7 h 21 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 21 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the things you call knowledge cannot stand up to a few careful questions?
In Plato's Theaetetus, Socrates asks a gifted young mathematician what knowledge is. The older geometer Theodorus joins them in Athens, shortly before Socrates faces the charges that will lead to his death. The question sounds simple. Finding an answer means looking closely at what it means to perceive, believe, and give a reason.
Theaetetus begins with a bold suggestion: knowledge is perception. Socrates tests the idea, drawing the young man into questions about truth and false belief. Rather than hand down answers, he acts as a midwife to another person's thoughts. You follow an argument as it takes shape, meets resistance, and demands another attempt.
What you’ll discover
- A question worth testing Look again at what you mean whenever you say you know something.
- Socrates as midwife Meet a questioner who helps others bring their own ideas to birth.
- Perception under pressure Follow the claim that knowledge is perception into searching questions about truth.
- Beyond a correct belief Explore why holding a true judgment may not be the same as knowing.
- The demand for reasons Consider what an account must add to a belief before it becomes knowledge.
Who will love it
This book suits anyone who enjoys a good argument, a sharp question and a teacher who knows how to draw out a student.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Ask for the one thing behind the examples
- Perception as knowledge leads to constant flux
- Protagoras cannot defend his own measure
- The philosopher and the lawyer live differently
- Knowledge lies in the mind and not the senses
- False opinion seems impossible, yet it exists
- True opinion with an account faces the letters test
- Three meanings of account all fail, and wonder remains
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Theaitetos
by Platon
Socrates calls himself a midwife and helps a young Theaetetus give birth to answers about what knowledge is.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to readDeutsch
Excellent
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In short
Imagine a gifted young man carried home from the army at Corinth, badly wounded and sick with dysentery. Two friends in Megara hear of him and have a servant read aloud a conversation he once had as a boy with Socrates.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Ask for the one thing behind the examples
Socrates asks Theaetetus a plain question: what is knowledge? The boy lists what he studies with Theodorus, which is geometry, astronomy, harmony and arithmetic, and adds crafts such as shoemaking. Socrates says this is too much. He asked for the single thing that makes each of them knowledge, not a count of the arts.
To show the difference, he turns to clay. It is silly to say there is potters clay and brickmakers clay. A good answer is short. Clay is earth mixed with water.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 4 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Plato. Theaetetus. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/theaetetus.
Plato. (2026). Theaetetus. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/theaetetus (Original work published ca. 369 B.C.E.)
Plato. Theaetetus. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/theaetetus.
@book{plato2026theaetetus,
author = {Plato},
title = {Theaetetus},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/theaetetus},
note = {First published ca. 369 BCE}
}
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What is Plato's Theaetetus about?
It asks what knowledge is. Socrates talks with the young mathematician Theaetetus and tests three answers: knowledge is perception, knowledge is true opinion, and knowledge is true opinion with an account. Each answer is examined and set aside.
Who are Socrates, Theodorus and Theaetetus?
Socrates is the Athenian questioner. Theodorus is a geometer from Cyrene who praises Theaetetus. Theaetetus is the gifted boy who answers, and the frame story, told by Euclid and Terpsion, adds that he later became a brave soldier.
What does Socrates mean by saying he is a midwife?
He means that he does not give people ideas. He helps them bring forth their own, then tests whether each idea is sound or an empty wind egg. He says his mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife of bodies.
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