Logos & Episteme

Volume 1, Issue 1, 2010

Nicholas Rescher
Pages 133-164

On the Epistemology of Plato’s Divided Line

In general, scholars have viewed the mathematical detail of Plato’s Divided Line discussion in Republic VI-VII as irrelevant to the substance of his epistemology. Against this stance this essay argues that this detail serves a serious and instructive purpose and makes manifest some central features of Plato’s account of human knowledge.