Plato - Republic

Knowledge & Truth

Book V
"Who are the true
philosophers?"
 “Lovers of the vision of truth"
 But what does this mean?
 How do we know truth?
 1st step: distinguish sense from
intellect.
Ideas and Things
 Intellect  Sense
 Beauty is opposite  Such sense
of ugliness, just of knowledge is like
unjust, good of evil, dreaming.
and so on.
 Each of these is one  Beauty, goodness
thing. the just seem to
 This is not the same change.
as enjoying beautiful  The problem: "the
things. beautiful will in
some point of view
Ideas and things ~ cont’d
 Likewise with other
opposites.
 A large dog is
smaller than a small
elephant!
Ideas and Things ~ cont’d
 If everything is true ‘in some point of
view,’ then those same things are false
'in some point of view.'
 That is to say...
 Nothing is absolutely true.
 Knowledge is relative.
Plato's answer
 Things we sense, which can be
beautiful, large, or just 'in a point of
view,' are halfway between being and
non-being.
 Those who know these things without
knowing absolute ideas have opinion
rather than knowledge.
 They are lovers of opinion, not
philosophers.