Similarities Between Socrates And Theaetetus
Theaetetus is a dialogue written by Plato that concerns the nature of knowledge and what knowledge is. In this work, Socrates and Theaetetus discuss knowledge and its definition, which the character of Theaetetus tries to put into. He says that knowledge is perception, knowledge is true judgment, and, finally, knowledge is true judgment with an account. Socrates finds each of these undesirable and tells Theaetetus that he benefits from discovering what he doesn’t know and that he should approach the topic in the future. One of Socrates’ more enjoyable discussions with the pupil is the idea of the mind being an aviary.
Socrates, having shot down two Theatetus’ explanations what knowledge is, asks him if he knows the explanation of the verb “to know”, which Socrates explains as “having knowledge”. But he tells Theaetetus he wants to change it to mean “to possess knowledge”. Confused at his distinction between the two which seems to be the same, Theaetetus asks why. Socrates explains that while the man does possess the birds, he does not have them because they are not in his hand. “...we …show more content…
Although the aviary’s distinction between potential and actual knowledge improves our understanding of the nature of “justified true belief”, it is rejected by Socrates because it explains false judgment as the interchange of pieces of knowledge. Theaetetus if you were willing to place in the aviary not just knowledge, but also ignorance, the question of false judgment would not be answered adequately. False judgment could be the grabbing of a piece of ignorance. As Socrates remarks, the ignorance can be confused with knowledge in the same way knowledge can be confused with itself. It’s interesting that Socrates points out that that addition wouldn’t help this argument. But it is also interesting that the teacher himself is discarding his own
Socrates, having shot down two Theatetus’ explanations what knowledge is, asks him if he knows the explanation of the verb “to know”, which Socrates explains as “having knowledge”. But he tells Theaetetus he wants to change it to mean “to possess knowledge”. Confused at his distinction between the two which seems to be the same, Theaetetus asks why. Socrates explains that while the man does possess the birds, he does not have them because they are not in his hand. “...we …show more content…
Although the aviary’s distinction between potential and actual knowledge improves our understanding of the nature of “justified true belief”, it is rejected by Socrates because it explains false judgment as the interchange of pieces of knowledge. Theaetetus if you were willing to place in the aviary not just knowledge, but also ignorance, the question of false judgment would not be answered adequately. False judgment could be the grabbing of a piece of ignorance. As Socrates remarks, the ignorance can be confused with knowledge in the same way knowledge can be confused with itself. It’s interesting that Socrates points out that that addition wouldn’t help this argument. But it is also interesting that the teacher himself is discarding his own