Meno And Virtue

The Meno is a Platonic dialogue where the character Socrates is posed a question on the nature of virtue by a young Thessalian for which the dialogue is named; specifically, he asks if virtue is teachable or rather something that is the result of practice or if it is neither but an inherent trait of human nature. Socrates admits he is ignorant of what virtue is and it, therefore, Unable to answer the question Socrates and Meno seek out to find the form of Virtue and its teachability.. . The text does not give a definitive answer to Meno's true question of how virtue becomes present, instead only examples of the virtuous nature of man which according to Socrates neither be taught nor learned only reminded to those prepared to recollect their
Meno supposed that should virtue not be able to be taught nor learned that it must either be the result of the practice of living a virtuous life or that it is an inherent part of humanity. Socrates tells him that unlike his countrymen Athenians such as Socrates are unknowledgeable in the matter of the teachability of virtue as he is not sure of what virtue truly is. Socrates asks Meno to clarify for him the definition of Virtue. Meno informs Socrates that virtue is not a difficult thing to define as for every age, gender, and social class there also exists a corresponding virtue; the virtue of a man is to be capable of handling the affairs of the city; and, the virtue of a woman is to manage the household well by both preserving its contents and being obedient to her husband and so on. Not only dose Meno claim there are Virtues specific to individuals but also a reciprocal wickedness that is to say that everything that exists and every action that is made has a virtuous and a wicked manner to act or
To explain his objection to Meno’s Socrates gives several examples the first is that while there are several different types of bees there is enough commonalities between them that they can still be classified as the same animal and In the same way that should one ask for the characteristics of a bee the definition should be applicable to all bees the question. In the second part of Socrates explanation he asks if there is a difference in the strength or the health or a woman and a man; which they both agree there is not. Using this continuity in the aspects of strength and health between men and women Socrates argues that as there must be continuity in the definition of virtue there also must be in the application of them as well must. As to rule a home or a city well one must rule with moderation and justice it would be logical that moderation and justice would be needed for any individual to be considered “good”. With these new parameters in place Socrates once again asks for a singular definition on what virtue is. Meno asserts that virtue must then be the ability to rule over people, which as it is not applicable to children or slaves, is exposed as flawed; Socrates however is still willing to use