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Single Idea 2091
[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 2. Justification Challenges / a. Agrippa's trilemma
]
Full Idea
If I only have beliefs about Theaetetus when I don't know his distinguishing mark, how on earth were my beliefs about you rather than anyone else?
Gist of Idea
Without distinguishing marks, how do I know what my beliefs are about?
Source
Plato (Theaetetus [c.364 BCE], 209b)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Theaetetus', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [Penguin 1987], p.128
A Reaction
This is a rather intellectualist approach to mental activity. Presumably Theaetetus has lots of distinguishing marks, but they are not conscious. Must Socrates know everything?
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]
|