Doxa

Doxa (δόξα) means opinion, belief, or how things seem — and also, in another vein, reputation and glory. Both senses flow from the verb dokein, 'to seem' or 'to think'. The 'seeming' sense gives us 'paradox' (against opinion) and 'orthodox' (right belief); the 'glory' sense lies behind 'doxology'.

The middle state

For Plato, doxa is the cognitive condition between knowledge and ignorance. Its objects are the things of the sensible world, which hover between full being and non-being, always becoming and never simply being. Opinion can be true or false, and even true opinion has its worth; but until it is tied down by an account of its cause it remains doxa, not epistēmē, and is apt to slip away — like the statues of Daedalus, Plato jokes, that run off unless fastened.

On the Divided Line

In the image of the Divided Line, doxa names the whole lower segment, divided in turn into conviction about physical things and the faintest grasp of mere images and shadows. The philosopher's task is to lead the soul up out of the world of opinion toward the light of the Forms. (Parmenides had already set the 'Way of Opinion' against the 'Way of Truth'.)