Three Major Theories Of Knowledge In Theatatus Essay

Epistemology – Prof Caitlin Gilson

Q – ‘’Outline the three major theories of knowledge in the Theatatus’’ The three types of knowledge discussed in the Theatatus are: knowledge is perception, knowledge is true judgement, and knowledge is true judgement with an account.

Knowledge is perception - Plato's strategy tries to portray that knowledge is derived from the perceptible or sensible world. Plato explains that this ‘’perception only’’ knowledge is not the whole truth because the sensible world does not constitute the whole world.

Knowledge is true judgement - ‘’Man is the measure of all things, of the things that are that, they are and of the things that are not that, they are not”. This quotation comes directly from Protagoras’ Homomensura

Both St. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle held that our ability to know is based on a knowledge of nature, specifically a knowledge of human nature. Human nature refers to the ways that one thinks, feels and acts. These are responses which humans tend to have naturally, independently of the influence of society. The argument on the relationship between human nature and knowing is fraught with problems. Sceptics claim that we can know nothing beyond our own current states of consciousness, i.e. our own present thoughts and experiences. At the other end of the scale are various sorts of realists, who maintain that we know a good deal about ourselves and the world around us. It would appear to be true that if the mind were literally a 'blank slate', as early empiricists seemed to maintain, then human nature would be almost unlimitedly malleable, for good or ill. The only limitations would be those of capacity, i.e. there would be limits to how much knowledge a human mind could contain, some classes of knowledge might be more difficult to acquire on the basis of general learning