Knowledge and Belief
Prompt: In your own words explain the distinction being made between belief and knowledge in the given dialogue. Then explain what the importance of this distinction is. In Gorgias, Plato uses a conversation between two men to lay the groundwork for knowledge and belief, suggesting that everything is subjective when it comes to these words, and their definitions are open for much interpretation past their most simplest of meanings. Gorgias is meant as a guideline in which we can decide whether or not an object, idea, or event is belief or knowledge. So you ask: What are the distinctions between belief and knowledge? Knowledge is experienced, reasoned, proved, accepted, learned, and then understood while belief is faith in something that does not have to be true. So for the sake of simplicity, knowledge is public and belief is private. In the conversation, the two men bring up two distinct points that must be addressed: the difference between belief and knowledge and the two kinds of convictions that stem from them (The Republic). Despite agreeing with their concluded distinction that there are such things as true and false beliefs but only true knowledge, my view on the convictions of these concepts is quite different from that of Socrates and Gorgias (Gorgias). They conclude that there exist two types of conviction: that of which contains proven knowledge and that of which contains belief without knowledge (Gorgias). If this were so, then how do we discover new knowledge? Where does the middle ground exist?
Plato makes up for this restricted statement in his allegory of the cave. I think he suggests the different stages of knowledge and belief through the exposure of the chained. Those chained are fully convicted in their belief and do not yet possess knowledge (The Republic). The one that is freed treads ever so slightly into knowledge cautious, yet curious about where he is headed. He exits the cave and is blinded by knowledge and in return his false
Plato makes up for this restricted statement in his allegory of the cave. I think he suggests the different stages of knowledge and belief through the exposure of the chained. Those chained are fully convicted in their belief and do not yet possess knowledge (The Republic). The one that is freed treads ever so slightly into knowledge cautious, yet curious about where he is headed. He exits the cave and is blinded by knowledge and in return his false
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