Title: What is pistis in Plato’s Republic?
By Damien Storey (Koç, Philosophy)
Date: Thursday, January 22, 2026
Time: 1530-1700
Room: Humanities Seminar Room (H-232)
Abstract: In Plato’s Republic, the image of the Line divides belief (doxa) into two species: pistis and eikasia. Pistis is a direct grasp of sensible objects—’the animals around us, every plant, and the whole class of manufactured things’ (510a)—and eikasia is an indirect grasp of them through images like shadows or reflections. Pistis is often thought to be simply ‘ordinary’ belief, and so it has not attracted much interest. I argue that it is in fact a highly unusual and specific species of belief, and one that reveals Plato’s interest in lower, pre-rational forms of cognition. It concerns beliefs that do not derive, in the first instance, from reasoning, but from a kind of direct perceptual empeiria, “experience”, of sensibles. While it is for Plato a rudimentary level of cognition, it is also an essential foundation for higher cognition. Thus, developing the future guardians’ pistis, especially in ethical matters, is the focus of early education in the Republic’s curriculum.
About the speaker: Dr Storey’s research is in ancient philosophy, with interests in contemporary ethics – especially virtue ethics – and areas of political philosophy. In ancient philosophy, he has worked on questions in Plato’s ethics, psychology, and epistemology, particularly his views on the nature of belief and perception and how these relate to non-rational cognition. In recent years, he has focused closely on the images of the Sun, Line, and Cave in Plato’s Republic. He work has appeared in journals such as the British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Phronesis, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Classical Philology, and Ancient Philosophy.
Organized by the Department of Philosophy
