Question

Plato states in the Phaedo that: “either knowledge is nowhere to be gained, or else it is for the dead.” How does he make this connection between knowledge and death? First, what is his view of knowledge? How is knowing different than having a true opinion? Second, given his view of knowledge, why does he think that the body or senses cannot provide it? What makes the sensible world inadequate for knowing? Lastly, how does the doctrine of recollection fit within this picture?

Answer 1

In Phaedo, Plato discusses the basis of true knowledge. According to him, knowledge is innate and apriori and it cannot be gained through sensory experiences. Thus Plato makes the claim here that if knowledge was based on sense experiences then it would fade or die out with the death of the one perceiving the reality as a means to gain knowledge about the world.
ex. like a two year old babbling away who picks something from his parents but also adds his own unique sound combinations to the learned words.

For Plato, true source of knowledge is an idea which is the archetype or prototype of knowledge. Ideas are the essence of knowledge and they are stored in memory as the ‘essence’. recollection or recalling from memory becomes a crucial way to access the ‘Form’ which for Plato is an eternal, perfect idea of every concept or object that exists in the physical world.