This brief passage contains what is popularly known as the "paradox of inquiry"or "Meno's paradox". 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. This portion concludes with the "cathartic point" where Meno has been purged of at least the appearance of the false conceit of wisdom. What reasons does Meno give for not accepting Socrates type of denitions? Socrates demonstrates by interrogating a slave boy. But in point of fact there are two different problems identified here. He begins by speaking of the soul of man as being immortal - that it dies and is reborn, again and again. By answering Menos paradox, Plato bolstered the Socratic method of inquiry and he took issue with the prevailing Sophistry. Answer for question: Your name: Answers. Tweet. There are three main parts to this dialogue, which are three main stages in the argumentation that leads to the tentative conclusion about how virtue is acquired. To understand Socrates response to the challenge, we need to view Menos challenge and Socrates response as part of a larger disagreement about the value of inquiry. In the Meno, the main question throughout the whole dialogue is can virtue be taught? Socrates' response to Meno's paradox IMMORTALITY OF SOUL + TOR Soc begins with a strange reference to "priests and priestesses," "wise men and women [who] talk about divine matters." Just as Socrates put it with his example involving Menos slave (84a), it is not learning, because we already know what to do, in a sense. What examples does Socrates use in order to convince Meno that his type of denition is the one they should pursue? Socrates' illustration of the theory of recollection and against skepticism (with the slave boy) 9) Describe the general steps in Socrates' examination of Meno's slave. Evidently, something must give. Answer this question. One of the most famous passages in all of Plato's worksindeed, in all of philosophyoccurs in the middle of the Meno. What paradox do Meno and Socrates face with regard to seeking what they do not know? If you know x, then inquiry into x is impossible. This idea is introduced immediately after Socrates finishes explaining that while he himself does not know the exact definition of virtue, he would be willing to search for it with Meno. Virtue is always just. (Meno 71b) A demand for univocity (Meno 72b) An instance of the elenchos (Meno 78c-79d) Virtue is the power to acquire good things. One of the more interesting philosophical inquiries presented in Platos The Meno is that of Menos Paradox. Second, I will explain Socrates attempt to answer the paradox with his theory of First, I will explain what Meno 's paradox is and how the question of what virtue is was raised. We have, on the one side, Meno arguing for the impossibility and vanity of inquiry; on the other side, Socrates is, in response to Meno, recounting a myth which equates our concept learning with recollection, anamnesis. 3. b. The knowledge must already have been in him, waiting to be "stirred up like a dream" by Socrates' questions. Trang Nguyen Professor Wagner Philosophy of Human Person 05 November 2014 Question #2 (Meno): What is Menos paradox and how does Socrates respond to it? Socrates presents this process to Meno as strong evidence that learning is a recollection: if the slave wasn't being taught, how did he come to know the relationship between the diagonal of a square and a square double the area? These people, Socrates says, claim that the soul is immortal: We just have to remember what to do, a process of trial-and-error, where the error makes us eager to discover how to get the task accomplished. a. It isn't that, knowing the answers myself, I perplex other people. The problem to be discussed is the paradox of inquiry in Platos Meno, 79-81. How does Socrates respond to Meno's paradox (i.e. Socrates statement and Meno's paradox only implies that we will not know we learned something we didn't know. d. too vague. Meno thinks that he and Socrates are in a cognitive blank about what they do not know (82; see also the General Index s.v.cognitive blank). In response to Socrates problem of inquiry, Meno presents the paradox of inquiry, also known as Menos Paradox. 