The backbone of Plato’s epistemology is based on the idea that one cannot perceive one’s senses and in doing so gain true knowledge. Plato was influenced by the concept of skepticism and believed that perception cannot constitute knowledge because it is merely being aware and sensible of surrounding objects. Due to the fact that the world constantly changes, one cannot have knowledge of it. Plato utilizes different dialogues and analogies that include the divided line, the Allegory of the Cave, and the Theory of Forms to try to find the answer to obtaining knowledge.
Primarily, Plato argues that because the material world is fluctuating, it is unreliable, hence being the reason why we cannot obtain knowledge from our senses. In many of Plato’s dialogues, he ventured on a journey to inspect the nature of knowledge by posing questions such as, “What is true knowledge?” For example, in a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, Plato describes the divided line to illustrate his theory of knowledge. He states that the line is separated into two parts: knowledge and opinion. According to Plato, knowledge is defined as “objects in the intelligible world”, while opinion describes “objects in the visible world” (Lavine 30). There is ultimately a contrast between the physical and spiritual world that determines whether one is knowledgeable. There are four levels of knowledge that make up the divided line: imagining, belief, understanding, and reason. The understanding of images is considered the lowest level of knowledge, “since images are only shadows of the actual objects known by perception, which is a higher level of knowledge” (Lavine 32). While the highest level of knowledge, dialectic, identifies all forms or ideas in the universe.
The levels of the divided line correspond to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The cave allegory illustrates people chained inside a dark cave, simply watching the shadows on a wall that are reflected from a fire behind them. The cave is the only thing those people believe to be real. One of the prisoners breaks free from the chains, exits the cave, and enters the realm of sunlight. The cave symbolizes the physical world where things aren’t always as they seem to be, and where our senses can fool us from true knowledge. The shadows in the cave are analogous to physical objects and events, which is the first level of “imagining.” The world outside the cave and the sun represent thoughts and ideas, and our way of knowing the truth, which is the last level of “reason.”
Furthermore, it can be said that Plato thinks that true knowledge comes from innate ideas, which are ideas one is born with. Plato’s Theory of Forms, for example, states that non-physical things or ideas are the essence, or eidos, of reality. The real things in life are actually beyond the physical world and more of a form or idea. According to Plato, a form is a set definition of a concept, and each concept describes the qualities that a certain group has in common. For example, Plato describes forms such as a circle, man, and tree. These concepts are objective and universal, allowing each person to have the same idea of the physical object spoken about. However, if we did not follow those concepts and rather used our senses to picture those objects, it would be hard to communicate with one another, due to the fact that every person could have a different personal opinion about what they thought the object was. He was a firm believer that through rational thinking, one could infer the forms and gain real knowledge by doing so. Therefore, Plato’s theory of an idea is identifying the physical world by abstract, unvarying concepts. Plato believes that sense objects are not ideas because when we move from our sensations to our thoughts, we move to a higher knowledge. We transition from things that have no permanence, to unchanging objects of thought. Objects can emerge, move, and change shape, yet at some point they disappear and our senses cannot perceive them. However, the idea of those things remain unchanged.
Personally, Plato’s epistemology is aligned with my beliefs. Plato’s statement that senses cannot give one true knowledge is valid since our senses can be altered. Things such as emotions, substances, and diseases can alter our senses, and give us false information. For instance, when we are happy, we see objects in a positive way and things seem more beautiful than what they truly are. In contrast, when we are sad, everything seems to be wrong. In addition, substances can cloud judgement and alter one’s senses dramatically. What one sees, feels, touches, hears, and smells when under the influence can be completely different than what it actually is. We cannot depend on senses to give us the truth of what things are. Therefore, Plato is convincing in the fact that senses are not a valid way of providing true knowledge.
Plato’s epistemology is quite unique and different from other philosophers in that he speculates that knowledge can only be gained through forms or ideas, rather than our senses. In fact, he states that human knowledge is obtained via reason and the recollection of forms. He formulates very strong opinions in doing so, which makes his study of knowledge very admirable. All in all, Plato’s epistemology has layers and layers of important information that cannot be overlooked when studying Philosophy in an academic environment.