Question

What is the powers criterion of Republic V, and how does it show that knowledge and belief are distinct?

Answer 1

Plato introduces his discussion of the difference between knowledge and belief in RepublicV by offering the individuation criteria for power, which is a first in the history of philosophy. This is important methodologically because it shows, at this early stage of the development of a philosophical method, Plato’s sensitivity to the introduction of a new type of entity into the ontology, by requiring the specification of the criteria by which such entities can be individuated. Plato says: "A power has neither color nor shape nor any feature of the sort that many other things have and that I use to distinguish those things from one another. In the case of a power, I use only what it is set over and what it does, and by reference to these I call each the power it is: What is set over the same things and does the same I call the same power; what is set over something different and does something different I call a different one."

In Republic V, Plato claims that knowledge is not a type of belief. He says that the power of knowledge is a different type of power from that of belief, with different objects of cognition, and thus knowledge states cannot be analyzed in terms of belief states. He distinguishes two different cognitive powers, knowledge and belief, which operate differently on different types of object.