In today’s society, many individual’s have their own theory of knowledge. In the Webster dictionary, knowledge is defined as the state of being aware of something. As we begin to discuss what knowledge truly is, we will be focusing on these two philosophers’ and their theories of knowledge: Descartes and Plato. After reading and analyzing both “Meditations”, by Descartes and “The Republic” and “The Apology” by Plato, I recognized that both philosophers agreed on some things, but at the same time had different views on other things. In “Mediations”, Descartes states “I first realized how numerous were the false opinions that in my youth I had taken to be true, and thus how doubtful were all those that I had subsequently built upon them” (1st
…show more content…
“What is entirely, is entirely knowable; and what in no way is, is in every way unknowable” (477a). Plato believes that everything else besides certainty of knowledge must be deceitful. With this, Plato believed that the most important concept of knowledge was good itself and that knowledge is based on the good alone. As we go more into depth about good, he compares the strength of the sun to the strength of good. He explains that we can examine the sun with our eyes, but when it comes to the good, we use our minds instead of our eyes which allow us to fully comprehend something. Basically Plato believes that the outcome of the good is …show more content…
Both Descartes and Plato believed that everything else besides certainty of knowledge is false. Descartes began to doubt everything he believed in and learned growing up because he was uncertain so he began to reconstruct his knowledge on only things that were certain beginning with himself. Plato is different because he doesn’t agree with doubting beliefs, but instead he tries to broaden the knowledge of one’s belief in something they think they have full knowledge of. Both Plato and Descartes try to find the true good and what the good truly is, but possess contrasting methods of searching for
“What is entirely, is entirely knowable; and what in no way is, is in every way unknowable” (477a). Plato believes that everything else besides certainty of knowledge must be deceitful. With this, Plato believed that the most important concept of knowledge was good itself and that knowledge is based on the good alone. As we go more into depth about good, he compares the strength of the sun to the strength of good. He explains that we can examine the sun with our eyes, but when it comes to the good, we use our minds instead of our eyes which allow us to fully comprehend something. Basically Plato believes that the outcome of the good is …show more content…
Both Descartes and Plato believed that everything else besides certainty of knowledge is false. Descartes began to doubt everything he believed in and learned growing up because he was uncertain so he began to reconstruct his knowledge on only things that were certain beginning with himself. Plato is different because he doesn’t agree with doubting beliefs, but instead he tries to broaden the knowledge of one’s belief in something they think they have full knowledge of. Both Plato and Descartes try to find the true good and what the good truly is, but possess contrasting methods of searching for