Plato’s Concept of Discursive Knowledge

Abstract

The paper discusses the role of discursive, i.e. dianoetic, knowledge in Plato’s philosophy. The analysis of the simile of the divided line in the Republic, Book VI, and of the content of such dialogues as the Philebus, the Parmenides and the Sophist yields important conclusions as to the method of such knowledge, the ontological status of its objects, and the way it differs from the dialectical mode of thinking. Particular attention is paid to the question, whether the discursive kind of knowledge extends to the mathematical disciplines alone or to other sciences as well, and why, according to Plato, the dianoia is separated from being by a distance as great as that separating sleep from wakefulness.