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"Episteme" is the word of choice in Plato, generally (although there are a few instances of "Gnosis" here and there)

By contrast, "Gnosis" is far more frequent among Neoplatonists and seems to take center stage, as opposed to "Episteme".

Is this a general trend in Ancient Greek Philosophy? What about other schools?

Take Skepticism, for example. Do they reject Episteme or Gnosis (or both)? Does their target also change from one to the other over time?

Is there a change over time in the use of "Episteme" and "Gnosis" in ancient greek philosophy? There is nearly 1000 years between Plato and the Neoplatonists. Surely things were not exactly the same that far apart.

NB: I am not asking what the difference between "Episteme" and "Gnosis" is in general. Also, my question is not only about the Platonic school. I am just mentioning it as an example. Please don't summarily close my question.

fi11222
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    Does this answer your question? [In greek philosophy, what is the difference between "gnosis" and "episteme"?](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/7789/in-greek-philosophy-what-is-the-difference-between-gnosis-and-episteme) – Conifold Jan 02 '23 at 21:30
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    @Conifold No, it doesn't. Please see the NB section above. – fi11222 Jan 10 '23 at 05:30
  • Did you read the top answer? It describes at least two changes over time: from pre-Socratics to Aristotle, and then from Aristotle to neo-Platonists. The use of "gnosis" increased along with the spread of mysticism in the late Roman empire, which neo-Platonists absorbed. – Conifold Jan 10 '23 at 05:35
  • @Conifold, would I be correct if I said *gnosis* is *knowing* irrespective of *how* that knowing was achieved (includes e.g. *revelation* and the *mystical*), but *episteme* is *philosophical* knowing as in *justified, true, belief* (JTB theory of *knowledge*? – Agent Smith Jan 10 '23 at 06:44
  • I do not think it is "irrespective", both neo-Platonists and gnostics put emphasis on the mystical enlightenment that brought *gnosis*. *Episteme*, in its turn, was not tied to Plato, and JTB is a big modernization even of him. Its uses by philosophers varied and did not match colloquial meaning. Many contrasted it to practical *techne*. In Aristotle's hands, it meant something like organized corpus of knowledge obtained by scholarly (in his understanding) means. It was eventually translated into Latin as *scientia* by scholastics and, after major revisions, morphed into modern "science". – Conifold Jan 10 '23 at 07:58
  • See [Lesher](https://philosophy.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/122/2013/10/Gnosis-and-Episteme.pdf) on *episteme* vs *gnosis* in Plato, [IEP](https://iep.utm.edu/plotinus/#H3) on *gnosis* in Plotinus (very different), and [SEP](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/episteme-techne/) on *episteme* vs *techne*. – Conifold Jan 10 '23 at 08:12
  • @Conifold, so *Gnosis* = *Episteme* (lumen naturale) + [lumen gratiae + lumen fidei]? – Agent Smith Jan 10 '23 at 11:14
  • @conifold: Invoking the "spread of mysticism" is not enough, I think. That seems obvious but is it the only answer? I doubt it. Also, what about the Skeptics? What about the Stoics? Did they also become "mystic"? I don't think so. So what happened in their case re. Gnosis vs. Episteme? – fi11222 Jan 11 '23 at 09:35
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    @Agent Smith: See above – fi11222 Jan 11 '23 at 09:35

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