Socrates and Theatetus Dialogue on Knowledge
Choose Herodotus's history, Plato's Taiatede or any important paragraph of the Book of Daniel, Book of Jonah for analysis and understanding, propose a thesis, and combine it with other parts of the book to make it to the whole book. Theme of
The first thing you need to do is start drawing up contextual information for the main and ancillary passages. Contextualize the passage in terms of plot (what led up to the passage, what change the passage records, etc) or—in the case of the Theaetetus—in terms of the argument (what stage of the argument are we at, what is being analyzed, critiqued, etc).
Then you need to makes sure you understand your passages in a literal way. You need to know the dictionary meaning of all the words. Are any of the words used ironically or metaphorically? Who is being ironic—the character or the author? You also need to understand your passages on the level of sentences. You need to know what the subject is, what the predicate is, how the dependent clauses depend, etc. Then try to paraphrase your passages, focusing on the relations between parts.
Only after you have a literal understanding of your passage can you start thinking about it thematically. What themes collide in your passage? What does the literal meaning of your passage imply about these themes? How do your themes appear in the other passages you chose? What tensions are there between themes in the same passage? What tensions are there in the presentation of the same theme across several passages?
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Only after you have done all this brainstorming can you design a COMPLEX THESIS SENTENCE. Your thesis should be about relationships among themes in your passages.
Your paper should consist of a proof of your thesis. In other words, your paper should be structured as a chain of arguments, supported by textual and logical evidence, demonstrating the truth of your thesis. Before writing, create an outline of your proof, each step of which is a full sentence. After you write the paper, revisit your outline: does your argument now seem different?
Socrates and Theatetus Dialogue on Knowledge
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Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1. Excerpt from Theaetetus
Socrates and Theatetus Dialogue on Knowledge
Theaetetus is one of the informative dialogues by Socrates, Theaetetus, and Theodorus on the philosophical question of knowledge. Socrates is the main character and he leads the dialogue in a question-answer format. Theaetetus is Theodorus’ mathematical student he leads the dialogue with Socrates on the philosophical question of knowledge. Theaetetus tells Socrates that knowledge is a perception and it is from this point that Socrates starts teaching Theaetetus the understanding of knowledge and its application through practical examples. The excerpt above shows the dialogue between Theaetetus and Socrates. Socrates is willing to teach Theaetetus the concept of knowledge with an intention of underscoring his argument that knowledge is a perception. An allegory of a midwife helping women deliver is used to explain how a person cannot teach others without himself having been trained beyond the level of learning from others. A person can only teach others knowledge after he has understood the concept of knowledge.
The main theme in Theaetetus is teaching and learning knowledge. This theme is also evident in the excerpt above and the passages that precede and come after this excerpt. In the excerpt, Theaetetus comes to Socrates as a disturbed young man who has been in search of knowledge. Socrates tells him that Theaetetus has “pangs of labor” and he compares himself to midwife who is able to deduce that a woman is in labor and offer a solution to her problem. The primary difference between Socrates and a midwife is that midwives deal with women and the physical body of a woman. Socrates is different in the sense that he deals with men that are curious to learn wisdom and he is a philosopher that teaches matters related to the source. In this case, he sees Theaetetus as a student with pangs of labour, the labour to learn. Socrates however, tells his student that there are cautions that one has to take if indeed he is to teach others. He tells Theaetetus that midwives only assume their responsibility of helping women after they have grown past the age of giving birth. This is also applicable to philosophers. They do not teach others when they are still learning. The reason he compares himself to a midwife is that he does not teach men knowledge from his own perception. It is through this allegory of a midwife that Socrates sets out to discount Theaetetus’ definition of knowledge as a perception. Socrates does not, however, solve Theaetetus’ question of the definition of knowledge. He instead embarks on a dialogue that intends to show his listener that knowledge cannot be extracted or be related from the external observable materials. It is, instead, derived from within.
Socrates compares himself to a midwife due to his understanding of the job of a midwife. Just like midwives understanding that women are in labour and intervening to help them deliver. Midwives are experienced in their work. Socrates is convinced that his work compares to that of a midwife. He seeks to show Theaetetus that knowledge cannot be obtained from the outside world. Instead of explaining to Theaetetus directly on the question of knowledge, he engages him in a series of question-answer approach. This dialogue intends to help Theaetetus respond to questions and uncover the knowledge from within (Jowett, 2013). With this approach, Socrates wants to teach his listener that knowledge cannot be obtained from the external. Knowledge is innate, and it is only under suitable environmental conditions that one can discover the internal knowledge and use it for the benefit of himself and others. A person only needs to be ignited, to reason and think beyond what appears to be normal. Everyone possesses unique abilities of learning, but this learning does not stem from the external material. It is knowledge rooted within and only needs to be activated to be functional and serve the purpose.
One of the interesting arguments by Theaetetus is that knowledge can be defined from the perception of man as a sum of all things that he is and those that he is not. Socrates attacks this thesis with the intention of showing that it is infallible from the Protagorean thesis. The Protagorean thesis is built on the foundation of the definition of Theaetesus’ definition and the ontological approach. The point if to prove that knowledge cannot be total perception of men, considering that different people have different perceptions. In one perceives an object to be cold, others may perceive it to be cold as well or still perceive it to be hot different of the perceptions they hold towards what they see or perceive. Wind may appear cold for one person but turn out to be different for another person.
In the process of refuting Theaetetus definition of knowledge from the perceptive point of view, Socrates starts by comparing the perception of men to that of animals. Eagles are, for instance, far-sighted. This does not, however, imply that eagles have a higher perception than men. Indeed, if one was to consider eagles as having the highest perception, then men could be reduced to nothing. In spite of these differences in perception, men can choose between what is right and not, enforce power where they are entitled, and teach others what they perceive (Jowett, 2013). The truth of the matter is that every individual has a unique perception that one could consider perceiving, but this is a matter of privacy.
A proponent of Theaetetus’ philosophy could argue that perception can be justified by observing all the acceptable forms in the en...