THE GREEK EPISTEME AND THE PROBLEM OF LOGOS

• BIOGRAPY OF PLATON 

He was probably born in Athens around 429 BC.

Plato studied mathematics, music and painting and was taught by Cratylus, a disciple of Heraclitus. Socrates was tried and condemned to death. After the death of his teacher Plato made several trips, he moved to Megara and Cyrene and then went to Italy and finally began to travel to Syracuse, capital of Sicily, however, the trips that marked his life were to Syracuse.

His first trip to the capital of Sicily was around 389 BC. In this trip he met Dion who was a political relative of Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse, a strong relationship between Plato and Dion arose, however he had to leave Syracuse when in 387 he had problems with the tyrant Dionysius, in that same year on his return to Athens he founded the Academy, an academic institution where geometricians, politicians, doctors and professionals from all fields met in order to dialogue, to reach the truth through Plato's philosophical method of dialectics.

After the death of Dionysius I around 367 BC. Dionysius II was left as successor in Syracuse. Influenced by Dionysius, Dionysius II invited Plato to put into practice the political ideals of the philosopher, however, after the second trip to Syracuse new problems arise between Dionysius and Dion, so Plato has to return to Athens around 365 B.C. It was not until his third trip to Sicily after the repentance of Dionysius II that Plato decided to return to Athens to devote himself only to philosophy. Plato died at the age of 81 around 348 BC.

       ·     FROM MYTH TO LOGOS

MYTH

 It is a story, a story that gives an explanation of the origin of the universe, of the human being through the existence of Gods. Myth as a form of knowledge is characterized by a strong cognitive security, it is established as the definitive answer to a question.

Mythical thought becomes unmodifiable and legitimized by belief, for this reason myth is the most basic form of human knowledge, it is found in all cultures.

 

LOGOS

Man clears himself of the mythological, where he realizes that the mythological no longer serves as an explanation for the origin of the universe of man and in order to resolve his doubts he turns to a rational solution.

The logos is energized by the art of constant questioning, it allows the continuous renewal of questioning, reflective knowledge (temporary answers).

       ·   DOXA AND EPISTEME

 

DOXA

Doxa is based on opinion, beliefs and superstitions, therefore, it is knowledge that is not proven, it is sensitive, that is to say, it is only obtained through the senses, unproven knowledge. Definitive answer (common knowledge).

To be in doxa is to be in belief, in the certainty of what has been said, in the certainty of the definitive answer. That is why doxa is shown as an unreflective or uncritical knowledge that does not suspect its own ideas (knowledge has been reified as myth).

EPISTEME

Episteme enables the cultural deployment of the logos. Without episteme there is no logos and vice versa. To be in episteme is to be in tension in the search for truth by making use of logos, of the faculty and possibility of critical thinking, that is why it is characteristic of episteme the suspicion, the questioning of everything that exists.