Platos Meno Essay - 799 Words

The dialogue opens up with Meno asking what virtue is and whether it could be taught. Socrates asks Meno for a general definition of virtue, since as Socrates points out, we cannot figure out if virtue can be taught if we do not have a clear idea what it is. Socrates is looking for a general, or formal definition of virtue, not just examples or instances of it. Socrates wants to know what all the examples of virtue have in common. He wants to know the essence of virtue. Meno initially offers a list of virtues, but Socrates rejects this as a sufficient account. Meno also states that there are different virtues for everyone. The virtue of a man is to order a state and the virtue of a woman is to order a household. I believe that virtue can†¦show more content†¦First, it needs to be determined if virtue is a kind of knowledge. Then if it is, we can conclude it can be taught. And if virtue is not knowledge, thus concluding it cannot be taught. Socrates argues that virtue is know ledge, but then he changes course abruptly at and begins to argue the other side. Socrates points out there are teachers for medicine, priesthood and so on; everybody agrees that these are genuine teachers, whereas people disagree about whether the Sophists really do teach virtue. Maybe this again is because virtue cannot be taught. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Neither of the early questions – whether virtue is knowledge, whether virtue can be taught, the nature of virtue itself – are answered. We arrive at some clarity about the unexpected issue of the nature and importance of knowledge. Knowledge is justified as true belief. You need to be able to explain and support your true belief because otherwise this knowledge will escape form the mind. Socrates uses the slave boy to demonstrate the process of recollection by asking him questions about a geometrical problem. Socrates has shown that there exists an additional cognitive state that can guide one much in the same way as one guided by knowledge. This state is the state of true opinion. Although true opinion is always true, it is fleeting and impermanent. I believe virtue is anything that may be advantageous in one’s own way. It may be good, it may be bad inShow MoreRelatedThe Text Of The Meno By Plato938 Words   |  4 PagesIn the text of the Meno by Plato, the dialogue develops and attempts to answer the question of what virtue is, and whether it is teachable. The paradox explained can be used to discuss merely anything, and we can thus say that either one knows or does not know. If a person knows, then they cannot investigate or question their knowledge. However, if a person does not know, they cannot inquire about it which means a person cannot question for not knowing what they do not know. Plato goes ahead and resolvesRead MoreEssay on MENO: PLATO600 Words   |  3 PagesSocrates, 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 knowled ge 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 cannotRead MorePlato s Meno As A Socratic Discussion On Human Sexuality And Age1686 Words   |  7 PagesPlato s Meno is a Socratic discussion on the definition of human virtues where the main participants are Socrates and Meno. Other speakers in the dialogue include an Athenian politician, one of Meno s slaves, and Socrates’ prosecutor Anytus, who is a friend to Meno. 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Plato : The Essential Themes Of The Meno1633 Words   |  7 PagesThere is not a great deal of context that is crucial to understanding the essential themes of the Meno, largely because the dialogue sits nearly at the beginning of western philosophy. Socrates and Plato are working not so much in the context of previous philosophies as in the context of the lack of them. Further, this is very probably one of Plato s earliest surviving dialogues, set in about 402 BC E (by extension, we might presume that it represents Socrates at a relatively early stage in his ownRead MorePlato s Dialogue : The Meno2000 Words   |  8 PagesPlato’s dialogue the Meno explores the question of whether virtue can be taught. This dialogue provides no contextual setting like other early dialogues do, and instead it begins suddenly with Meno putting forth the question of whether virtue is teachable. Unlike earlier dialogues that mostly revolved around Socrates questioning and refuting an interlocutor who claimed to know something, though the Meno does this to an extent in the beginning, Socrates attempts to offer a potential positive solutionRead MorePlato s Meno : True Opinion Vs.983 Words   |  4 PagesPlato’s Meno: True Opinion vs Knowlege Socrates was one of the most influential and thought-provocative people in all of Ancient Greece; he was so monumental in his teachings that his theories and argumentative styles are still utilized today. One of Socrates’ most influential students was Plato, another ancient philosopher that followed Socrates through Greece and kept record of his arguments and teachings, who would go on to be some of the most significant philosophical academia to ever be publishedRead MoreIs Plato s Theory Of Recollection A Plausible Solution For Meno s Paradox Of Knowledge?960 Words   |  4 Pagesgeneral topic is Plato’s theory of recollection. Is Plato’s Theory of Recollection the plausible solution to Meno’s Paradox of Knowledge? Throughout many of his dialogues Plato often concludes that we cannot know something through our senses. He often concludes that we became acquainted with our knowledge in a previous existence. In Meno, Socrates states that, â€Å"As the sou l is immortal, has been born often, and has seen all things here and in the underworld, there is nothing which it has not learned; soRead MorePlato s The Meno, A Greek Philosopher And The Wisest Of All People1216 Words   |  5 PagesAlexis Evans Midterm Paper 11/4/14 Topic 1 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 youRead MoreComparing Plato Five Dialogues Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo By John M. Cooper1009 Words   |  5 Pagesexist in the world. While this exist in the world some of the things that bring people the most happiness in life is achieving a good education, treating others equally, and loving those around them. An example of this within Plato Five Dialogues Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo by John M. Cooper is the following. â€Å"Men of Athens, I am grateful and I am your friend, but I will obey the god ra ther than you, and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy, to