Can Virtue Be Taught

Can virtue be taught? Can education make a man good? Theses questions are asked, pondered, and critically contemplated again and again the pages, of Plato’s Meno. However, we as readers never receive a straightforward answer due to the reason of Socrates leaving the reader with the choice of conclusively pondering over the substantial questions and eventually coming to a conclusion for oneself. The birth of these questions is brought forth to Socrates by an impatient and prideful man by the name of Mona who asks, “whether human excellence is something teachable? Or, if not teachable, if it's something to be acquired by training?” However, in order to answer whether virtue is something that is teachable or can be taught we have to answer an imperative question that will lead us in the right direction. What is virtue? According to Aristotle from the Nicomachean Ethics, virtue is a “ mortal habit which generally results in the gaining or maintaining of values.”
Everyone can concur that virtue is a result of one value, however some believe that virtues can be taught, while others strongly deem virtue cannot be taught. Virtue cannot be taught for these theses reasons, virtue begins in adolescence, virtue grows …show more content…
Socrates makes the claim that everyone is born with an innate knowledge of what is good. Deep down everyone comprehends the laws of virtues ,nonetheless ones desires and wants overtakes their souls and sometimes people lack to be virtuous. However, when asked the right questions, like Socrates displayed with the slave boy, we figure out that we as humans possess a knowledge beyond comprehension and are capable of true understanding. Where does this knowledge come from? This is acquired at a young age and although teachers and professors can try to educate or teach it, their attempts will fail because it is impossible to disciple or display virtue to someone who does not desire