Concept in Definition ABC

Plato is one of the masters of philosophy most studied in universities. The Greek philosopher left us a thought in which there is a very important concept: episteme. In the context of Platonic theory, the episteme is true knowledge, the key to reaching the truth of things, that is, the essence of ideas.

For Plato, the truth is found in that world of ideas that is the model of the sensible world. The material environment is apparent, changing, corruptible and confusing. This sensible world is known through doxa, or what is the same, opinion. However, there is a very important difference between opinion and doxa. Plato considers it a risk to make general deductions from the apparent doxa.

Doxa and Episteme

The philosopher reflected on this question through the Myth of the Cave in which he shows that true wisdom is only possible when reaching the light of ideas. The doxa encompasses two concrete forms: imagination and belief.

Plato review to the sophists, thinkers who were not philosophers in the strict sense, but rhetoricians and teachers of the word who are not guided by the search for truth but by the

persuasion. This is an example of doxa wanting to defend as a truth a thesis that it does not have the necessary principles to defend itself as such.

Plato affirms that the body is a prison for the soul. And the soul comes into contact with the world of ideas after death.

Episteme according to Aristotle

Aristotle was a disciple of Plato, and while the thought of his teacher was marked by idealism, the thought of the author of The Metaphysics, it was realistic. In his case, Aristotle considers that the episteme is the means of knowledge to access a reality through the demonstration. That is, the episteme connects with the essence of scientific knowledge that aims to provide data from objective evidence.

Aristotle also places great value on the knowledge acquired through experience and the information received through the senses.

Photos: iStock - Grygorii Lykhatskyi / traveler1116

Topics in Episteme