Plato's Theory of Knowledge and Reality Levels

The central theme of this text is the correspondence between levels of reality and Plato's theory of knowledge. For Plato, the quality of knowledge depends on the quality of the objects known.

Plato's Quest for Absolute Knowledge

Plato's obsession with finding absolute knowledge was motivated by its application in designing an ideal state model. We can relate Plato's philosophical position to that of the Sophists.

The Sophists' Relativistic View of Knowledge

The Sophists approached the issue of knowledge skeptically and relativistically:

• Skeptical: They believed there is no objective Reality.
• Relativistic: They held that things are what everyone perceives them to be.

This attitude led them to embrace convention, arguing that concepts like "truth," "ethical and aesthetic standards," "law," and "institutions" are mere human constructs. In political matters, rulers, according to the Sophists, should be guided by what is "useful," doing what they deem most beneficial. The only way to determine what is most useful in each case was by confronting several views and choosing the most convincing one. Therefore, the Sophists placed great importance on the art of rhetoric, the art of convincing.

Plato's Distinction: Sensible vs. Intelligible World

Plato agreed with the Sophists, to an extent, on the existence of knowledge relative to the things of the sensible world, which he considered apparent knowledge or mere opinion (doxa). However, for Plato, there must be a universal and necessary reality; otherwise, true knowledge would be purposeless, which would be nonsense.

Plato was acutely aware that the realities of the world of experience (the "sensible world") were the opposite of universal and necessary: they were specific and contingent. Thus, he was compelled to postulate the existence of another world, the "supersensible world," distinct from what we perceive through the senses. In this world, universal and necessary realities exist, which he called Ideas or Forms.

The Realm of Forms (Ideas) and True Knowledge

If we are to establish absolute knowledge (universal and necessary), we must accept, according to Plato, the existence of a supersensible world—a world beyond our experience—where ideal beings exist. This would be a world fundamentally different from our sensible world, a world that only the intellect can access through pure intelligence, which he termed the "intelligible world."