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Full Idea
We are convinced that if we are ever to have pure knowledge of anything, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things by themselves with the soul by itself.
Gist of Idea
To achieve pure knowledge, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things with the soul
Source
Plato (Phaedo [c.382 BCE], 066c)
Book Ref
Plato: 'The Last Days of Socrates', ed/tr. Tredennick,Hugh [Penguin 1969], p.111
A Reaction
This seems to be the original ideal which motivates the devotion to a priori knowledge - that it will lead to a 'pure' knowledge, which in Plato's case will be eternal and necessary knowledge, like taking lessons from the gods. Wrong.
9343 | To achieve pure knowledge, we must get rid of the body and contemplate things with the soul [Plato] |
3617 | I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind [Descartes] |
5571 | Reason contains within itself certain underived concepts and principles [Kant] |
12418 | In long mathematical proofs we can't remember the original a priori basis [Kitcher] |
9342 | Understanding needs a priori commitment [Horwich] |
9160 | Lots of propositions are default reasonable, but the a priori ones are empirically indefeasible [Field,H] |
17714 | Aristotelians dislike the idea of a priori judgements from pure reason [Mares] |