“Plato’s problem” is a term coined by Noam Chomsky to describe how humans acquire knowledge and how it relates to experience. It is often used in linguistics, but also relevant to other fields. The heart of the problem is defining knowledge and experience and how they interact. Plato’s Meno dialogue addresses these questions. Recommended texts include Perception, Modular approaches to the study of the mind, and Thinking, Problem Solving, Cognition. Plato’s works can be found for free online.
The term “Plato’s problem” was invented by Noam Chomsky, a famous and innovative linguist. The term is applied to questions regarding how humans know what they know and how our knowledge relates to our experience. Chomsky came up with the term when he tried to explain children’s ability to use language. By the age of four, most children have the ability to construct complex sentences. This ability usually precedes literacy, math skills, and even some motor skills. How is it, then, that children can use language so early in life? This is Plato’s problem.
The reason this question has been called “Plato’s problem” is that Plato, an Athenian aristocrat who lived from 427 BC to 347 BC, philosophized on the topics of knowledge, experience, and how the two interact. The questions underlying how language is learned and to what extent experience has to do with that knowledge relate directly to many questions Plato posed. It is in the work of the philosopher Meno that these problems are addressed. Plato’s problem is something that is being addressed by scholars and researchers in the fields of linguistics, psychology and epistemology.
The term “Plato’s problem” was originally invented by a linguist and has been used in terms of linguistics. However, as mentioned above, the questions that the term represents are also relevant to other fields of study. Thus, while the term is most commonly used in the field of linguistics, it can be applied in other realms as well. The question that is at the heart of Plato’s problem is not specific to language, although it relates directly to questions about how we acquire language. Rather, the main question has to do with knowledge and experience. What is experience? What is Knowledge? How can we define these two things in exact terms? Furthermore, how can we define the meeting and interaction of knowledge and experience?
If you are interested in learning more about Plato’s Meno dialogue, Noam Chomsky’s work with language acquisition questions, or how Plato’s problem has been applied to other fields of study, you may want to refer to the following texts:
• Perception – Randolph Blake and Robert Sekuler
• Modular approaches to the study of the mind – Noam Chomsky
• Thinking, Problem Solving, Cognition – Richard E Meyer
To read Plato’s works for free, you can visit the following website which includes Meno: http://plato.thefreelibrary.com
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