3) The object of intellectual knowledge are not sensible objects, which are often
characterised in...

CHAPTER 8 THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PHILOSOPHER

(pp. 139-166)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.11
Faced with the objection Glaucon raises at the beginning of Book 5 concerning the sharing of
women and children, Socrates is forced to embark on a lengthy and complex speech that
follows three strands of reasoning. The discussion concerning the third strand, the one we
shall now be focusing on, begins in the final section of Book 7 (473c) and extends practically
until the end of Book 7. Its aim is to prove the well-known hypothesis according to which there
can be no happiness, whether private or public, unless philosophersCookie
become rulers or rulers
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Cookie Policy. SCIENCES PLAY IN THE METAPHOR
OF THE LINE?
(pp. 167-188)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.12

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It is no exaggeration to state that the critical debate surrounding the metaphor of the divided
line, featured in Book 6 of the Republic, has spawned an endless secondary literature on the
subject. Fortunately, we can here draw upon a significant and valuable bibliographical
resource, which provides an analytical survey of the one hundred and eighty years of research
on the topic (1804–1984).¹ Given that I cannot review even just a fair share of these
contributions in the present article, I shall refer readers searching for a broader overview of
the various suggested interpretations to the book in question....

CHAPTER 10 SOCRATES’ ERROR IN THE PARMENIDES

(pp. 189-198)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.13
The part of the Parmenides that is regarded as marking a transition from the author’s
discussion of the doctrine of the ideas to his analysis of the eight (or nine) hypotheses
illustrated in the dialogue has chiefly been studied with the aim of understanding the nature
of the exercise which Parmenides presents the young Socrates with, sometimes in order to
evaluate to what degree the executive part of this project matches the guidelines provided in
these pages.¹ What has not been studied as much – at least, judging from the articles and
comments I have examined – is the issue of what...

CHAPTER 11 ON THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF PLATO’S “METAPHYSICS” (Starting

from the Parmenides)
(pp. 199-218)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.14
The Parmenides is arguably the most difficult and puzzling dialogue in Plato’s corpus. This
may be the reason why interest in the text on the part of philosophers, including ones chiefly
engaged on the theoretical level, has not lapsed but has even gathered momentum in recent
years.¹ From a historical and exegetical perspective, it is most tempting to approach the many
problems the dialogue raises from new points of view and to present what are at least partly
original solutions. This repeated work of analysis concerns both the dialectical can of worms
of the second and longer part of the...
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(pp. “Cookie Settings”. For
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In the previous chapter I have sought to demonstrate that the first section of the Parmenides
provides a kind of ‘transcendental dialectic’ in the Kantian sense of the term, which is to say:
an attempt to illustrate what unsolvable (as well as philosophically rather uninteresting)
difficulties emerge if problems are formulated in the wrong way. From this point of view, I
perfectly agree with the conclusions reached by Francisco Gonzalez, who rejects the idea that
the object of the criticism offered in the Parmenides might be the theory of the ideas found in
Plato’s mature dialogues, arguing instead that “the...

CHAPTER 13 THE UNITY OF VIRTUE, SELF-PREDICATION AND THE “THIRD MAN” IN

PROTAGORAS 329E–332A
(pp. 241-264)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.16
This section of the Protagoras has generally been studied from two different points of view.
Those chiefly investigating the problem of the unity of virtue will connect it to the remaining
section of the Protagoras and to the topics of Socratic-Platonic ethics common to the
dialogues from the first period. Those focusing on the fact that we find here some rather
exemplary instances of so-called self-predication will instead approach these passages in
order to examine the epistemological problems related to the theory of ideas (in particularly
the vexata quaestio of the “third man”). Without wishing to downplay the significance of...

CHAPTER 14 PLATO: PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS AND KNOWLEDGE An Overview

(pp. 265-
288)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.17
The image of the philosopher in Plato’s works oscillates between two opposite extremes and
two different levels. The first level concerns the relationship between philosophy and politics.
On the one hand, there is the portrayal of the philosopher as sketched out in the Phaedo:
Socrates is forced – as actually happened – to leave the city, but he does not particularly
regret it, for this is the only way he can fulfil his lifelong aim. According to him, all those who
apply themselves to philosophizing correctly (ὅσοι τυγχάνουσιν ὀρθῶς ἁπτόμενοι
φιλοσοφίας) do not really concern themselves with anything but dying and death...
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289-300)
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INDEX
(pp. 301-308)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.19

Back Matter
(pp. 309-310)
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1b9x1mp.20

This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0

International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Funding is provided by Knowledge Unlatched Select 2018: HSS Backlist

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