Plato's epistemology

Extract

[...] Plato's epistemology Epistemology deals with what knowledge is, how we acquire knowledge, and how we justify what we believe. Plato's theory of knowledge is generally referred to as “justified true belief.” This epistemological theory basically states that knowledge is gained through an explanation provided for a belief. There are two very important and basic components to this theory. To explain them in more detail, I will state that the theory obviously rests on what a person believes. A person will not put any effort into attempting to explain something that they do not believe. [...]

[...] The idea of justified true belief has been around in Western thought for so long that at this point it might just seem to be common sense to many people. It is obvious that no knowledge can be gained if either a person does not believe something or by a person merely believing something. We are taught from a young age to be able to think about why we believe certain things that we do believe. However, there have been many issues raised by various philosophers about justified true beliefs. [...]

[...] Plato's theory of reality serves to inform and compliment his theory of knowledge. Plato believed in Truth; he believed that it existed somewhere in the universe regardless of whether or not we are able to ever achieve it. Plato held a dualistic view of reality. First, there is the visual, that which is experienced through a posteriori, which is merely just a reflection of Truth. Second, there are the eternal Forms, which is knowledge that is gained a priori. Consider an example of a tree. [...]