Jessica Moss colloquium

Did Plato Have Beliefs?

It is widely assumed that doxa in Plato’s epistemology is the counterpart of belief in ours. I argue that this not so: unlike belief, doxa is incompatible with knowledge, and unlike belief, doxa is restricted to or specially concerned with a special domain of objects, perceptible things. (Arguably Plato changes his mind and begins to develop an account of doxa as belief in the later dialogues, but this is a significant change from the Republic, Meno, and other dialogues.) I argue for a new account of doxa as an acceptance of superficial seemings. I end by asking about the ramifications of doing epistemology without belief.