more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 2076

[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / d. Cause of beliefs ]

Full Idea

If the object of a belief is what is not, the object of this belief is nothing; but if there is no object to a belief, then that is not belief at all.

Gist of Idea

How can a belief exist if its object doesn't exist?

Source

Plato (Theaetetus [c.368 BCE], 189a)

Book Ref

Plato: 'Theaetetus', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [Penguin 1987], p.95


The 33 ideas from 'Theaetetus'

Perception is infallible, suggesting that it is knowledge [Plato]
What evidence can be brought to show whether we are dreaming or not? [Plato]
It is impossible to believe something which is held to be false [Plato]
Eristic discussion is aggressive, but dialectic aims to help one's companions in discussion [Plato]
If you claim that all beliefs are true, that includes beliefs opposed to your own [Plato]
Clearly some people are superior to others when it comes to medicine [Plato]
Philosophers are always switching direction to something more interesting [Plato]
There must always be some force of evil ranged against good [Plato]
God must be the epitome of goodness, and we can only approach a divine state by being as good as possible [Plato]
How can a relativist form opinions about what will happen in the future? [Plato]
There seem to be two sorts of change: alteration and motion [Plato]
Our senses could have been separate, but they converge on one mind [Plato]
With what physical faculty do we perceive pairs of opposed abstract qualities? [Plato]
Thought must grasp being itself before truth becomes possible [Plato]
How can a belief exist if its object doesn't exist? [Plato]
You might mistake eleven for twelve in your senses, but not in your mind [Plato]
We master arithmetic by knowing all the numbers in our soul [Plato]
Things are only knowable if a rational account (logos) is possible [Plato]
Maybe primary elements can be named, but not receive a rational account [Plato]
A rational account is essentially a weaving together of things with names [Plato]
A primary element has only a name, and no logos, but complexes have an account, by weaving the names [Plato]
The whole can't be the parts, because it would be all of the parts, which is the whole [Plato]
A sum is that from which nothing is lacking, which is a whole [Plato]
Either a syllable is its letters (making parts as knowable as whole) or it isn't (meaning it has no parts) [Plato]
If a word has no parts and has a single identity, it turns out to be the same kind of thing as a letter [Plato]
Parts and wholes are either equally knowable or equally unknowable [Plato]
Understanding mainly involves knowing the elements, not their combinations [Plato]
A rational account might be seeing an image of one's belief, like a reflection in a mirror [Plato]
A rational account of a wagon would mean knowledge of its hundred parts [Plato]
Expertise is knowledge of the whole by means of the parts [Plato]
An inadequate rational account would still not justify knowledge [Plato]
A rational account involves giving an image, or analysis, or giving a differentiating mark [Plato]
Without distinguishing marks, how do I know what my beliefs are about? [Plato]
email your comments