Comparing Plato's View Of The Conversation Between Meno And Socrates

Plato writes Mmeno from the perspective of a conversation between himself and Meno, along with a slave boy and Anytus, a character relevant to the conversation between Meno and Socrates. The dialogue begins with Meno’s question that sparks the rest of the discussion: how does one acquire virtue? Socrates continues by noting that he knows ‘literally nothing’ of virtue, but this does not stop him from carrying on the conversation. Socrates asks Meno what he thinks virtue is in the first place, and he answers by listing the virtues of both man and woman, the woman’s being that of keeping the house in order and obeying her husband, and the virtue of a man is to help his friend, harm his enemies and take care so that he does not harm himself. Socrates notes that Meno’s …show more content…
Socrates says that the boy must be recalling from his soul the knowledge required to understand the geometric questions Socrates is asking him, ignoring the fact that the questions contain the answers. This tangent is used to prove that the soul is immortal. Socrates continues back to his original point, and points out that somebody should enquire about that which he does not know, but asking how virtue is acquired is silly without knowing what virtue is in the first place. Socrates lays out what virtue may be, by saying that it is or is not knowledge. He says that knowledge is taught, and if virtue is knowledge then it can be taught. He asks if virtue is knowledge and says that it is a good, and if we are good, we are profitable, so virtue is profitable. He concludes by saying that virtue is either a whole or part of wisdom, but that would mean that good must be taught. Socrates then says that Mmeno wants to learn virtue, which is where Aanytus comes into play. He is disgusted at Ssophists and says they are pests and corrupting