Eikasia
The term eikasía (Ancient Greek: εἰκασία), meaning imagination in Greek, was used by Plato to refer to a human way of dealing with appearances.[1] Particularly, it is identified as the lower subsection of the visible segment and represents images, which Plato described as "first shadows, then reflections in water and in all compacted, smooth, and shiny materials".[2] According to the philosopher, eikasia and pistis add up to doxa, which is concerned with genesis (becoming).[3]
Eikasia has several interpretations. For instance, it is the inability to perceive whether a perception is an image of something else. It therefore prevents us from perceiving that a dream or memory or a reflection in a mirror is not reality as such. Another variation posited by scholars such Yancey Dominick, explains that it is a way of understanding the originals that generate the objects that are considered as eikasia.[4] This allows one to distinguish the image from reality such as the way one can avoid mistaking a reflection of a tree in a puddle for a tree.[4]
It is part of Plato's Analogy of the Divided Line.
References[]
- ^ "eikasia". FOLDOC. Archived from the original on 2006-06-20. Retrieved 2006-06-22.
- ^ Dorter, Kenneth (2006). The Transformation of Plato's Republic. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. p. 191. ISBN 0739111876.
- ^ Crombie, I. M. (2012). An Examination of Plato's Doctrines: Plato on Knowledge and Reality, Volume 7. Oxon: Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 9780415632171.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Payne, Andrew (2017-10-13). The Teleology of Action in Plato's Republic. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192536693.
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