A Note on Plato's Divided Line

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS A NOTE ON PLATO'S DIVIDED LINE 235 In the figure of the divided line of Republic 5o9ff., the reader is presented with a theory of cognition, a theory of consciousness.' Different faculties apprehend different objects; change the faculty, and one changes the characteristic object apprehended through the employment of that faculty. If we take this model seriously, an intriguing question arises: If the divided line is considered to be a single object of cognition, and each object of cognition is an object for one and only one principal faculty on the line, then on which of the four levels of the divided line is the divided line the proper object apprehended? There is a correspondence envisaged in this model between the mode of acquisition and the object acquired. The cognition or acquisition refers to a means or manner in which an object is grasped; the mode of apprehending objects, then, conditions the thing apprehended. An analysis of the object should thus reveal the mode of apprehension which brought forth that object--given the correspondence between faculty and object. In order to answer the question, "On what level of the divided line is the divided line the proper object of cognition?," we must first distinguish those faculties and objects and see which level describes this particular cognition-and-cognized. In sum, since the model supposes that every object of awareness is the object of one and only one principal faculty or mode of awareness, and since the divided line is presented to us as an object of awareness, then the divided line should appear as the distinct object on only one of the fbur-fold levels. The central consequence of this view is that although the divided line apparently declares a four-fold view of reality, by its own admission it can be only one picture of this four-fold view. A schematic representation of faculties and objects appears below--the divided line in Republic 5o9ff. 'This note providesadditionalcommentto my reviewof Facetsof Plato'sPhilosophy,W.W. Werkmeister(editor),Supplementaryvolumea ofPhronesis,inJournaloftheHistoryofPhilosophy, VolumeXIX, Number 2, April 1981. 236 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY (mode) (faculty) (object) characteristic) THE GOOD NOETIC knowing-WHY first principles Intellection (noesis) DIANOETIC knowing-WHAT hypothetical method useful-correct opinions w/o reasons MYTHIC conjecture/ guess Discursive thinking (dianoia) Belief (pistis) Imagining I { (eikasia) / form or idea atemporal (eidos or idea) aspatial mathematical atemporal objects spatial (mathemata) living things spatial (z6a)/phuteuton/ corporeal skeuaston images temporal l eikones) spatial mere appearance The hierarchy of ascending levels of cognition range from A the likeness represented in a story, to B the correct opinion which lacks the reasons for its veracity, to C the hypothetical supposition of what is the case and upon what set of suppositions, and finally to D the postulation of first principles, the casual account of the real from which all deficient relations can (somehow ) be demonstrated. With this background, it should be clear that the divided line is the proper object on the third level of the line, level C. The object of cognition is presented in the form of a geometrical construction; formally, the divided line is a mathematical object. The object is brought forth by a mode of presentation which is distinctly mathematical; geometric construction employs an hypothetical method as its modus operandi. Now if this interpretation is sound, we should expect to find the three other accompanying views of the multi-faceted reality in the text of the Republic. We do. The Allegory of the Cave represents the same four-fold picture of reality from the level of "Imagination"; there we get the mythic account. The "Common-Sense Belief" or technic account of this four-fold reality is encountered in the succeeding discussion of the higher education of the guardians. Having located the divided line at the dianoetic level of "Thought," we move on to the fourth level or noetic account which precedes the divided line in the Republic. "Intellection" is presented in the simile of NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS 237 the Good and the sun. An illustration and comparative chart of these accounts appears below: PLATO'S FOUR-FOLD REALITY Mythic Technic Dianoetic Noetic Cave Allegory Higher Education Divided Line...