Socrates’ Success in Answering Meno’s Paradox
Introduction
In the dialogue Meno, Socrates and Meno start by attempting to find what virtue is, but are unsuccessful. They then dig into a more generalized question of how to find what any thing or idea is when one does not know what it is they are looking for. This is Meno 's Paradox. Socrates attempts to solve this paradox through the theory of recollection which states that the human soul is immortal and has knowledge of everything. In this essay, I will demonstrate how Socrates ' response to this question was successful in answering the paradox.
Meno’s Paradox
Before Socrates ' answer can be understood, Meno 's Paradox must first be introduced. Meno begins by asking whether virtue is …show more content…
Accepting the theory of recollection is also more ideal than following Meno’s Paradox because it promotes searching for knowledge, whereas Meno’s Paradox states that all knowledge is known and new knowledge cannot be discovered because one does not know what to look for. In Meno 's paradox, when one does not know what some thing or idea is, he/she would not know what to look for and would not recognize it if found. With the theory of recollection that Socrates brings, as new knowledge is searched for, it is recognized as knowledge upon being found through discovery in the past of the human soul. Finding awareness of the answer is what solves Meno 's paradox through Socrates ' theory of recollection.
A strong argument can be made against the success in answering Meno 's paradox with the theory of recollection when one imagines a person that is looking for an answer to a question that would not have been faced before until now. If we take how quickly technology in our society has grown as an example, computers were developed with their own language all in one generation. If one were to learn a new computer language, how could he/she recollect something new that would be built in their own lifetime? The human soul would not have experienced this new knowledge and would therefore be ignorant to
Introduction
In the dialogue Meno, Socrates and Meno start by attempting to find what virtue is, but are unsuccessful. They then dig into a more generalized question of how to find what any thing or idea is when one does not know what it is they are looking for. This is Meno 's Paradox. Socrates attempts to solve this paradox through the theory of recollection which states that the human soul is immortal and has knowledge of everything. In this essay, I will demonstrate how Socrates ' response to this question was successful in answering the paradox.
Meno’s Paradox
Before Socrates ' answer can be understood, Meno 's Paradox must first be introduced. Meno begins by asking whether virtue is …show more content…
Accepting the theory of recollection is also more ideal than following Meno’s Paradox because it promotes searching for knowledge, whereas Meno’s Paradox states that all knowledge is known and new knowledge cannot be discovered because one does not know what to look for. In Meno 's paradox, when one does not know what some thing or idea is, he/she would not know what to look for and would not recognize it if found. With the theory of recollection that Socrates brings, as new knowledge is searched for, it is recognized as knowledge upon being found through discovery in the past of the human soul. Finding awareness of the answer is what solves Meno 's paradox through Socrates ' theory of recollection.
A strong argument can be made against the success in answering Meno 's paradox with the theory of recollection when one imagines a person that is looking for an answer to a question that would not have been faced before until now. If we take how quickly technology in our society has grown as an example, computers were developed with their own language all in one generation. If one were to learn a new computer language, how could he/she recollect something new that would be built in their own lifetime? The human soul would not have experienced this new knowledge and would therefore be ignorant to