PHL 302 Exam 2 - Epistemology

Central Question in Meno by Plato

Is knowledge really better than correct belief?

Example in Meno

The Road to Larissa

The Road to Larissa & Concern

One person has heard about the road to Larissa (correct belief) and another has seen and traveled it themselves

Concern: Correct belief seems to be perfectly adequate in knowing

Socrates’s Point in Meno

Missing ingredient for knowledge is the CAUSE/rational account/logos. Cause fastens true belief so it doesn’t run away

Analogy: statue of Daedalus so lifelike it has to be tied down so it doesn’t run away

Knowledge definition in Meno

True belief with a cause/rational account

Knowledge better than mere true belief b/c tied down & stable

Why is seeing the Road to Larissa = having a rational account of it?
You have:

• explanation

• reason to know

• internally accessible proof (proved to yourself)

• can’t be convinced otherwise

Problem in Theaetetus by Meno

Supposing Knowledge is true belief with logos (definition, reason, rational account)

What is the logos that will make true belief knowledge?

What sorts of things can you have knowledge of according to Socrates? Propositions? Objects? Particulars? Universals?

Proposition: the cat is on the mat
Object: a cat
Particular: this cat
General: cathood

Particular things Socrates says we can have knowledge of

A wagon
“Theaetetus” spelled
Elements - word for this Greek is stoicheion (letter)
Sun

Theaetetus as person

Dream Theory

Complex can be broken down into simples, but we don’t know what a simple is exactly

What there is: complexes and simples
Logos: An account of a complex that analyzes it into its simple components
Knowledge: Knowledge of X is true belief about X with a logos that analyzes X into its simple components (knowledge means being able to break it down)
Notable consequence: simples unknowable

Problem 1 (assuming complexes are knowable

Complex is either:
a) no more than its elements → you can’t know a complex without also knowing its elements → but it’s not possible to know elements, since they are simple → complexes unknowable (complexes ARE simple and can’t be broken down)

b) something over and above its elements → complexes do not have elements as parts → complexes ARE simple → complexes unknowable

So, either way, complexes are unknowable

Further Possibilities For Logos

1) Manifesting in Speech (“by voice with verbs & noun”)

2) Enumeration of the Elements (“reach the whole by enumerating elements”

• Ex: Enumerating the 100 planks that make up a wagon (analogous to the letters of a name) rather than saying a wagon is made up of wheels, axle, body, rims, yoke (analogous to syllables of name). Letters more fundamental elements than syllables.

3) Distinguishing Mark (“telling mark or sign of difference distinguishing thing in question from all others”)

• Ex: “sun is the brightest of the heavenly bodies which revolve around the earth”