1. Aristotle thought to have himself a solution to Zeno’s paradox of the runner. Set out the paradox, explain Aristotle’s solution, and evaluate its success of lack thereof.
Zeno’s paradox of the runner purports to defend Parmenides’s monism, specifically by targeting the assumptions his view led critics to derive. In this way, it is not so much that Zeno simply upholds his mentor’s views, but rather, he works to uncover the absurdities that follow from the alternative view, pluralism. The paradox of the runner rests on the idea that in order to complete any task, one must first complete an infinite number of intermediate tasks. That is to say, a runner attempting to cross an arbitrary distance from Point A to Point B must first reach the …show more content…
In the earlier sections of the Meno, Socrates and Meno grow increasingly frustrated with each other—Meno because he feels Socrates is bullying him out of his own beliefs, and Socrates because Meno doesn’t seem to be giving him the answers he wants. On more than a few occasions, Socrates explicitly criticizes Meno’s improper participation, with exasperated complaints such as “Please don’t answer me like that,” “when you speak like that,” (74 d-e or p. 94 for these specific examples) which suggest he thinks Meno is doing something wrong. Moreover, there is visible urgency in Socrates’ frustration, as if the legitimacy of his method depends on Meno’s proper participation. In this way, there is a sense the dialogue purports to defend Socrates’ method itself just as much as it aims to define …show more content…
Socrates salivates at the opportunity to correct Meno’s views about learning. Because the human soul is immortal, Socrates explains, it has lived many times over and there is no information it hasn’t yet encountered. In this way, it is not so much that we learn new information; rather, it is a matter of recollection. He goes through the motions of directing an unlearned slave boy toward geometric truths and both Socrates and Meno agree he came upon this knowledge himself and not by any teaching on Socrates’ behalf. Within the Meno the theory of recollection is supposed to act as a solution to the Eristic Dilemma, but it translates as more of an unsatisfactory explanation. For, it leaves accidental recollection as the only way to true knowledge. In this way, their entire inquiry into what virtue is seems misguided and unbeneficial. That is not to say inquiry without discovery is never useful, but rather, it could be a real waste of
Zeno’s paradox of the runner purports to defend Parmenides’s monism, specifically by targeting the assumptions his view led critics to derive. In this way, it is not so much that Zeno simply upholds his mentor’s views, but rather, he works to uncover the absurdities that follow from the alternative view, pluralism. The paradox of the runner rests on the idea that in order to complete any task, one must first complete an infinite number of intermediate tasks. That is to say, a runner attempting to cross an arbitrary distance from Point A to Point B must first reach the …show more content…
In the earlier sections of the Meno, Socrates and Meno grow increasingly frustrated with each other—Meno because he feels Socrates is bullying him out of his own beliefs, and Socrates because Meno doesn’t seem to be giving him the answers he wants. On more than a few occasions, Socrates explicitly criticizes Meno’s improper participation, with exasperated complaints such as “Please don’t answer me like that,” “when you speak like that,” (74 d-e or p. 94 for these specific examples) which suggest he thinks Meno is doing something wrong. Moreover, there is visible urgency in Socrates’ frustration, as if the legitimacy of his method depends on Meno’s proper participation. In this way, there is a sense the dialogue purports to defend Socrates’ method itself just as much as it aims to define …show more content…
Socrates salivates at the opportunity to correct Meno’s views about learning. Because the human soul is immortal, Socrates explains, it has lived many times over and there is no information it hasn’t yet encountered. In this way, it is not so much that we learn new information; rather, it is a matter of recollection. He goes through the motions of directing an unlearned slave boy toward geometric truths and both Socrates and Meno agree he came upon this knowledge himself and not by any teaching on Socrates’ behalf. Within the Meno the theory of recollection is supposed to act as a solution to the Eristic Dilemma, but it translates as more of an unsatisfactory explanation. For, it leaves accidental recollection as the only way to true knowledge. In this way, their entire inquiry into what virtue is seems misguided and unbeneficial. That is not to say inquiry without discovery is never useful, but rather, it could be a real waste of