Essay on MENO: PLATO

At first, I will talk about the contents of this passage. This passage is concerning what virtue is. The argument is whether virtue could be learned by or gift by God. Socrates believed that virtue was gift by God and it was hard to cite a universal definition of virtue.

In Plato’s Meno, Socrates and Meno attempt to answer the question, ‘What is virtue?’ Through this discussion, Meno is lead to question whether they are even able to arrive at an answer, presenting us with the paradox of inquiry, ‘And how will you enquire, Socrates, into that which you do not know? What will you put forth as a subject of enquiry? And if you find what you want, how will you ever know that this is the thing which you did not know?’ (Meno 80d). Meno’s paradox states that one cannot gain knowledge through enquiry.

Meno, written by Plato, is a dialogue between two men, Socrates and Meno, which discusses the nature of virtue. At the end of the dialogue, Socrates suggests that a man’s virtuous actions can be derived from either knowledge or true opinion. Meno then wonders how knowledge and true opinion are different if both concepts can produce identical results. Socrates answers with an analogy, which provides a valid and sound argument about why he believes knowledge to be more valuable than true opinion.

In Euthyphro, he shows that he is a teacher by teaching Euthyphro what is holy. Euthyphro thought he knew what holy is, but Socrates proves that he is wrong and teaches him what really is holy. Socrates teaches Crito what just really is in Crito. This is another case of somebody thinking they know what something is and Socrates ends up teaching them that they didn’t actually know what they were talking about. Meno is a bit different than the first two. In Meno, Meno asks Socrates a question about virtue whereas in the other two Socrates was teaching something that Euthyphro and Crito thought they knew. Meno is taught that you can’t know if virtue can be taught until you have some understanding of what virtue itself is. Meno had no understanding of what virtue was or if it could be taught, but Socrates gave him a basic understanding of what virtue is and that it can’t be taught. Socrates told people things things they didn’t know, and he showed them things they never saw. Socrates was definitely a

Yes, I do agree with Meno’s first instinct, as even I would not be able to recount the interpretation of “virtue” in its entirety. Meno interprets virtue as “to find joy in beautiful things and have power.” (Meno) Even more so, Meno believes that virtue varies in relation to men, women and children. However, in reality, having virtue simply means to maintain and uphold good moral values and characteristics. For example, patience is said to be a virtue. Other virtues can be seen as bravery, charity, commitment, compassion, dignity, grace and honesty. I agree with Socrates when he states that virtue is the same for everyone. With that said, on the other hand, not every individual possesses all of the numerous virtues. This is because not every

Plato believed that our source of knowledge is an innate idea. Plato states that before we were born we lived in a perfect universe, and everything in that universe was perfect. In his play Meno, Plato illustrates this idea by telling the story of the slave boy. In the play, Socrates asks the boy to draw a square that is double in size. After trial and error, the boy is able to draw the square. There is a dialog between Socrates and Meno, where Socrates questions Meno on where the boy could have obtained that kind of knowledge. Socrates tells Meno that the boy has had no formal schooling, but still knows how to make the square bigger. Socrates concludes that it must be because the slave boy lives in a perfect universe before being born.

The question that is asked in Plato’s Meno dialogue in the beginning is whether virtue can be taught. Quite truly, the answer is in the negative even though the indication is weak, consisting only of the observation that no one relates to themselves as a “virtue instructor”. But I think Plato could have worded the questions a bit differently, which may have given him a diverse answer; as an alternative way of asking whether virtue can be taught, he might have had a better chance if he were to ask whether virtue could be learned.

