Meno
By Plato
()
About this ebook
In order to determine whether virtue is teachable or not, Socrates tells Meno that they first need to determine what virtue is. When the characters speak of virtue, or rather arete, they refer to virtue in general, rather than particular virtues, such as justice or temperance. The first part of the work showcases Socratic dialectical style; Meno, unable to adequately define virtue, is reduced to confusion or aporia.
Socrates suggests that they seek an adequate definition for virtue together. In response, Meno suggests that it is impossible to seek what one does not know, because one will be unable to determine whether one has found it.
Socrates challenges Meno's argument, often called "Meno's Paradox" or the "Learner's Paradox," by introducing the theory of knowledge as recollection (anamnesis). As presented in the dialogue, the theory proposes that souls are immortal and know all things in a disembodied state; learning in the embodied is actually a process of recollecting that which the soul knew before it came into a body.
Socrates demonstrates recollection in action by posing a mathematical puzzle to one of Meno's slaves.Subsequently, Socrates and Meno return to the question of whether virtue is teachable, employing the method of hypothesis.
Near the end of the dialogue, Meno poses another famous puzzle, called "The Meno Problem" or "The Value Problem for Knowledge," which questions why knowledge is valued more highly than true belief. In response, Socrates provides a famous and somewhat enigmatic distinction between knowledge and true belief.
Plato
Plato (aprox. 424-327 BC), a student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle, is commonly regarded as the centermost figure of Western philosophy. During the Classical period of Ancient Greece he was based in Athens where he founded his Academy and created the Platonist school of thought. His works are among the most influential in Western history, commanding interest and challenging readers of every era and background since they were composed.
Read more from Plato
The Last Days of Socrates (Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Five Dialogues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Days of Socrates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaws Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Dialogues (Translated by Benjamin Jowett) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial and Death of Socrates: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Dialogues of Plato Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssential Dialogues of Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Timaeus and Critias Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dialogues of Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential Plato: Apology, Symposium, and The Republic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProtagoras and Meno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5THE COMPLETE WORKS OF PLATO: The Republic, Symposium, Apology, Phaedrus, Laws, Crito, Phaedo, Timaeus, Meno, Euthyphro, Gorgias Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings30+ Classic Philosophy Book Collection: The Art of War, Poetics, The Republic, The Meditations, The Prince and others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Republic: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlato: Complete Works Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlato: Complete Works (With Included Audiobooks & Aristotle's Organon) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Meno
Related ebooks
Plato's Statesman: Part III of The Being of the Beautiful Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProtagoras Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kanye West: The Way of Ye: The Life and Ruin of Kanye West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHouse of All Nations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlato: The Complete Works (31 Books) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTherefore Choose Life: The Found Massey Lectures Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Computability of the World: How Far Can Science Take Us? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Karl Popper: Summarized Classics: SUMMARIZED CLASSICS Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - Plato, or the philosopher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWittgensteins Critique of Russells Multiple Relation Theory of Judgement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Salzburg Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConstitutional Reason of State: The Survival of the Constitutional Order Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Companion to Bioethics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Works of Lewis Henry Morgan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeneration of Vipers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucian's True History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWheelers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDarwinism (1889) An exposition of the theory of natural selection, with some of its applications Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou have a Lot to Lose: A Memoir, 1956–1986 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReason, The Only Oracle of Man Or a Compendius System of Natural Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Logic Colloquium '87 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThus Spoke Zarathustra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Search of Progressive America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPopular scientific lectures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Revolutionary Conscience: Theodore Parker and Antebellum America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnderground Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAgony of Flies: Notes and Notations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Pedro G. Ferreira's The Perfect Theory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClarissa: All 9 Volumes - The History of a Young Lady Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Magnificent Ambersons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Philosophy For You
Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bhagavad Gita (in English): The Authentic English Translation for Accurate and Unbiased Understanding Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Allegory of the Cave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bhagavad Gita Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lessons of History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: Six Translations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brain Training with the Buddha: A Modern Path to Insight Based on the Ancient Foundations of Mindfulness Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Meno
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Meno - Plato
INTRODUCTION.
This Dialogue begins abruptly with a question of Meno, who asks, 'whether virtue can be taught.' Socrates replies that he does not as yet know what virtue is, and has never known anyone who did. 'Then he cannot have met Gorgias when he was at Athens.' Yes, Socrates had met him, but he has a bad memory, and has forgotten what Gorgias said. Will Meno tell him his own notion, which is probably not very different from that of Gorgias? 'O yes—nothing easier: there is the virtue of a man, of a woman, of an old man, and of a child; there is a virtue of every age and state of life, all of which may be easily described.'
