język: Theory of forms

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The Theory of Forms or Theory of Ideas, also known as Platonic idealism or Platonic realism, is a philosophical theory credited to the Classical Greek philosopher Plato. A major concept in metaphysics, the theory suggests that the physical world is not as real or true as Forms (or Ideas, typically capitalized): the timeless, absolute, non-physical, and unchangeable essences of all things, which objects and matter in the physical world merely participate in, imitate, or resemble. In other words, Forms are various abstract ideals that exist even outside of human minds and that constitute the basis of reality. Thus, Plato's Theory of Forms is a type of philosophical realism, asserting that cer…

Evidence: 46 • authority: 72

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called the theory of knowledge, it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowledge in the form of skills, and knowledge by acquaintance as a familiarity through experience. Epistemologists study the concepts of belief, truth, and justification to understand the nature of knowledge. To discover how knowledge arises, they investigate sources of justification, such as perception, introspection, memory, reason, and testimony. The school of skepticism questions the human ability to attain knowledge, while fallibilism says that knowledge…

Evidence: 46 • authority: 72

Declarative knowledge, also known as theoretical knowledge, descriptive knowledge, propositional knowledge, and knowledge-that, is an awareness of facts that can be expressed using declarative sentences. It is not restricted to one specific use or purpose and can be stored in books or on computers. Epistemology is the main discipline studying declarative knowledge. Among other things, it studies the essential components of declarative knowledge. According to a traditionally influential view, it has three elements: it is a belief that is true and justified. As a belief, it is a subjective commitment to the accuracy of the believed claim while truth is an objective aspect. To be justified, a…

Evidence: 46 • authority: 72

Knowledge is an awareness of facts (descriptive knowledge), a familiarity with individuals and situations (knowledge by acquaintance), or a practical skill (procedural knowledge). Descriptive knowledge, also called propositional knowledge, is often characterized as true belief that is distinct from opinion or guesswork by virtue of justification. While there is wide agreement among philosophers that propositional knowledge is a form of true belief, many controversies focus on justification. This includes questions like how to understand justification, whether it is needed at all, and whether something else besides it is needed. These controversies intensified in the latter half of the 20th…

Evidence: 46 • authority: 88

Knowledge and Belief in <i>Republic</i> V. Abstract It is often said that Plato distinguishes knowledge and belief by reference to their objects, so that one can have knowledge, but not beliefs, about forms, and beliefs, but not knowledge, about sensibles. If I know, I can know only a form; and if I have a belief, it must be directed to sensibles. Call this the Two Worlds Theory (TW).1

Evidence: 42 • authority: 88

False Belief in the <i>Theaetetus</i>. Abstract It is often supposed that Plato regards knowledge as some kind of acquaintance, so that knowing consists in some sort of grasping or hitting, the only alternative to which is not hitting, or missing. Knowledge is an all or nothing, hit or miss affair. It is also often assumed that this model of knowledge underlies or explains Plato’s supposed inability to accommodate false belief in dialogues prior to the Sophist. Either one ‘hits’ what one is talking about, and so has knowledge, not false belief; or else one fails to grasp, and so has said nothing, and hence again does not have false belief.1

Evidence: 42 • authority: 72

This article lists forms of government and political systems, which are not mutually exclusive, and often have much in common. According to Yale professor Juan José Linz there are three main types of political systems today: democracies, totalitarian regimes and, sitting between these two, authoritarian regimes with hybrid regimes. Another modern classification system includes monarchies as a standalone entity or as a hybrid system of the main three. Scholars generally refer to a dictatorship as either a form of government which is characterized by a leader who holds absolute or near-absolute political power. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato discusses in the Republic five types of regime…

Evidence: 35 • authority: 88

Knowledge and Belief in <i>Republic</i> V–VII. Abstract The Meno tells us that knowledge is true belief bound by an aitias logismos, an explanatory account (98 a); the Phaedo tells us that all aitiai refer to forms (96 ff.).1 It follows that knowledge of forms is necessary for any knowledge at all. But though the Meno explains what knowledge is, it does not connect this account to forms; and though the Phaedo tells us quite a lot about the metaphysics of forms, it does not tell us much about their epistemological role. We must wait until the middle books of the Republic (V–VII) for the details of how forms figure in knowledge.