He states that virtue must be a kind of knowledge that makes other goods such as wealth, health or courage worthwhile. “If then virtue is something in the soul and it must be beneficial, it must be knowledge, since all the qualities of the soul are in themselves neither beneficial nor harmful but accompanied by wisdom or folly they become harmful or beneficial.” (Meno 88c). This argument shows that virtue, being beneficial, must be a kind of wisdom. Socrates establishes that we obtain knowledge through learning and learning is good, therefore virtue is good. We say that virtue is something good, therefore knowledge is also good. “If then there is anything else that is good that is different and separate from knowledge virtue might well not be a kind of knowledge, but if there is nothing good that knowledge does not encompass, we would be right to suspect that it is a kind of knowledge.” (Meno 87d) Socrates then asks Meno if Virtue makes us good, and for everything that is good is beneficial, so virtue is something beneficial in addition to knowledge. He then goes on to say that all good things such as wealth, health and courage are all good and can benefit us but can also harm us if not used with knowledge. Socrates looks at the qualities of the soul, moderation, justice, courage, mental quickness, memory and munificence, which are also qualities of virtue. These are all things that can harm us if

In the story The Meno the definition of “Virtue” is explained in many different ways. The Meno explains how virtue originates in four different ways: through teaching, the result of practicing, by nature, or a gift from the God. Meno first says that virtue can be taught or is an inherited trait. Afterwards, Meno starts talking to Socrates who brings up the idea that nature itself explains virtue. The problem with giving all of these definitions to virtue, is that there are no real definition of virtue.

Meno is instructed by Socrates to look at the situation between the slave boy and Socrates to determine whether the slave boy is learning or recalling the information from his soul. Socrates starts questioning the slave boy on a square, even thought he boy has no geometric knowledge; but guided by Socrates he is able to provide the right answer When asked the area the boy confidently answers incorrectly Although his initial response was incorrect, guided by Socrates’ questions the boy was able to answer correctly Socrates suggests that one does not need to understand topics such as geometry, but can still answer the questions correctly by someone asking the right questions. Plato’s Meno gives the idea that the slave boy, without anyone’s help and only the questions asked of him, he will understand, finding the knowledge from within, recollecting.

In Plato’s The Meno, Socrates, who was a Greek philosopher and considered one of the wisest of all people expresses his views on the relationship between knowledge and virtue. In todays era, virtue is defined as having good morals as a human being. Knowledge is defined as factual information and skills that are acquired by a person through experience or education. Together Socrates makes a statement and or beliefs, that virtue is knowledge because if you know what is right, you will in fact do what is right.

Plato’s dialogue, titled ‘Meno’, began with Meno proposing a question to Socrates on whether virtue is teachable, can be developed by practice, or something one is born with. Socrates, who is somewhat humored by the question, wants to first know what the nature of virtue truly is. Meno offers Socrates multiple examples of virtues based of roles, including the virtue of a man, a woman, a child, an elder, and a slave. The virtue of a man would be to manage his public affairs, and bring good on to himself and his friends and harm to his enemies. The virtue of a woman is to manage the household and to be submissive to her husband (Meno, pg. 60-61). He goes on to say that there are many other ways of defining virtue that is specific to the actions,

Plato was a critic of the sophists, which were a group of men who were paid by individuals to “teach” them. The individuals who sought the sophists help had only one goal, and that was to win arguments; the sophists promised to teach their patrons how to accomplish this. Plato’s Meno tells about an encounter between a man named Meno, who had been the student of a sophist named Gorgias, and, the philosopher, Socrates. In the beginning of their dialogue, Meno asks, “Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is something teachable? Or is not teachable, but something that comes from practice? Or is it something neither from practice nor from learning, but something that comes to human beings by nature, or some other way?” (Plato, “Meno,” 70A).

Socrates defined virtue as having the knowledge of moral excellence. Virtue is when one builds up knowledge by acquiring the applications of skills and the building up of character. Once this knowledge is acquired, Socrates claimed that virtue creates wealth and all else that is good. Socrates also believed that if you were a virtuous person then you would know what is right, and you will do what is right.

At the outset of the Meno dialogue, Meno asks Socrates, “[…] can virtue be taught? Or is it not teachable but the result of practice, or is it neither of these, but men possess it by nature or in some other way?” 70a. Meno is asking Socrates how one can acquire virtue, and these four questions offer paths of investigation.