Plato's Meno

Plato's Meno is a written dialogue between Menon and Socrates. Meno was written in 380 B.C. by Plato. It is the dialogue about a very in depth discussion about Virtue, discussing, what is virtue and where does it come from? Plato's Meno gives thoughts about what Socrates thought about life and how he thought that everything started with first, knowing yourself. (source)

Socrates was different from all the other people in his city. He was very dirty and smelly. He really did not care what people thought about him, but he cared about how smart he was and how he could improve on his thinking abilities. Socrates would challenge people with Logical Thinking. Socrates would question peoples ideas and where they got them from and make them think about their answer. Socrates believed that everything starts with knowing yourself and realizing that you don't know everything, so you can improve on your thinking skills. Socrates was born in the 5th century B.C. and he died in 399 B.C.

In Plato's Meno, Socrates challenges Menon with the question what is virtue? There are many different views concerning the word virtue. The dictionary definition for the word virtue is moral excellence, goodness, righteousness, etc. So this definition basically means that anybody in the world can achieve virtue. But then again, what is excellence, goodness, and righteousness? This is a question that socrates would have asked. He would dig deeper and deeper until you could just not dig anymore and then you have the answer.

Another question between Socrates and Menon is how do we get virtue? Meno asked, "Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?" Socrates teaches that virtue is only knowledge but then it goes to the direction of ones thinking and then it goes back to just knowledge. So basically, Socrates is saying that virtue is knowledge, and because of this, it cannot be explained. (source)

Socrates was one of history's most brilliant people. From his gift of thinking to his knowing that he knew little, he helped shape society in many, many ways. He taught that virtue comes from knowledge in a person, and that cannot be explained. In the end of Plato's Meno, Socrates says that virtue cannot be taught. Even though Socrates did not have a biblical standars to what virtue is, he went into depth and came out with many different answers.

BOOK SOURCES

source http://www.philosophytalk.org/Virtue.htm

source podcast from class (?)

source http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/meno.html