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Concept
Platonic epistemology
Summary
In philosophy, Plato's epistemology is a theory of knowledge developed by the Greek philosopher Plato and his followers.
Platonic epistemology holds that knowledge of Platonic Ideas is innate, so that learning is the development of ideas buried deep in the soul, often under the midwife-like guidance of an interrogator. In several dialogues by Plato, the character Socrates presents the view that each soul existed before birth with the Form of the Good and a perfect knowledge of Ideas. Thus, when an Idea is "learned" it is actually just "recalled".
Plato drew a sharp distinction between knowledge, which is certain, and mere true opinion, which is not certain. Opinions derive from the shifting world of sensation; knowledge derives from the world of timeless Forms, or essences. In The Republic, these concepts were illustrated using the metaphor of the sun, the analogy of the divided line, and the allegory of the cave.
Anamnesis (philosophy)
The Platonic doctrine of recollection, or anamnesis is the view that we are born possessing all knowledge and our realization of that knowledge is contingent on our discovery of it. Whether the doctrine should be taken literally or not is a subject of debate. The soul is trapped in the body. The soul was once directly acquainted with the Forms, but it is now embodied. It once knew all of the Forms, but forgot them. Recollection is the process of bringing to our attention this knowledge that we have forgotten. This doctrine implies that nothing is ever learned, it is simply recalled or remembered. In short it says that all that we know already comes pre-loaded on birth and our senses enable us to identify and recognize the stratified information in our mind. Recollection involves, on the one hand, overcoming the deceptions and distractions of the body, but, on the other hand, productively using the body's deceptions to occasion or trigger the episodes of recollection. The main texts that develop the theory of recollection are the Phaedo and Meno, although the theory also plays an important role in the Phaedrus.
Official source
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