PHL200Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Theaetetus (Dialogue)
Document Summary
Socrates objects: if perception is all there is to knowledge, then there is no reason to privilege human perception. If there is no reason to privilege human perception then the perception of a pig, tadpole and etc. are just as much knowledge as the perception of a human being. This goes against common view that non human animals don"t have knowledge in any interesting sense. Their knowledge, is nothing compare to human knowledge. Socrates draws the consequence that non one is wise (= has more knowledge) than anyone else (including protagoras) This points to a clear ambiguity in theaetetus"s proposal: the difference between perception as knowledge versus what we come to think on the basis of perception, being knowledge. The next batch of objections to protagoras explicitly rejects the proposed equivalence of perception and knowledge. We see and hear people speaking an unknown language but we do not know what they are saying.
