Socrates And Meno Research Paper

In the Meno the question that arises is ‘is virtue teachable’ but instead that questions becomes ‘what is virtue?’ Socrates and Meno reach two different conclusions when answering this question: in the first part of the dialogue it is that virtue is knowledge and it can be taught; in the second, it is that it can only be acquired by a godly gift. Meno’s question whether virtue can be taught is important because it tells us what we must do: if there is some way of acquiring virtue, then we must acquire it. Well trying to find the answer the dialogue seems to be divided into two separate parts. The first part presents us with an answer to Meno’s question, but the second part then challenges that answer, without providing an obvious alternative. This appears to show that Plato disagrees with …show more content…
True opinions that have been tied down by reasoning become more stable, and therefore more valuable. It seems, then, that Socrates no longer suggests looking at virtue as something good to possess, but rather as beneficial. It will appear that this attitude towards the benefits of virtue is what is primarily new in the second part of the dialogue. Hence the main argument by which Socrates now shows that virtue is not knowledge is that, if virtue could be taught, there would be professionals who claim to teach it and take money for doing so. Virtue is a matter of possessing something which may be useful to someone else, rather than just to oneself, then one might expect it to be purchasable. It is reasonable for Socrates to assume that, if anyone is able to teach virtue, there will be those who ask and receive payment for doing so. Since it is unclear whether the supposed professional teachers of virtue actually teach it, it then becomes unlikely that virtue can be taught, and therefore that it is