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Plato

Probably around 369 BCE · Fourth century BCE

START WITH THE PUZZLE

If knowledge is perception, true judgment, or true judgment with an account, why does the dialogue stop without settling on one?

Evidence-backed moments
5
Timeline events
2
Verified places
0

This is a guided intellectual story assembled from verified claims, works, and events in which this thinker actually appears. It avoids filling gaps with a generic encyclopedia biography.

Why this thinker is worth following

Story 1What can we claim to know?

Plato — A dialogue that leaves the definition open

The question that opens it

If knowledge is perception, true judgment, or true judgment with an account, why does the dialogue stop without settling on one?

Follow the argument, not just the name
  1. 1

    The Theaetetus successively tests candidates that identify knowledge with perception, true judgment, and true judgment with an account.

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    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Theaetetus

      Plato · Perseus Digital Library text with Stephanus pagination

      Locator: Stephanus 151d–187a, 187b–201c, 201d–210a

      Open source

    • Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Sections 6–8

      Open source
  2. 2

    The dialogue ends in aporia without endorsing any of the three candidates as its final definition of knowledge.

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    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Theaetetus

      Plato · Perseus Digital Library text with Stephanus pagination

      Locator: Stephanus 210a–b

      Open source

    • Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Introduction and section 9

      Open source
  3. 3

    The dialogue is commonly dated to around 369 BCE; no exact place of composition is asserted.

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    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Introduction, date and dramatic frame

      Open source
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Story 2Why does art matter, and what makes a work valuable?

Plato — When a likeness obscures truth and the soul

The question that opens it

Does an accurate likeness give knowledge, or merely look knowledgeable without teaching what is good?

Follow the argument, not just the name
  1. 1

    Republic X joins an epistemic critique of imitation with a political and educational worry that painting and tragedy may address the soul's non-rational part.

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    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Plato's Aesthetics

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: §3.3 Republic 10: the copy-making arts and the soul

      Open source
  2. 2

    Reducing Plato's aesthetics to ‘all art is bad’ misses his other discussions of beauty, inspiration, and educational imitation.

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    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Plato's Aesthetics

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Introduction; §1–§3, contrasts among beauty, inspiration, and imitation

      Open source
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Decisive moments in time

  1. Around 380 BCE

    Republic X asks poetry and images to answer for their epistemic and political effects.

    PerspectiveOpen in question

  2. c. 369 BCE

    The Theaetetus is commonly dated to around 369 BCE.

    PerspectiveOpen in question

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