Plato, Theaetetus, section 164b

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[164b]

Socrates
But “does not see” is the same as “does not know,” if it is true that seeing is knowing.

Theaetetus
True.

Socrates
Then this is our result. When a man has acquired knowledge of a thing and still remembers it, he does not know it, since he does not see it; but we said that would be a monstrous conclusion.

Theaetetus
Very true.

Socrates
So, evidently, we reach an impossible result if we say that knowledge and perception are the same.

Theaetetus
So it seems.

Socrates
Then we must say they are different.

Theaetetus
I suppose so.

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 12 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.

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