What Does 'To Know Something' Mean?
Plato and Wittgenstein on the Grammar of Knowledge
abstract
This paper provides an attempt to read some important aspects of Plato’s thought in the light of Wittgenstein’s analyses of the grammar (i.e. the ordinary linguistic uses) of knowledge. It focuses mainly on the infallibility of knowledge. Far from being specifically Platonic or even philosophical, infallibility belongs to the language-game of knowledge. My aim is to show that Plato makes a subtle use of this linguistic resource to justify his own ethical, epistemological and ontological views. Finally, I briefly compare the way in which each of the two philosophers understands the grammar of knowledge.
Keywords: Ontology • Plato • Knowledge • Language • Wittgenstein • Infallibility • Grammar