Plato’s Theory: Understanding Types of Knowledge
Plato’s Types of Knowledge and Their Value
Plato identified two primary types of knowledge:
- Sense Knowledge (Doxa): This is derived from our senses and represents opinion.
- Intellectual Knowledge (Episteme): This is acquired through intellect or mind, enabling us to grasp and manage ideas.
A central tenet of Plato’s philosophy is the assertion that ideas or concepts exist independently, preceding our comprehension. Therefore, knowing involves discovering the appropriate concept for each object or subject in any mental construction or development.
Plato suggests that only intellectual knowledge provides us with truth. Knowledge gained through our senses is subject to a constantly evolving world, rendering what was once considered true immediately invalid. True knowledge must, therefore, pertain to unchanging objects. These ideal objects, ideas, and concepts are the real goal of human knowledge. They not only allow us to discover the truth about the physical and human world but also form the foundation of a truly human life, both individually and socially.
Subdivisions of Knowledge
Plato further divided these two types of knowledge:
A. Opinion (Doxa)
- Eikasia (Guess or Illusion): This is a non-sensitive form of knowledge focused on shadows or reflections. It is akin to the knowledge of a prisoner in a cave, mistaking shadows for reality. It represents a lack of understanding of the difference between an image and reality. For example, someone who doesn’t understand the difference between a gold ring and its image.
- Pistis (Belief): This is well-founded sensible knowledge about sensible objects, possessed by experts or specialists. For example, a jeweler possesses pistis because they can distinguish genuine gold.
B. Science (Episteme)
- Dianoia (Reasoned Knowledge, Thinking): This is the intellectual knowledge of mathematics, dealing with ideal objects such as numbers, geometrical figures, or bodies. The objects of concern to mathematicians are unchanging and not grasped through the senses. For example, a mathematician studies ideal circles, not the wheels of cars. However, because it relies on graphic representations, Plato considers it not yet the highest degree of knowledge (noesis).
The method used here is to draw conclusions from principles that are accepted as true without question, by definition, without accounting for them, so that its validity can only be hypothetical. From these theorems follows principles or axioms, the truth will therefore be too hypothetical. However, Plato attaches great importance to this kind of knowledge, because he already left the field of “born” and try to ideal objects, permanent, which is therefore possible to have scientific knowledge.
Noesis (Intellectual Understanding, Pure Intellection): This is the intellectual knowledge of philosophy or dialectic, where the object is the ideas or essences of things. It consists of intuition or direct apprehension of ideas without resorting to sensitive images or mathematics. The dialectical philosopher tries to substantiate or account for all claims, including those in the mathematical principles accepted without discussion. Capturing the ideas or essences makes it possible to define everything and understand their relationships and differences with others.These epistemological aspects are illustrated in the myth of the cave, where education enables individuals to attain knowledge of truth, guiding them to act morally and politically.