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DISAGREEMENT AND KNOWLEDGE: THE CASE OF PLATO'S ALCIBIADES.
- Source :
-
TRAMES: A Journal of the Humanities & Social Sciences . 2020, Vol. 24 Issue 3, p403-421. 19p. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- If there is widespread disagreement in an intellectual community, are its members in some sense failing epistemically? In this paper, I will offer a reconstruction of the first sustained attempt to answer this question. The attempt is made in the Alcibiades, a dialogue attributed to Plato. There, Socrates argues that the disagreeing parties lack knowledge. I will offer a reconstruction of this argument. Socrates relies on a controversial premiss according to which systematic and persistent disagreement within a group is an indication that its individual members lack knowledge. This claim rests on an optimistic assumption, explicit in the Alcibiades, that a person who possesses knowledge in a domain is able to persuade the audience and bring it to an agreement with the speaker. Knowledge, if present, spreads within the community unobstructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14060922
- Volume :
- 24
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- TRAMES: A Journal of the Humanities & Social Sciences
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 145359861
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3176/tr.2020.3.08