Plato’s Theory of Knowledge: Ideas, Recollection, and the Cave
Plato’s Theory of Knowledge
The Platonic theory of knowledge is expressed through a series of hypotheses, doctrines, and myths developed in parallel with the theory of Ideas. The first doctrine concerns knowledge and recollection, which appears in the dialogue “Menon”.
Knowledge and Recollection in “Menon”
The dialogue presents an argument that knowledge of entirely new things (knowledge in an absolute sense) is impossible, as we either investigate what we already know or do not know what to seek. Socrates uses this argument to make the following assumptions: learning is not acquiring something entirely new but remembering what has been forgotten. This relates to the theory of reminiscence.
Plato uses a myth and the doctrine of reincarnation to explain this. Souls never die; they are separated from the living body and spend time in the intelligible world before the next reincarnation. In the intelligible world, they directly perceive the Ideas. When they fall into the sensible world and are reincarnated, they forget these Ideas. Only by contemplating and discussing the sensible world can they remember some of the Ideas they have forgotten.
Levels of Knowledge
Plato distinguishes between two levels of knowledge:
- Sensitive Level (Doxa – Opinion): Knowledge of the sensible world, based on sensitivity and experience. This does not constitute true knowledge.
- Intelligible Level (Episteme – Science): Knowledge of the intelligible world, which is true, perfect, and universally certain. It is based on reason.
The sensible world contains things, while the intelligible world contains Ideas.
The Allegory of the Cave
Plato uses the allegory of the cave to illustrate the different levels of knowledge and reality. The myth describes prisoners living in a cave, seeing only shadows of objects and beings projected on the wall. They perceive these shadows as reality. The allegory continues with the release of a prisoner who is forced to consider the representations, then the objects that created the shadows, and finally, the sun, which allows him to see the real objects.
Interpretation:
- Cave: Sensible world
- Shadows: Imagination
- Representations: Beliefs
- Outside the Cave: World of Ideas
- Ideas: Real things
- Sun: The Good (highest Idea)
The prisoner’s liberation represents the passage from the lowest level of knowledge to the highest, mirroring the different levels of reality considered by Plato.
Reminiscence
Ideas can only be known through direct contemplation in the intelligible world. The human soul, having lived in that world, has contemplated the Ideas. Upon entering the sensible world and joining a body, it forgets them. However, contemplating things in the sensible world can trigger recollection. Knowledge of Ideas is thus a recall of what is already in the soul; sensitive experience serves as a reminder.
Dialectic
Dialectic allows access to the world of Ideas. It is a bottom-up process towards the Idea, then from the Idea to the supreme Idea. Dialectic also involves a reverse process that reconstructs a series of Ideas without relying on experience. Communicative dialectic allows for the establishment of Platonic love, which is also a bottom-up process, a kind of emotional dialectic.