Forbidden knowledge

Lecture Guide No. 1

 

1. What Is Knowledge?  How Can We Know What We Know?

 

Look here for “the truth”

a.   Epistemology

* The science of knowing

b.   Methodology

* The science of finding out

 

2. Epistemological Theories

 

a. Rationalism

 

Cogito ergo sum:  “I think; therefore, I am.”

René Descartes (17th century)

by Franz Hals, ca. 1649

 

 

b. Empiricism

 

* Foundation of the Scientific Method

      Aristotle (384-322 BC)

Imperial Roman marble copy (1st or 2nd century) of a lost bronze sculpture made by Lysippos

c. Naïve Realism (aka Common-Sense Realism)

d. Representationalism:

¯ Veil of perception

Belvédère (1958)	Waterfall (1961)
	Ascending and Descending (1960)

e.   Idealism

* Ideal Constructs

* Socrates (469-399 BC)

* Socratic method

Socrates, Roman marble, Louvre Museum

“An unexamined life is not worth living.”

 

Execution of Socrates in 399

The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David (1787) (click image to enlarge)

f. Plato (427-347 BC)

Detail of Plato, from Raphael’s The School of Athens fresco, The Vatican (1509)
	Raphael’s The School of Athens fresco, The Vatican (1509) (click image to enlarge)

* The Republic (Politeία), c. 360 BC

* 10 books

* Dialogue between Socrates and others, such as Plato’s brother, Glaucon

* Ideal Constructs / Ideal Forms

* The Divided Line

KNOWLEDGE (Episteme)		OPINION (Doxa)
Pure knowledge (epistéme = ’επιστήμη) Rational (involves dialectic method) Leads to knowledge of Forms Ultimate is knowledge of the Form of the Good	Understanding (diánoia = διάνoια) Ex: Derived from applied through “pure” mathematics	Belief (pístis = πίστης) Common-sense “belief” in the reality of everyday objects	Illusion (eikasía = ’εικασία)Unenlightened thought that takes everything at face value
The World of Forms (morphé = μορφή)		The World of Change (gignoménou = γιγνομένοu)