Knowledge

Abstract

AT THE CLOSE of the fifth century before Christ, there lived in Sicily a Greek philosopher named Gorgias of Leontinoi. Supposedly he formulated and skillfully defended three primary propositions: first, there is nothing; second, if there were something, we wouldn’t be able to know it; third, assumed that there were something and it were knowable, we would not be able to tell anyone about it. Now, it is not certain if Gorgias himself took these assertions seriously — perhaps, as some scholars maintain, it was only a joke with him. In any case, these three propositions of his have been handed down, and since then — twenty four centuries — they challenge each one of us to reflect upon them. I am personally of the opinion that we should take this challenge seriously, regardless of how strange and weird the three propositions appear. I shall go even further; it seems to me that there is hardly anyone who has not asked himself these questions in some way at least once in his life. If that hasn’t been the case with you, then it probably will be in the future. The Gorgian propositions, therefore, are most certainly important propositions.