"Sophists exaggerated the differences in human judgments and...

"Sophists exaggerated the differences in human judgments and ignored the common elements; laid too much stress on the illusoriness of the senses Nevertheless, their criticisms of knowledge made necessary a profounder study of the nature of knowledge." 2.2.3 Socrates and the Socratic schools Socrates [469-399 BCE], Xenophon: "The Socratic problem was to meet the challenge of sophistry, which, in undermining knowledge, threatened the foundations of morality and state." Socratic method: includes the elements: [^1] skeptical, [^2] conventional, [^3] conceptual or definitional, [^4] empirical or inductive, [^5] deductive a "dialectical" process for improving understanding of a subject The treatment to this point has been more detailed since [^1] I am relatively ignorant of it, and [^2] a detailed study of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle a natural study of the tree supreme Greek philosophers is left for later Ethics: knowledge is the highest good.

Knowledge is virtue 2.3 GREEK PHILOSOPHY: THE AGE OF GREAT SYSTEMS 2.3.1 Plato [427-347 BCE] The method of Socrates suggested: a system of thought to be worked out.

Plato's system incorporates and transforms the doctrines of his predecessorsThe problems suggested are the intimate ones: meaning of human life, human knowledge, human conduct, human institutions which depend for an adequate answer upon the study, also, of their interrelations and their place as parts of the larger Ontological Question [and indeed are not comprehensible without an ontology at least "an implicit" one].

Plato developed such a system The division of philosophy into [^1] logic or dialectic [including theory of knowledge], [^2] metaphysics [including physics and psychology], and [^3]ethicsis implied in Plato's work Dialectic and Theory of Knowledge: Plato recognizes the importance of the problem of knowledge Sense perception, opinion cannot lead to genuine knowledge Eros, the love of truth, is necessary for advanceit arouses the contemplation of beautiful ideasdialectic is the art of thinking in concepts: the essential object of thought.

Ideas do not have origin in experiencewe approach the world with ideals: truth, beauty, the good; in addition to the value-concepts. Plato also came to regard mathematical concepts and certain logical notions, or categories, such as being and nonbeing, identity and difference, unity and plurality, as inborn, or a priori.