Learning Paradox And Recollection Analysis

In this paper I shall argue that we should take away the ideas of the learning paradox and learning as recollection from the Meno, even if we do not agree with them. The learning paradox in the Meno describes the problem that a person cannot inquire about what they know or don’t know, because if they know they do not need to ask and if they do not know then they do not know what to ask for. For example, if you are trying to discover what a person looks like, how can you know you’ve found them if you don’t already know what they look like? As I will discuss later on, there are very few contexts in which the learning paradox is valid, this being one of them. The learning paradox was used by Socrates to try and prove innatism, that everything is inside us and has to be brought out. The idea of innatism and learning as recollection all tie together into the main theme
If learning was simply recollection, there would be no experimenting or teaching, everyone would know all they need to know without going to school and there would be no exciting advancements because we would just be at the highest level. What about the slave boy example? Well, that is disproved by the simple fact that Socrates is asking leading questions such as, “Do you know that a figure like this is a square? ”. The slave boy is not arriving at his own conclusions and is simply picking up on what Socrates is leading him to. Furthermore, this idea does not explain how we first come to know things, where is this innate knowledge coming from? All-in-all both of these ideas are deconstructed in today’s empirical world of science and experimentation, we go on journeys to discover what we do not know and ask questions along the way to help.
In conclusion, while the learning paradox and the idea of learning as recollection are key elements to take away from the Meno, they are not sound arguments do not hold up with what we know