When Every Perception is True

In this second session on Plato's Theaetetus, Richard Polt guides viewers through one of philosophy's most provocative stretches of dialogue. Beginning with a recap of the characters and the proposal that knowledge is perception, the lecture traces how Socrates connects this idea to Heraclitean flux, the claim that everything is constantly changing like a river. From there, Polt unpacks a series of vivid thought experiments: the six dice paradox, color theory and secondary qualities, and a radical "secret doctrine" that abolishes stable being altogether. The discussion turns to whether every perception is true for the perceiver, testing the idea against dreams, insanity, and the embarrassing implication that humans are no wiser than pigs or baboons. Socrates deploys his famous midwife metaphor and ironic style to press these questions further. The lecture closes by examining whether wisdom can still mean anything if "better" is always relative, setting up deep problems of ethical relativism that carry into the next reading.