Plato is concerned with the distinction between mere belief and true knowledge because it is a critical presupposition which often gets over looked. For a man can believe that the sun orbits around the earth; he can believe it with his entire heart. In addition, the majority of the populace can believe this same statement. Nonetheless, no amount of belief can change the reality of the earth orbiting the sun. It is “true knowledge” and a legitimate fact. Plato is concerned, and rightly so, that the Sophists are manipulating peoples beliefs with rhetoric, largely discrediting or minimizing the facts.
October 18, 2016 at 2:33 pm
Carter,
Your example of the sun orbiting the earth reminds me of a similar example in Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions when he discusses of how scientists first regarded the “theory” that the earth was round instead of flat. If you haven’t read the book yet, I think you’d enjoy it. (It was published as a dissertation, though, which makes it dense in some sections and the argument a bit tedious in places. Still worth reading sometime.)
Regards,
COL McDonald