doctrine of recollection

The doctrine of recollection, or anamnesis, is a philosophical concept primarily associated with Plato. It proposes that learning is not acquiring new information but rather remembering knowledge the soul already possesses from a previous existence.1

This theory suggests that the soul, before being incarnated in a body, had direct access to the eternal Forms or Ideas. When encountering imperfect copies of these Forms in the physical world, the soul is prompted to recall the perfect, true knowledge it once possessed. This process is often illustrated through dialogues where Socrates guides individuals to discover truths they seemingly already know, implying that true knowledge is innate and accessed through recollection. The concept is also linked to the broader idea of memory and association in psychology.2134