Meno’s Paradox
In the Meno, Socrates questions Meno about what virtue is. After Meno is shown that he does not know what virtue is, Socrates invites Meno to search for what virtue is together. Meno tries to show Socrates that they cannot search for virtue by introducing this paradox: If I know what something is there is no need to search for it; if I do not know what something is, there is no way I could search for it for I would not know that I have found what I was searching for if I did happen to find it. So, directed learning is impossible. Also if both Socrates and Meno are both ignorant about what virtue is, there is no way they could find what virtue is together without recruiting someone who does know what virtue is. Unfortunately …show more content…
Plato’s questions were too leading. Even if the slave did give his own opinions, I do not think he would have been able to come up with the solution without Socrates’ help. So, the conversation shows that direct learning is possible as long as there is a knowledgeable person to guide the directed learner. But, the main purpose of Plato’s response is to show that it is possible for Meno and Plato to look for the essence of virtue, both mutually ignorant of the answer, and thus should. The conversation with the slave does not show that this is possible.
One could argue that the point of the conversation is not to show that the slave could answer the problem, but that someone has solved the problem before. The first person to ever solve the problem (what is the length of the sides of a square with an area of eight) must have solved the problem from ignorance. And, because this person was the first to solve the problem, there was no knowledgeable tutor to guide the first person through the solution. This would be an example of how directed learning from ignorance is possible, and would be a counterexample for Meno’s …show more content…
If mathematician 1 wanted to discover addition without learning the rule from a tutor, mathematician one could use various items in order to discover addition through experience. Mathematician 1 could find that two plus two equals four by grouping items into groups of two and combining two of the groups. There are now four items in the group. No matter how many times mathematician 1 does this, he or she will always find that adding two items from one group to the two items of another group will create a group of four. He could also use a similar method to discover subtraction (removing the items from a group), multiplication (combining x number of groups of y numbers of items to find that x times y equals z) and division (separating one group into many equal groups of items). In these ways mathematical rules can be physically quantified and measure, allowing the rules of math to be discovered through experience. There is little reason to believe that virtue can be quantified and measured in the same
In the Meno, Socrates questions Meno about what virtue is. After Meno is shown that he does not know what virtue is, Socrates invites Meno to search for what virtue is together. Meno tries to show Socrates that they cannot search for virtue by introducing this paradox: If I know what something is there is no need to search for it; if I do not know what something is, there is no way I could search for it for I would not know that I have found what I was searching for if I did happen to find it. So, directed learning is impossible. Also if both Socrates and Meno are both ignorant about what virtue is, there is no way they could find what virtue is together without recruiting someone who does know what virtue is. Unfortunately …show more content…
Plato’s questions were too leading. Even if the slave did give his own opinions, I do not think he would have been able to come up with the solution without Socrates’ help. So, the conversation shows that direct learning is possible as long as there is a knowledgeable person to guide the directed learner. But, the main purpose of Plato’s response is to show that it is possible for Meno and Plato to look for the essence of virtue, both mutually ignorant of the answer, and thus should. The conversation with the slave does not show that this is possible.
One could argue that the point of the conversation is not to show that the slave could answer the problem, but that someone has solved the problem before. The first person to ever solve the problem (what is the length of the sides of a square with an area of eight) must have solved the problem from ignorance. And, because this person was the first to solve the problem, there was no knowledgeable tutor to guide the first person through the solution. This would be an example of how directed learning from ignorance is possible, and would be a counterexample for Meno’s …show more content…
If mathematician 1 wanted to discover addition without learning the rule from a tutor, mathematician one could use various items in order to discover addition through experience. Mathematician 1 could find that two plus two equals four by grouping items into groups of two and combining two of the groups. There are now four items in the group. No matter how many times mathematician 1 does this, he or she will always find that adding two items from one group to the two items of another group will create a group of four. He could also use a similar method to discover subtraction (removing the items from a group), multiplication (combining x number of groups of y numbers of items to find that x times y equals z) and division (separating one group into many equal groups of items). In these ways mathematical rules can be physically quantified and measure, allowing the rules of math to be discovered through experience. There is little reason to believe that virtue can be quantified and measured in the same