Question Database: Ancient Philosophy: Plato
Meno
What kind of reasoned explanation gets us to knowledge? Two examples:
1. I believe that my car needs a new radiator because my dad said so, and the explanation seemed to make sense to me at the time.
2. The specialist says I have some auto immunity issue, and says sensible sounding things about proteins in the blood and why I ought to avoid certain foods.
The justifications seem relevant to the content of the belief, and consistent with other beliefs. At the time, I followed the explanations (but no longer recall them). Are these justified true beliefs knowledge?
Plato evidently doesn’t think these are knowledge, because:
A. I no longer remember the explanation that my Dad and the doctor gave, which I followed at the time. I did know then, but now I don’t.
B. Even when they explained things to me, I didn’t have knowledge, since it just sounded ok to me, but I didn’t actually get it.
C. Plato has an elevated, Socratic conception of knowledge, such that one only knows things like mathematical or geometrical truths.
D. Somebody else gave me the info./p>
Answer: B
Topic:
Meno, knowledge, justified true belief
Course Level:
Second year ancient philosophy
Notes:
Possible reasons for taking (B) to be the right answer:If I really understood the explanation, then, according to Plato, I wouldn’t forget again (remember, he thinks knowledge is unlike the statues of Daedelus, in being more stable)
I just ‘followed’ the explanations, rather passively. No active learning. Evidence: I couldn’t then turn around and explain it to somebody else.