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Single Idea 2088

[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 5. Coherentism / b. Pro-coherentism ]

Full Idea

In the case of a wagon, we may only have correct belief, but someone who is able to explain what it is by going through its hundred parts has got hold of a rational account.

Clarification

'Rational account' translates 'logos'

Gist of Idea

A rational account of a wagon would mean knowledge of its hundred parts

Source

Plato (Theaetetus [c.368 BCE], 207b)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Theaetetus', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [Penguin 1987], p.125

A Reaction

A wonderful example. In science, you know smoking correlates with cancer, but you only know it when you know the mechanism, the causal structure. This may be a general truth.

The 33 ideas from 'Theaetetus'

2045 Perception is infallible, suggesting that it is knowledge [Plato]
2047 What evidence can be brought to show whether we are dreaming or not? [Plato]
2050 It is impossible to believe something which is held to be false [Plato]
2052 Eristic discussion is aggressive, but dialectic aims to help one's companions in discussion [Plato]
2053 If you claim that all beliefs are true, that includes beliefs opposed to your own [Plato]
2054 Clearly some people are superior to others when it comes to medicine [Plato]
2056 Philosophers are always switching direction to something more interesting [Plato]
2057 There must always be some force of evil ranged against good [Plato]
2058 God must be the epitome of goodness, and we can only approach a divine state by being as good as possible [Plato]
2059 How can a relativist form opinions about what will happen in the future? [Plato]
2060 There seem to be two sorts of change: alteration and motion [Plato]
2067 Our senses could have been separate, but they converge on one mind [Plato]
2068 With what physical faculty do we perceive pairs of opposed abstract qualities? [Plato]
2069 Thought must grasp being itself before truth becomes possible [Plato]
2076 How can a belief exist if its object doesn't exist? [Plato]
2078 You might mistake eleven for twelve in your senses, but not in your mind [Plato]
10216 We master arithmetic by knowing all the numbers in our soul [Plato]
2080 Things are only knowable if a rational account (logos) is possible [Plato]
2081 Maybe primary elements can be named, but not receive a rational account [Plato]
2082 A rational account is essentially a weaving together of things with names [Plato]
15854 A primary element has only a name, and no logos, but complexes have an account, by weaving the names [Plato]
15843 The whole can't be the parts, because it would be all of the parts, which is the whole [Plato]
15844 A sum is that from which nothing is lacking, which is a whole [Plato]
2083 Either a syllable is its letters (making parts as knowable as whole) or it isn't (meaning it has no parts) [Plato]
2084 If a word has no parts and has a single identity, it turns out to be the same kind of thing as a letter [Plato]
2085 Parts and wholes are either equally knowable or equally unknowable [Plato]
2086 Understanding mainly involves knowing the elements, not their combinations [Plato]
2087 A rational account might be seeing an image of one's belief, like a reflection in a mirror [Plato]
2088 A rational account of a wagon would mean knowledge of its hundred parts [Plato]
16126 Expertise is knowledge of the whole by means of the parts [Plato]
2089 An inadequate rational account would still not justify knowledge [Plato]
2090 A rational account involves giving an image, or analysis, or giving a differentiating mark [Plato]
2091 Without distinguishing marks, how do I know what my beliefs are about? [Plato]