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Abstract
Readers of the Theaetetus are familiar with the Dream Theory It is introduced by the young mathematician as a reaction to Socrates final dismissal of his second definition of knowledge in terms of the true judgement. The Dream Ttheory roughly states that knowledge is true judgement with an account, but in order to spell out what to give an account of something amounts to it is necessary to have a correct understanding of the role that elements and complexes play in the theory. Many scholars have argued that the Dream Theory contains an important and influential construal of a cluster of century. The advocates of such an interpretation have picked out the model of letters and syllables to contemporary thinkers. For instance, Ryle contends that the doctrine expounded in the Dream Theory has been reinvented very recently in the works of Moore, Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein. In this paper, I shall critically examine professor Ryle's suggestion. My paper will be divided into three sections.1 shall begin with a description of the Dream Theory and its main argument; then, I will undertake a comparison of some of the relevant passages of the Dialogue with selected texts by Russell and Wittgenstein; and lastly, Ishallgive my own judgement on the issue under discussion. I shall argue that Ryle's view isappealing and valuable as a general introduction to the relationship between some of the worries that Plato addressed in his middlelate period works and some ideas on logical analysis in twentieth century philosophy; but I will reject the plain formulation ofan anticipation,since I believe that it could be misleading and to some extent, it is not fully substantiated by primary literature.
