Theatetus

Plato's dialogue Theaetetus asks the question of what knowledge is, how human beings acquire it, and how knowledge relates to both perception and judgement.

This dialogue is told as a frame story, whereby Euclid and a friend are read a dialogue from the time Theaetetus was a young man. In it Theaetetus, a teacher of geometry, is talking with Socrates. At first they discuss the students, but soon move on to the core subject of knowledge and what it is to know things.

It is in this dialogue that Socrates famously compares himself to a midwife, which was his mother's profession. Whereas she showed expertise in bringing a newborn child into the world, Socrates' rather is skilled at bringing new knowledge forth from the minds of those on the cusp of birthing such thoughts.

The dialogue progresses as the pair discuss the nature of knowledge, and whether knowing something is distinguishable from mentally perceiving it. They also talk of how philosophers find themselves mocked and thought slow by others, when they in fact have no concern of petty affairs and gossip. Socrates differentiates between the misery of living ignorantly, or happily in the manner of the philosopher with plentiful pursuit of knowledge.

The later portions of the dialogue see knowledge compared against judgement; whether judgement itself constitutes knowledge, or whether an account - defined as speaking a true thought through words - is required first.

A classic Platonic dialogue, this edition of Theaetetus is the translation of renowned classical scholar Benjamin Jowett. It includes Jowett's lengthy introductory notes, which analyse and discuss the various topics discussed between Socrates and Theaetetus.