The Meno

March 2006

Written by Plato in 380 B.C.E, Meno tells of a dialogue between Socrates and his friend Meno, as to the nature of virtue; how it is acquired and in what way it comes to man. Using his style of question and answer, Socrates engages Meno in dissecting many definitions and examples before arriving at the conclusion that virtue is given to man by god, though that cannot truly be verified in any truth without first establishing as to what virtue truly is. There had been some direction as to the nature and definition of virtue, which was later abandoned in favour of answering the original question as to where it came from, suggesting first that virtue was different for each individual, then searching as to the foundation which remain true despite the individual. Socrates also demonstrates is supposed proof in the idea that knowledge is not learned but rather recalled in defense of his view that knowledge is instilled in the spirit before birth and need be not learned but remembered through life.
Throughout this search though, the means in which Socrates and Meno use in order to come to these conclusions hold fault within themselves. Many instances arise in which too much emphasis is placed on semantics, with a need to define every word used in an explanation. Though definitions are quite relevant, for the sake of an argument/discussion one much allow for universals, since the debate of those universals provoke yet another discussion as to their definitions and so forth. One must be willing to accept the existence of universals without definitions, since though universals may be considered as preexisting and/or divine, the means in which they are defined is through human knowledge and wisdom, which in turn is limited and continually open for debate. It must be accepted that some universals are understood without definition, since to give definition to them may in turn alter our understanding of them.
The means in which Socrates uses the servant boy to demonstrate his belief that knowledge is remembered and not learned (at least in the life currently lived) also leaves room for debate. Many of the questions asked by Socrates may be considered leading questions, in which the boy was lead to use his logic to come up with the answers. Had it been logic which is inherit, not knowledge of a subject which Socrates was referring to one could imagine he would have defined it as such. It is possible that logic and this inherit knowledge are one and the same, or that logic comes from this inherit knowledge, though again it is not unreasonable to believe that had this been Socrates belief he would have defined it more specifically.
The conclusion which Socrates and Meno arrive to at the end, which is that virtue is neither learned or inherited, but rather given by god, though a very plausible conclusion based on what was said, is also thought provoking. It is as though the entire dialogue was a means to arrive at a logical conclusion for a defense of an answer of faith. Faith, not only in the religious respect, but also in the conclusion that some questions cannot be answered by soley human logic nor concepts defined in human terms. His conclusion brings about the awareness that humans cannot hold any true knowledge about anything, limited by the fascination of definitions of concepts and terms for which no justice is done to them by attempting to define them. Due to our limitedness, the true meaning of such concepts as virtue, justice and the like are distorted and their true meaning can never be fully know. As we discover one word which may define for us, that word must too be defined, and that word as well. Socrates is perhaps, one of the masters of recognizing this, but also one of the biggest culprits for engaging in it.

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