Theories of Knowledge: Sophists, Skeptics, and Dogmatists
What is Knowledge?
Knowledge is a type of relationship established between an object and a subject. There can be no knowledge without both. Subject and object are interdependent: you can make an object of knowledge known to a knower, and knowledge involves vice-versa. The action of the subject involves understanding an aspect of reality and transforming it into an object. This does not apply to all of reality, but only to the aspect that interests us. Knowledge is achieved when the subject captures the essential characteristics of the object.
Problems of Knowledge:
1) The Problem of the Possibility of Knowledge:
Is it possible to know? This questions whether it is possible to capture reality as it is, and if objective knowledge is possible, necessary, and universal. For the Sophists and Skeptics, knowledge derives from our feelings and is therefore subjective and relative. In contrast, Dogmatism believes knowledge is accurate and objective.
2) The Origin of Knowledge:
What is the origin and source of knowledge? According to Rationalists, reason is the human faculty that makes knowledge possible. For Empiricists, that power is experience. Critics argue that there is no knowledge without the intervention of both faculties.
3) The Problem of the Scope of Knowledge:
What are the limits of knowledge and what can be known? Rationalists believe there are no limits to knowledge. For Empiricists, we may only know what is presented through human experience, and knowledge is confined to the world of experience.
The Sophists:
The Sophists were itinerant teachers who instructed wealthy young people who wished to participate in public office. This instruction served to prepare young people for discussions, debates, and decisions. The most important Sophist was Protagoras (480-410 BC). He stated that reality is constantly changing; everything flows and changes constantly, everything is becoming. Not only does what surrounds us change, but also ourselves. If the objects of knowledge and the subject are constantly changing, there can be no immutable, universal, and necessary knowledge. Knowledge emerges from sensations, what we perceive through our senses. Feelings are subjective and changeable. Everyone has their own feelings and may even have conflicting ones. For the Sophists, knowledge is relative, and we can determine which are the most convenient truths. They aim to show the most convenient way to follow.
Man as the Measure of All Things:
Man determines whether things are defined or not. Protagoras referred to two possibilities:
- The term “man” must be understood as an individual and concrete being. This means everyone has their own way of perceiving reality and their own vision of it. Knowledge is relative to each subject. If two people do not agree on how to perceive a certain aspect of reality, both are entitled to have their own truth.
- The term “man” must be understood as a social being. Each individual can maintain their own truths in the way of perceiving reality, but this is not possible regarding moral, religious, and legal matters. Society defines each of these values. Values are relative, not to individuals, but to each community.
Skeptics:
Skepticism is a philosophical position that developed in Greece between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC. Skeptics deny the possibility of objective knowledge and raise questions like: What is reality? What attitude do we take toward reality? What results from this attitude? The first question they answer by saying that we know reality as it appears to us, but we can never know reality as it is in itself. We only know what we feel. For example, if we are burning, we feel the burning, but we cannot be sure how it is in itself. Therefore, what we ascertain is always our subjective experience.
Dogmatism:
Socrates and Plato were opponents of the Sophists. They were concerned about the idea that every opinion can be defended with good or bad arguments. Both were dogmatic, claiming the possibility of objective knowledge. For Plato, objective knowledge is possible, but that knowledge must relate to what does not change, what remains constant. Knowledge that arises from the senses is not true knowledge. Sensory reality is ever-changing, and our feelings are always subjective. Thus, opinion can emerge from reality, but not knowledge. Opinion may be hesitant, confused, and sometimes contradictory. But real knowledge is not tentative or contradictory. Knowledge is rigorous and stable. There is a valid and objective knowledge for all. Plato states that there are two worlds: the world of ideas and the sensible world. The world of ideas is not within us, but it truly exists. This world is perfect. The sensible world is a copy of the world of ideas.