2. Plato, Meno 1. SOCRATES: As for myself, if the sting ray paralyzes others only through being paralyzed itself, then the comparison is just, but not otherwise. the debaters argument)? In the first several pages of Meno, the character Meno proposes several hypotheical definitions of arete which Socrates proceeds to "refute" (elenchus). Socrates, in wishing to proceed, has done two things; hes told Meno that hell serve as Menos teacher if Meno will let himthat is, that he will join Meno in the search; and hes told the reader that he is willing to do so because he might actually learn something from Meno. c. a list. Socrates requests that Meno "relax his rule" so that they can investigate whether virtue "is teachable or not by means of a hypothesis". Also whether virtue comes to us by nature or by other ways? Socrates restates this as the following paradox (80e): I know what you want to say, Menothat a man cannot search either for what he knows or for what he does not know. Is it something that is taught, or acquired through traini 2. Thomas Klamka Responses to Menos Paradox 1(a). This paper will explore, through his dialogue in the Meno, Platos ideas that knowledge isobtained through an 2. Socrates answers that if then Meno's assumptions were to be true, then men could neither search for which they know for they already have it, nor would they be able to gather something new since they would not be able to identify this thing to be what they were inquiring for at the beginning. Socrates, for his part, welcomes Menos confusion, ultimately urging him to MENOS PARADOX AND PLATOS VIEW THAT LEARNING IS RECOLLECTION . Remember, however, that the Meno paradox does not pose a problem for learning in general, but only for directed inquiry. 15. Socrates, again as usual, rejects several of Meno's efforts, which leads Meno to demand with asperity that Socrates give a justification for his willingness both to claim that he "has no knowledge about virtue at all" and that he can, at least, know that Meno's efforts to define the term are failures, which looks a good deal like at least an implicit claim to have knowledge about virtue after all. What are the implications of his response with respect to the major question of the dialogue? How does Socrates answer this paradox? This is Meno 's Paradox. In addition to the bees metaphor, Socrates also uses qualities like health and strength to show Meno that he is asking after the single form common to all kinds of virtue (strength in a man, for example, is the same thing as it is in a woman, regardless of how much of it is present). An Atypical Response Meno refuses to play along: How will you look for it Socrates, when you do not know at all what it is? (Meno 80d) Menos Paradox of Inquiry 1. Introduction In this essay I will show that Socrates answer to Meno 's paradox was unsuccessful. In Meno 80d4, an exasperated Meno, "bewitched," "beguiled," and "numbed" by Socrates' dialectical torpedoes, confronts Socrates with the famous "learner's paradox," in an attempt to derail Socrates' inquiry about what virtue (arete) is (and what objective truths are generally) by means of Socrates challenges Meno's argument, often called "Meno's Paradox" or the "Learner's Paradox," by introducing the theory of knowledge as recollection (anamnesis). To put this in other terms, Meno thinks that he and Socrates Free e-mail watchdog. (86de) A conversation about knowledge, goodness, and being beneficial ensues. recent questions recent answers. Meno asks Socrates if he can prove the truth of his strange claim that "all learning is recollection" (a claim that Socrates connects to the idea of reincarnation). the debaters argument)? 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. Possibly, acquisition is unjust. Do you realize what a debaters argument you are bringing up, that a man cannot search either for what he knows or for what he does not know? Socrates asks. Socrates attempts to resolve this issue by means of the Theory of Recollection, in which the only way of acquiring knowledge is when an embodied soul recollects knowledge from its all-knowing and un-embodied state. Socrates Success in Answering Menos Paradox Introduction In the dialogue Meno, Socrates and Meno start by attempting to find what virtue is, but are unsuccessful. Socrates is dissatisfied with Menos first answer to the question What is virtue? because it is: a. the wrong definition. He cannot search for what he knows -- since he knows it, there is no need to search -- nor for what he does not know, for he does not know what to look for. Meno, however, misinterprets his and Socrates lack of knowledge. Socrates attempts to solve this paradox with his theory of recollection. 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. In response, Meno suggests that it is impossible to seek what one does not know, because one will be unable to determine whether one has found it. Menos challenge uses Socrates constraints to argue that we can neither propose definitions nor recognize them. In response, Socrates rephrases Menos concern, an idea now commonly referred to as Menos Paradox. The Learner's Paradox - Meno 80d-81e. Some qualities of the soul (88b): Socrates answer to the paradox of inquiry is that inquiry is worthwhile: a. even if The dialogue opens with Menos challenge to Socrates about how virtue (aret) is achieved. Socrates professes ignorance. For all x, either you know x or you do not know x. 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