Dialogue on The Theaetetus, Part 2: Transmission of Knowledge in Two Types of Motion

Participants from the Toronto and Calgary Philosophy and Online Rebels Meetup groups met on June 13, 2021 to discuss themes in the second part of Theaetetus, Plato's dialogue on knowledge. We began by listening to part of a "Joy of x" podcast interview by mathematician Steven Strogatz of computer scientist Melanie Mitchell, addressing the challenges of generalizing the particulars of knowledge in computer algorithms when faced with an infinity of probabilities in everyday existence. We connected the discussion to the ideas in Plato's theory of forms, and to Socrates' challenge to the Protagorean belief that "man is the measure of all things".

Is each one of us equipped to determine the extent of being and non-being and all that comes to be between these two extremes? As the transmission of knowledge has altered over time from the spoken word to the written word and, in recent decades to digital bits soon to be geometrically quantized in the qubit of the quantum computer, do we understand what knowledge is and how its limits are determined - either by one or in combination? Do we distinguish between two types of motion, as Socrates does, and recognize that alteration of state and perception is motion like change in spatial position? Is knowledge and our own existence in a constant and unknowable flux, as Socrates presents the argument of Heraclitus, or is the contrasting position of Parmenides correct that all limits are the derivative of one eternal, changeless state? How will we encode the "account of the reasons why", as Socrates described memory of knowledge in The Meno, together with individual bits of knowledge in order to provide context and understanding?

While we did not reach definitive conclusions on these questions, our own dialogue raised so many interesting and thoughtful insights that shine a new light on the path of knowledge. We look forward to resuming regular meetings in September for the beginning of season 2 to consider The Republic and Parmenides, together with some of Plato's other dialogues not addressed in season 1. In between seasons we hope to podcast some interesting interviews and perspectives on themes discussed in our most fascinating first season, in the continual exchange and construction of knowledge.