Socrates reminds Meno that this is only an enumeration of the virtues and not a definition of the notion which is common to them all. In a second attempt Meno defines virtue to be 'the power of command.' But to this, again, exceptions are taken. For there must be a virtue of those who obey, as well as of those who command; and the power of command must be justly or not unjustly exercised. Meno is very ready to admit that justice is virtue: 'Would you say virtue or a virtue, for there are other virtues, such as courage, temperance, and the like; just as round is a figure, and black and white are colours, and yet there are other figures and other colours. Let Meno take the examples of figure and colour, and try to define them.' Meno confesses his inability, and after a process of interrogation, in which Socrates explains to him the nature of a 'simile in multis,' Socrates himself defines figure as 'the accompaniment of colour.' But some one may object that he does not know the meaning of the word 'colour;' and if he is a candid friend, and not a mere disputant, Socrates is willing to furnish him with a simpler and more philosophical definition, into which no disputed word is allowed to intrude: 'Figure is the limit of form.' Meno imperiously insists that he must still have a definition of colour. Some raillery follows; and at length Socrates is induced to reply, 'that colour is the effluence of form, sensible, and in due proportion to the sight.' This definition is exactly suited to the taste of Meno, who welcomes the familiar language of Gorgias and Empedocles. Socrates is of opinion that the more abstract or dialectical definition of figure is far better.
Now that Meno has been made to understand the nature of a general definition, he answers in the spirit of a Greek gentleman, and in the words of a poet, 'that virtue is to delight in things honourable, and to have the power of getting them.' This is a nearer approximation than he has yet made to a complete definition, and, regarded as a piece of proverbial or popular morality, is not far from the truth. But the objection is urged, 'that the honourable is the good,' and as every one equally desires the good, the point of the definition is contained in the words, 'the power of getting them.' 'And they must be got justly or with justice.' The definition will then stand thus: 'Virtue is the power of getting good with justice.' But justice is a part of virtue, and therefore virtue is the getting of good with a part of virtue. The definition repeats the word defined.
Meno complains that the conversation of Socrates has the effect of a torpedo's shock upon him. When he talks with other persons he has plenty to say about virtue; in the presence of Socrates, his thoughts desert him. Socrates replies that he is only the cause of perplexity in others, because he is himself perplexed. He proposes to continue the enquiry. But how, asks Meno, can he enquire either into what he knows or into what he does not know? This is a sophistical puzzle, which, as Socrates remarks, saves a great deal of trouble to him who accepts it. But the puzzle has a real difficulty latent under it, to which Socrates will endeavour to find a reply. The difficulty is the origin of knowledge:—
He has heard from priests and priestesses, and from the poet Pindar, of an immortal soul which is born again and again in successive periods of existence, returning into this world when she has paid the penalty of ancient crime, and, having wandered over all places of the upper and under world, and seen and known all things at one time or other, is by association out of one thing capable of recovering all. For nature is of one kindred; and every soul has a seed or germ which may be developed into all knowledge. The existence of this latent knowledge is further proved by the interrogation of one of Meno's slaves, who, in the skilful hands of Socrates, is made to acknowledge some elementary relations of geometrical figures. The theorem that the square of the diagonal is double the square of the side—that famous discovery of primitive mathematics, in honour of which the legendary Pythagoras is said to have sacrificed a hecatomb—is elicited from him. The first step in the process of teaching has made him conscious of his own ignorance. He has had the 'torpedo's shock' given him, and is the better for the operation. But whence had the uneducated man this knowledge? He had never learnt geometry in this world; nor was it born with him; he must therefore have had it when he was not a man. And as he always either was or was not a man, he must have always had it. (Compare Phaedo.)
After Socrates has given this specimen of the true nature of teaching, the original question of the teachableness of virtue is renewed. Again he professes a desire to know 'what virtue is' first. But he is willing to argue the question, as mathematicians say, under an hypothesis. He will assume that if virtue is knowledge, then virtue can be taught. (This was the stage of the argument at which the Protagoras concluded.)
Socrates has no difficulty in showing that virtue is a good, and that goods, whether of body or mind, must be under the direction of knowledge. Upon the assumption just made, then, virtue is teachable. But where are the teachers? There are none to be found. This is extremely discouraging. Virtue is no sooner discovered to be teachable, than the discovery follows that it is not taught. Virtue, therefore, is and is not teachable.
In this dilemma an appeal is made to Anytus, a respectable and well-to-do citizen of the