The Between Socrates And Meno

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.

"Socrates, can virtue be taught?"1 The dialogue begins with Meno asking Socrates whether virtue can be taught. At the end of the Meno (86d-100b), Socrates attempts to answer the question. This question is prior to the division between opinion and knowledge and provides to unsettle both. Anytus participated in Socrates and Meno conversation about virtue. Socrates claims that if virtue is a kind of knowledge, then it can be learned. If it is something besides a kind of knowledge, it perceptibly cannot be taught.

The problem with Socrates concerns the problem with the role of value and reason. Nietzsche believes that the bulk of philosophers claim that life is a corrupt grievance for mankind. Nietzsche reasoned that these life deniers were decadents of Hellenism, as a symptom of some underlying melancholy. For someone to paint life in such a negative light they must have suffered a great deal through the course of their own life. Furthermore, these no-sayers agreed in various physiological ways and thus adopted the same pessimistic attitudes towards life. Socrates was ugly, alike decadent criminals and by ways of these similarities was decadent as well. Nietzsche also claims ugliness as a physiological symptom of life in its decline supported by studies in phenology.

In this writing, Meno asks Socrates if virtue can be taught or is virtue the result of practice or does virtue come about in another way (70a). Meno believes that virtue is different for different actions performed and it also differs in terms of the age of the individual (72a). Socrates responds by telling me no that he does not know what qualities virtue possesses and he is ignorant to it (71b). However, virtue should take on the same form (72c), rather than being different for different actions and age of the person. Factors of virtue include justice and moderation (73b), and if people did not have the same traits of virtue, then this would mean that they are not good or virtuous in the same way (73c). During this conversation, Socrates

In the Socratic dialogues of Plato, Socrates often argues against the pretence of knowledge in his interlocutors. In the case of the Laches, Meno, and Protagoras dialogues, the pretence is the knowledge of virtue, among other things. The Laches seeks a definition of arête (virtue), the Meno examines the teaching of virtue, and the Protagoras offers a known expert the chance to defend that virtue can, indeed, be taught. Using these dialogues as a backdrop, I will provide an analysis of the arguments and comment on the acquisition of virtue in Platonic dialogue.

If we apply this to the question of virtue, which is being considered in the Meno, neither Socrates nor Meno can define virtue, and so they do not know what virtue is, therefore they can not inquire about virtue.

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

As we already know from reading other works by Plato, Virtue is not a cut and clean object with a distinct definition that is more correct than another definition. When Socrates asks, “what is virtue?”, Meno comes up with three definitions. However, none of his replies are true answers, but rather define parts of what helps to create virtue. Meno’s replies are scattered and he is unable to give the reader a true definition of what virtue is. Meno fails to give a common factor in all definitions of virtue, but rather gives the reader many different outlooks with nothing connecting each example. In this paper, I will discuss the exchanges between Meno and Socrates and the attempts made by Meno to describe virtue as well as Socrates’ arguments against them.

In Plato’s work ‘The Meno’, a socratic dialogue attempting to define virtue, chapters 77b-79e outline the Socratic Paradox, which focuses on the question of whether or not one can desire bad things. Plato outlines this through a dialogue between his character Meno and Socrates. The Socratic Paradox claims that no one desires bad things, i.e. no one desires things that are bad for them. Socrates claimed that to possess bad things would leave someone miserable and unhappy. One that desires bad things simply desires them because they think they are good.

On the journey to Larissa, Socrates and Meno talk about the guide and the route that they take to get there. Meno is concerned until Socrates asks if the guide belief he knows where he is going and if it is any different than knowing where you are going to go since the act of believing and knowing go hand and hand. A guide who memorized the directions to the city would have had knowledge because they also would carry the belief although they wouldn't have more or less knowledge than a guide who did not memorize the directions. The difference between knowledge and true opinion is the ability to define it and have it become a universal true. "to know something is to believe it, have reasons to believe it, have reasons for believing it, and have it be true"(334) knowledge is the act of believing in something, it does not have to be taught.

In the Meno, Socrates and Meno discuss the nature of virtue, the process of acquiring knowledge, and also the concept of the teachability of virtue. Throughout the text, Meno suggests many varying definitions for virtue, all of which Socrates is able to dismantle. The point is also raised that it may be impossible to know about something that was not previously understood, because the searcher would have no idea what to be looking for. To dispute this, Socrates makes a point that all knowledge is innate, and the process of “learning” is really just recollecting knowledge that is buried deeply within the human mind. The issue of the teachability of virtue is an important theme in this dialogue because it raises points about whether virtue is knowledge, which then leads to the issue of knowledge in general.

The use of Socrates’ inquiry in the Meno is a perfect example to show how Socrates pushed his listeners to question their own knowledge. Socrates never told Meno his definitions were wrong and his own were right, rather continued to question Meno’s conclusions to show him that he did not know the true meaning of virtue. The people of Athens were unable to accept the fact that many of them were ignorant on topics such as the definition of virtue, whereas Socrates himself was able to admit it. The Athenians disguised Socrates’ true desire to teach people for corruption and impiety because they believed he was trying to humiliate them. Although the people of Athens were blind of Socrates’ true intentions, his method of inquiry did in fact benefit the city of Athens. Socrates’ methods eliminated ignorance and increased proper knowledge on important things such as virtue and knowledge within the city of Athens, which is what he meant when he said he was “a gift of the gods to the city of Athens.”

His mother the Athenian statesman Pyrilampes, who was also her uncle. Plato had a stepbrother named Antiphon from this union.

Meno’s definition that appeals most to me is when Meno says that courage, temperance, and wisdom are virtues because first of all it takes courage sometimes to deal with different situations and ordeals that I am faced with on a daily basis. Courage to me is also standing for what is right whether I’m standing alone for the cause and being mistreated or ostracized due to the difference of opinion. For example your classmates came in contact with a copy of your class final exam and passed it out to all the class, but you take a stand and inform the instructor of the situation and the instructor tells the class. This will mean that you will be frowned upon by your classmates; this is where courage to do what is right come into play. It is because of courage that I am able to take a stand daily in doing what is right. Courage allows me to take a stand on my job when my co workers are cutting corners to do a job and not following guidelines, it allows me to take a stand for what is morally and ethically right regardless of the outcome. This is showing high moral standards in the face of adversities which are parts of the definition of virtue. Meno also includes temperance as part of his definition for virtue which is action of self control. It takes temperance which is self control when you are dealing with certain situations we must be able to conduct ourselves in an orderly manner. Temperance allows me to have balance, and good judgments which will allows me to have a

In correspondence with Socrates' hypothesis, the virtue fits into it in this way: if virtue is knowledge then it can be taught, but if it is not knowledge then it cannot be taught. It is then concluded that virtue is not knowledge, so it cannot be taught. Since men are not virtuous by nature, the conclusion is reached that people are virtuous only if they have received virtue as a gift from the gods. By using this hypothesis, not only has Socrates answered Meno's original question, he has answered all