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Theories of knowledge
Plato’s Meno is an introduction of Socrates ethics and Plato’s’ aesthetics in a fictional conversation that analyzes important events and concerns in the last years of Socrates life. Socrates argues that learning is just a process of recollecting what we already know through our souls. He states that souls are immortal and move from one body to the next acquiring knowledge. Socrates also says stability as the main difference between opinion and knowledge; an individual can have different ideas but the same expertise on a subject. What makes knowledge different is that for one to claim a particular topic, they are in a position to support their arguments with relevant examples. Knowledge creates room for debates where someone can as questions and get answers. In Meno’s paradox, one either knows something or they don’t thus if one knows something, they don’t need to learn more; also, if one knows a subject, they don’t need to ask since they have no idea what they are looking for (Harold, 125). Meno’s paradox gets a solution through the doctrine of recollection, which says that human beings are not in the paradox position; the contradiction can only be applied where the soul gains new information. This paper will compare and analyze, compare and contrast Socrates view of knowledge with Rene Descartes meditations on the theory of knowledge.
Rene Descartes was a well-known mathematician amongst his peers; he was a developer of the nature theories and an activist of metaphysics. In the 18th century, his phytophiles remained influential and were highly taught, including his investigation of the existence and extent of human knowledge. Descartes was remembered by the failure of his metaphysics and doubting through sceptical arguments. The meditations of first philosophy were published by Descartes where he proved God’s existence and the immortality of the soul (René, 76).
Socrates and Descartes both believed that comes from the soul. According to Descartes, the body and the soul are two distinct substances. He believed in the idea that the body was just an object with space, length and depth, which cannot move on its own, thus relying on other things for movement (Hubert, 272). The soul, on the other hand, is different as it occupies no space in the world. Through Descartes method of doubt, he began to believe that his body and mind were distant as he could see his mind existing without his body. He used the idea of him losing parts of his anatomy, but his mind and soul would stay intact. Socrates believes that the soul moves from one individual to the next because it is immortal. Through the immortality of the soul, human beings can get knowledge, and all they need to do is recollect what they know. Descartes, in his first meditation, advocates for human beings to let go of all their weakness to grasp the truth about the beginning of the earth. He believes that human beings cannot rely on senses as a source of knowledge because feelings don’t have facts and are always misleading
Knowledge, according to the philosophers, was an achievable goal; however Socrates believed that it was only possible after death. Socrates advocated for people not to fear death as it’s only their body which will die not their soul. Socrates states that the knowledge we have comes from our souls and by going through the learning process, we are just reminding ourselves of what we already know. He considered the main existence of the human being is through their intellectual. According to Socrates, once the body is corrupted, one should not fear death as their soul lives on to the next being and the knowledge, he has gathered are transferred to that being. He encourages human being to constantly persue new knowledge to fulfill one’s inner self and fill their souls with virtues such as truth and righteousness, Descartes believes that real knowledge is one that allow the soul to face death (René, 77). He states in hi meditation that nothing can dream and for dream to occur a living thing must be present to facilitate the process. They shared the same philosophy but only disagreed on whether the soul attains knowledge before or after death. Socrates advocates for constant learning to assist in recollection. Human beings need to be in constant pursuit of the knowledge they already have.
Descartes would agree with Socrates because most of their beliefs are in line with one another. Both believe in soul existence and immortality meaning that our souls live long after the body is gone. The both believe that the only one who can find out the truth is one who approaches all his thoughts with his mind without bring sense in his thinking. However, the most important difference between the two philosophers’ theories is that; Socrates believes that the soul acquires knowledge is after death while Descartes believes knowledge is gained while one is still alive. According to Descartes, human beings are in a position to disown all their past believes and learn new truth by examining life. The truth attained therefore allows human beings to view the world differently and lead a better life. Socrates believes that the body is a tool for all evil acts on the soul. for human beings to have knowledge there is need for them to escape the physical body and seek pure within themselves through their soul. Socrates also stated that the only way human beings can separate the soul from the physical is death.
To conclude, philosophy seeks to describe as the pursuit of human knowledge and moral values. Socrates and Descartes are among many philosophers’ similar theories of knowledge about human existence. In Plato’s dialogue. Meno is surprised by Socrates form of reasoning in regards to human beings and knowledge. Socrates believe that Meno Is ignorant by stating that human beings don’t need to learn or ask questions on subjects they know nothing about. He believes that learning is a recollection everything we already know through our souls. Immortality of the soul is the believe that the soul exists even without the presence of the body. Despite the differences in when the soul acquires knowledge both men believe knowledge is a constant factor that develops the human mind. Socrates philosophy was mostly dismissing other people’s ideas and replacing them with his own. It is safe to say that Socrates laid a strong foundation for future philosophers. As Descartes concludes human beings should find the uniqueness in different subject and pursue them. He built his own foundation of knowledge by casting doubt in all his past beliefs. Both philosophers built the worlds greatest theories by using different foundations.
Work Cited
Descartes, René. “Meditations on First Philosophy in which are demonstrated the existence of God and the distinction between the human soul and body.” Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings (2015): 73-122.
Tarrant, Harold. Recollecting Plato’s Meno. London: Duckworth, (2005):123-126
Dreyfus, Hubert L. “The Socratic and Platonic basis of cognitivism.” Cognition, Communication and Interaction. Springer, London, 2008. 269-282.