Plato's Epistemology: Being and Seeming

Plato's Epistemology: Being and Seeming offers an innovative interpretation of one of Plato's central topics, epistemology. Jessica Moss argues that Plato's epistemology is fundamentally different from our own, proposing that epistêmê and doxa are each essentially cognitions of a specific kind of object. She defends these characterizations by explaining important features of Plato's epistemology, such as the absence of doxa of Forms and epistêmê of perceptibles. Moss contends that Plato's epistemology is motivated by his central ethical and metaphysical views, which emphasize the goal of being in contact with genuine Being and the obstacle of our tendency to rest content with appearances.

Format: Paperback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 27 April 2023
Publisher: OUP OXFORD

Plato's Epistemology: Being and Seeming presents an original interpretation of one of the central topics in Plato's work: epistemology. Jessica Moss argues that Plato's epistemology is radically different from our own.

Going against the grain of recent scholarship, and drawing on ancient interpretations of Plato, Jessica Moss argues that Plato is not best understood as studying what we now call knowledge and belief. Instead, Moss proposes that the central players in his epistemology, epistêmê and doxa, are each essentially to be understood as cognition of a certain kind of object. Epistêmê is cognition of what Is - where this turns out to mean that it is a deep grasp of ultimate reality. Doxa is cognition of what seems - where this turns out to mean that it is atheoretical thought that mistakes images for reality.

The book defends these characterizations by arguing that they explain important features of Plato's epistemology. In particular, it shows that they underlie and make sense of a view which was long attributed to Plato but has recently been deemed outrageous: that there is no doxa of Forms, and no epistêmê of perceptibles. Finally, Moss contends that Plato's epistemology is so different from modern epistemology because it is motivated by his central ethical and metaphysical views. As the Cave allegory illustrates, he holds that the goal of life is to be in contact with genuine Being, and that the greatest obstacle to this goal is our tendency to rest content with appearances. Therefore, when Plato turns to epistemological investigations, the distinction he finds most salient is that between cognition of what Is and cognition of what seems.

Plato's epistemology is fundamentally different from our own in several key ways. Firstly, he rejects the idea that knowledge and belief are the primary objects of study in epistemology. Instead, he focuses on the cognitive processes involved in perceiving and understanding the world around us. Epistêmê, according to Moss, is the process of gaining a deep understanding of ultimate reality, while doxa is the process of perceiving and understanding the world through the lens of our beliefs and assumptions.

Secondly, Plato's epistemology is motivated by his ethical and metaphysical views. He believes that the ultimate goal of life is to be in contact with genuine Being, which is the source of all reality. However, our tendency to be content with appearances and to mistake them for reality is the greatest obstacle to this goal. Epistemology, according to Plato, is therefore concerned with developing a method of inquiry that can help us overcome this obstacle and gain a deeper understanding of the world.

Thirdly, Plato's epistemology is characterized by a distinction between cognition of what Is and cognition of what seems. Epistêmê is the process of gaining a deep understanding of ultimate reality, while doxa is the process of perceiving and understanding the world through the lens of our beliefs and assumptions. Moss argues that this distinction is central to Plato's epistemology and explains why he believes that there is no doxa of Forms and no epistêmê of perceptibles.

Finally, Plato's epistemology is different from modern epistemology in that it is motivated by his central ethical and metaphysical views. He believes that the ultimate goal of life is to be in contact with genuine Being, and that the greatest obstacle to this goal is our tendency to be content with appearances and to mistake them for reality. Epistemology, according to Plato, is therefore concerned with developing a method of inquiry that can help us overcome this obstacle and gain a deeper understanding of the world.

In conclusion, Plato's Epistemology: Being and Seeming presents an original interpretation of one of the central topics in Plato's work: epistemology. Jessica Moss argues that Plato's epistemology is radically different from our own and that it is motivated by his central ethical and metaphysical views. She proposes that the central players in his epistemology, epistêmê and doxa, are each essentially to be understood as cognition of a certain kind of object and that the distinction between cognition of what Is and cognition of what seems is central to Plato's epistemology. The book defends these characterizations by arguing that they explain important features of Plato's epistemology and that they make sense of a view which was long attributed to Plato but has recently been deemed outrageous.

Weight: 340g
Dimension: 217 x 137 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780198888543