Dialogues · Chapter
Meno explained
Socrates engages Meno in a dialogue about the nature of virtue, exploring whether it can be taught, acquired by practice, or comes by nature.
What happens
Socrates engages Meno in a dialogue about the nature of virtue, exploring whether it can be taught, acquired by practice, or comes by nature. Through the famous paradox of inquiry and the theory of recollection, Socrates demonstrates that knowledge is innate and can be drawn out through questioning. The dialogue also examines the difference between true opinion and knowledge, concluding that virtue is a gift from the gods rather than a subject of instruction.
Themes in this chapter
Knowledge and Ignorance
Socrates demonstrates the theory of recollection by guiding a slave boy to discover geometric principles, arguing that all learning is recollection of innate knowledge.
Education and Virtue
The central question of whether virtue can be taught is explored, with Socrates ultimately concluding that virtue is not teachable but comes by divine dispensation.
Characters to notice
- Socrates
Leads the inquiry into virtue, using the Socratic method to challenge Meno's assumptions and demonstrate the theory of recollection.
- Meno
A young Thessalian nobleman who initially offers definitions of virtue but becomes perplexed as Socrates questions him.
- Anytus
Appears briefly as a critic of the Sophists and warns Socrates about speaking ill of them, foreshadowing his role in Socrates' trial.
Key passages
“Socrates: 'There is no teaching, but only recollection.'”
Socrates argues that what we call learning is actually the soul remembering knowledge it already possesses from a previous existence.
This introduces the theory of recollection, a key Platonic doctrine linking knowledge to the immortality of the soul.
“Meno: 'Virtue is the desire for beautiful things and the power to acquire them.'”
Meno defines virtue as wanting good things and being able to get them, but Socrates challenges this by questioning what is truly good and just.
This definition reflects a common Greek view of virtue as success and honor, which Socrates refines through dialectic.