Analysis Of Plato's Theory Of Knowledge On The Doctrine Of Recollection

Plato’s Theory of Knowledge on the Doctrine of Recollection

Gian Gwen Louied M. Arligue

AB – Philosophy II

Philosophy 15

Epistemology and Gnoseology

Introduction

Knowledge and the questions concerning and surrounding it are often raised ever since the great era of the ancient philosophers. However, some philosophers do not take into consideration the possibility of knowledge. On the other hand, some of them affirm. One prominent and promising ancient philosopher, Plato, posits that there is knowledge and that man is capable of knowing. Then he takes into account how man acquires it. Further, he points out that knowledge is not something of a learning that is entirely new to the knower. Instead, he recognizes an understanding of knowledge as something that is made aware through recollection.

This paper endeavors to uncover what knowledge is and the conditions for its possibility by taking on Plato’s epistemology. I will place Plato’s distinction between knowledge and opinion first. And to further understand his position on knowledge, the Theory of Forms must be explained. Additionally, the Allegory of the Cave is then described since it illustrates how knowledge revolves around this theory.

Knowledge and Opinion To come up with the appropriate understanding of knowledge, it is necessary to distinguish it from opinion. Plato lays

If Forms are the basic objects of knowledge and are not in the material world, then we must have acquired that knowledge at some point prior to our commerce with that world. On this basis, learning is no other than recollection. And that this is only possible if the mind or the soul preexisted and already has that knowledge before it is confined in the physical