Discussion Of Virtue In Protagoras And Meno

Plato presents Socrates views on the question whether virtue can be taught in several dialogues, most notably in Protagoras and Meno. In Protagoras the topic of piety, virtue and what it means to be a good citizen is discussed. The main debate in Protagoras is between Socrates and Protagoras himself, over whether virtues can be taught and if so how and later on arguing whether virtues can be passed on. One of Socrates’ reasoning for doubting that virtues can be taught is that virtuous parents often have unvirtuous children. Socrates explains this argument by illustrating many examples in which this has been proven to be true. The first example Socrates provides to Protagoras is that Athenians allow all citizens to participate in political decision making thereby implying that state craft is not a skill or not teachable like the construction or ship building which can only be possessed by the few who have undergone there necessary technical apprenticeship. This argument according to Socrates indicates that virtue can neither be taught nor learned. The second example Socrates provides is of Pericles, who was a leading figure for Athens, which means that he was …show more content…
Previously Socrates had illustrated the idea of Athenians being wise as the first example shows thus Pericles, being an Athenian, is also wise. If wise Athenians think that virtue cannot be taught (319e), and then it must also be wise to think that it cannot be taught, Pericles, being a wise Athenian therefore must also think that virtue cannot be transmitted from one to another. Therefore virtues cannot be