Plato's theory of recollection / Meno

According to Xenophon what happened to Meno 

• He was tortured and killed by the Persians in his early 20s 

What is virtue? 

• All Meno’s definitions of virtue fail and hes led to aporia 

• Meno know compares himself to a torpedo fish like Socrates compared himself to a gadfly in the apology 

Meno’s Paradox 

• We inquire into either what we know or what we do not know 

• We do not inquire into what we know and cannot inquire into what we do not know 

• Therefore, inquiry is impossible 

Elenchus

• Leads the interlocutor to contradiction, resulting in aporia and the recognition of ignorance 

• socrates method of cross-examination, relying of beliefs of his interlocutors and aiming at truth 

Methods of hypothesis 

• Whether virtue is teachable or not by means of a hypothesis 

• If virtue can be taught then there must be teachers of virtue - sophists, but this is seen as corruption of the youth 

• But if virtue could be taught then Athenians would pass it on to their sons, therefore it cannot be taught 

The road to Larissa 

• Reflecting upon claim that knowledge is necessary for virtue

• Socrates draws a distinction between true belief and knowledge and that knowledge is more valued 

• In Meno we find the origin of traditional analysis of knowledge as justified true belief