Plato Meno
In Plato's dialogue Socrates discusses ways in which virtue can be acquired with
Meno. Three possibilities are confronted, first that virtue is innate within the human
soul. The second suggests that virtue can be taught, and the third possibility is that virtue
is a gift from the gods. These ways are debated by Socrates and Meno to a very broad
conclusion.
Socrates poses the question that virtue may be innate within the human soul. This
is to say that all people would have virtue within them, but it is only those who find it
that can truly become virtuous. To prove the concept of innate understanding to Meno,
Socrates, acquires the help of one of Meno's slave boys to demonstrate. Socrates
establishes that the boy has never been taught mathematical geometry and starts
bombarding him with a series of questions on the physical properties of a square. First he
asks the boy to multiply the square by two, and he succeeds. However, the boy fails when
asked to divide the same square into two parts half the original size. By asking the boy a
series of questions yet, never actually telling him the answers Socrates helps the slave to
"recollect" the knowledge that is within him. Meno is of course astonished with this feat
that Socrates maintains is simply a matter of recollection.
This example given by Socrates, though obviously persuasive to Meno is
somewhat unstable. It can be shown that Socrates manipulated the boy into recollecting
the information by offering suggestive material within his questions. For example, if a
person did not know the sum of the equation two plus ...