Theaetetus
Plato's Theory of Forms
Review
100

What is the initial definition of knowledge Theaetetus proposes?

Geometry and other fields of study taught by Theodorus

100

What are the two major realms in the divided line?

Visible and Intelligible

100

What is the topic of, and what are some details from, the Euthyphro?

piety...

200

What is the second definition of knowledge that is explored in the first half of the Theaetetus?

Knowledge is perception

200

What are the two subdivisions in the bottom half of the divided line?

images and objects

200

What is the topic of, and what are some details from the Crito?

Justice and duty to the state/laws....

300

Which sophist is invoked by Socrates in connection with the second proposed definition of knowledge?

Protagoras

300

What are the two subdivisions in the upper half of the divided line?

mathematical objects and forms

300

What is the topic of, and some details from, the Meno?

Virtue, recollection...

400

What is the main claim of the sophist they discuss?

That man is the measure of all things, of things that are, that they are, of things that are not, that they are not.

400

What does the form of beauty cause?

All beautiful things

400

What is the topic of, and some details from, the Republic?

Justice, the forms, allegory of the cave, divided line...

500

What examples are provided as examples of knowledge and perception being distinct?

Hearing a foreign language (perception without knowledge) and remembering (knowledge without perception)

500

What is the dual role of the form of the Good?

It allows us to know the good and also the other forms (as the sun can itself be seen and illuminates other things)

500

What is Plato's theory of forms?

That all objects get their being from the forms, which are eternal unchanging sources of beauty, justice, the good, etc.

The world if full of change and becoming but the realm of the forms is eternal and unchanging (cf Parmenides)