Platos Theory of Knowledge Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Platos Theory of Knowledge - Term Paper Example The final theory that he arrived at was that knowledge is true belief which has been â€Å"given an account of† – which means some kind of an explanation of definition has been provided of it. The theory of knowledge being justified true belief says that if one is to know that some scheme is indeed correct, the person should not just simply think it to be true but he should be having a logical excuse for that. One effect resulting from such an idea is that one would not be gaining knowledge simply because he believes something that was true. Platonic Version Plato’s theory of knowledge has been given in Theaetetus and it proves to be a substitute to the theory that Protagoras had proposed. Plato’s theory depicts reality to be the standard and belief and perception can be measured against it. It is how we perceive reality that leads to the creation of belief. One thing to consider here, before moving ahead, is that Plato’s theory of knowledge happens to be a theory of error as well as there is always a possibility of misperceiving reality and leading to an incorrect belief. Another thing is that there is no similarity between true belief and knowledge, although there could be a true belief merely through luck. For there to be an honest and actual knowledge of reality there is a requirement of there being a correct belief as well as enough proof for that belief. Plato has acknowledged that justification and belief do not have any real relation with each other. There cannot be any perfect way of making sure that the proof we have is enough. The history of philosophy has divulged several struggles undertaken for the correction of this absence. Scientific method is a system of building evidence by testing belief against observation (perception).   This was the account of Plato. Protagorean relativism says: Of all things the measure is Man, of the things that are, that they are, and of the things that are not, that they are not (L loyd and Pellegrin 204) According to Plato a theory by Protagoras was the basis of this statement and it considers that knowledge and perception are one and same (Schmitt 11). Plato pointed out that the implication drawn from this statement is that there is no difference between appearance and truth and a person can never say what he knows is wrong. As a metaphor, someone healthy and fine would find a wine to be sweet but the same person, when unwell, might find the very same wine to taste bitter. The truth of the matter is that the wine is not sweet of bitter in itself; the taste arises just when the person perceives it to be such and such due to certain circumstances. Actually, there is no permanent, immortal, truth at all. The reality comes into being and forms into objects and features when the person acts on it after having perceived it. There is a notion of our minds creating our own reality. This idea is quite popular in the current world and literature and besides this even in the modern accounts of constructivist educational theory. Knowledge as Perception If we bring out a comparison between this concept of knowledge and the one that Plato suggested through his theory we would find them to be extremely different; in fact, they are opposing each other in many ways. Protagorean theory is known as Relativism due to the fact that knowledge and being itself holds its dependency on relations that exist