Meno

Summary: Can virtue be taught or is it gained at birth? Or is it granted by gods? Meno and Socrates discuss whether virtue can be taught or not. Meno claims to have been taught what virtue is by the sophist Gorgias. Meno changes his answers constantly like Euthyphro, yet he claims to know what virtue is. Eventually Meno relents and admits he does not know. He is more humble than Euthyphro.

1st answer: To benefit friends and harm enemies. Virtue is different for different peoples, actions and times. 2nd answer: To find joy in beautiful things and have power. 3rd answer: The power of securing good things.

Meno gives examples of many virtuous actions, but Socrates asks for what makes them all virtuous, "is it a virtue, or virtue?". Socrates explainsthat virtue is not teachable by bringing up historical figures that were virtuous but failed to pass virtue to their offspring. They cared for their children and could teach them martial arts and other valuable knowledge, but not virtue. Like with Phaedo, the theory of recollection appears. Socrates proves that virtue is innate by demonstrating that one of Meno's slaves, who is uneducated, actually has knowledge of geometry but is not aware of it. With the demonstration Socrates shows how the slave "recollects" the knowledge he already possessed.

Observations:

Thessalians are reputed as wise for answering any questions, while Athenians will not answer questions that they do not know the answer to. Is this meant to be a sign of Socrates influence/corruption?

Plato/Socrates distinction: Like with many of the dialogues touching upon the soul and knowledge, it feels like this very much represents Plato's views than the historical Socrates.

Geometry example slave: In the first example Socrates uses geometry to ask a slave for the line (root) of a squarer. He starts with a square that is eight feet and wants the slave to find the line length of it. He demonstrates that the slave, despite not being trained in geometry, can find give the correct answer for the line of a square that is 4 and 9 feet. The slave answers that the answer must be that the line for the 8 feet square must be 3 as it is between the squares with the lines 2 and 4, but this is incorrect as 3*3 equals 9 and not 8. The slave didnt know the answer first, then he thought he knew, then once again he became perplexed.

For the second part the slave is asked about whether the corner square of a larger square has half the area of all the diagonals of the larger square's corner squares.

To me it seems that Socrates gives quite a lot of guidance to the slave in order get the correct answers. But then Socrates question would be very difficult to answer for the slave as it is a irrational number. Are these two things intentional and is there a message behind it that Plato wants to convey?

Anytus, one of Socrates to-be accusers, makes an appearance. He is disdainful of sophists and whatever they teach.

Perplexion: A portion of the dialogue is dedicated to explaining perplexion. Meno thought that the knew what virtue was at the start but at the end finds himself unsure and perplexed. Socrates has to explain to him that being perplexed is not a bad thing, and can actually be good as it is on the path to coming closer to the truth. Socrates is warned of the consequences of making people perplexed.