Has Neurophysiology Resurrected the Platonic Soul?

Abstract

It has been argued that the objective of psychological experimentation should be one of furthering our understanding of the processes by which human knowledge is acquired. However, there are those who argue that many hypothetical constructs employed by contemporary psychologists, in contrast to their assessments, reflect an epistemology embraced by Plato centuries past. A different position is taken here, one which maintains that modern psychological researches are more characteristic of the Aristotelian position in contrast to Platonic doctrine. The viability of these traditional epistemologies is discussed in view of researches in the areas of perception and neurophysiology. It is suggested that the Aristotelian approach to the resolution of the paradox of knowing about knowing is both philosophically substantive and, unlike the Platonist position, operationally feasible.