8/9/2019 Plato's Epistemology and Theory of Knowledge – Plato on Education

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Plato's Epistemology and Theory of Knowledge –

Plato on Education

Plato's Philosophy of Education - Raphael Sanzio

Plato said that knowledge comes from the highest realms of consciousness, and that we do notcreate wisdom, we just recollect lost memories... 

Where does knowledge come from? According to Plato, knowledge comes from the ideal plane, a higher realm that

stores all archetypes of perfection and irtues that represent role models to !e copied !y humans liing in the

physical sphere. "ome people, howeer, are more apt to recogni#e truth, !eauty and moral irtues than others, since

different people are e$periencing different leels of consciousness.

Plato%s theory of knowledge emphasi#es that people are !orn with an innate knowledge of the ideal world, and the

role of education and arts is to remind humans a!out their origins and e$periences of past lies, in order to lead

students towards perfection.

Plato’s Philosophy of Education & Anamnesis

n the democratic Athens, it was !elieed that any person, with proper education, could !e trained to !ecome a

irtuous citi#en and ruler. n fact, the education of the young aristocrats aimed to shape the students% characters

according to the great mythological heroes of the (dyssey and the liad. )or Plato, howeer, this was not necessarily

true as people are !orn different.

t is not possi!le to understand Plato's epistemology without taking into account that Plato understood that knowledge

cannot !e created, it has to !e recollected through education, inspiration and art *this process was called anamnesis+.

"o all knowledge and all truth already e$ists in the ideal plane & the original home of the sou &l !ut the part of the

soul which is incarnated and su!jected to the limitations of the physical !ody has the task of recollecting this

knowledge in order to reflect it into the physical world, and therefore, make a conscious walk !ack to its source.

 An adocate of the theory of the transmigration of the soul, Plato !elieed that each person needs many incarnationsin order to purify the senses so that they can !e channels through which truth manifests itself. (!iously, those who

are ahead in the eolutionary journey are more likely to deelop irtues than others, !ut all souls are eually faded to

arrie at its destiny & this is the human fate.

The Role of Education According to Plato

"o, Plato thought that education *along with arts+ should teach students to refine their tastes, allowing them to

contemplate their true origin. n Plato's ideal state as descri!ed in The Republic */ 0.1.E+, Plato makes it clear

that eery child must !e taught according to their nature, !ut how to define a child's nature? )or Plato, since people

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8/9/2019 Plato's Epistemology and Theory of Knowledge – Plato on Education

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are e$periencing different leels of consciousness in their eolutionary trajectory, it is normal that they will hae

different talents. n the ideal state, a child should neer !e educated only in accordance with their parents skills and

a!ilities *a common practice in the ancient world+, !ut in accordance with the talents they demonstrated. )or Plato,

knowledge cannot !e passed genetically from parent to child, so a child's skills depended on the e$periences he or

she carried inside from past e$istences.

The Education in the Ideal State

n Plato's ideal state, children *!oys and girls+ should !e educated !y the state and the most gifted ones would !e

trained to !e part of the ruler class at the age of 23. 4hey would learn the art of war and those who demonstrated

a!ilities for com!ats could !ecome part of the military class. "elected students would learn geometry, maths,

astronomy and harmonics.

5ater, those who stood out would learn philosophy, including metaphysics, dialectics and logic. 0y the age of 6/, a

man would hae successfully completed his higher education. ndeed, the modern world would !enefit from

resurrecting the Platonic ideal.