Meno: "Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence"
By Plato
4/5
()
About this ebook
For someone whose influence has been so profound on Western thinking remarkably little is known of the Greek philosopher and thinker Plato. Due to the means and social status of his family Plato was most probably educated by some of Athens' finest teachers. The curriculum would have been rich and varied and include the doctrines of Cratylus and Pythagoras as well as Parmenides. Two major events shaped Plato’s life whilst he was a young man. The first was a meeting with the great philosopher Socrates. Socrates's methods of debate impressed Plato and he soon became a devoted follower. From here would flow Plato’s career as one of the finest minds civilization has produced. Major event number two was the on-going rivalry between Athens and Sparta which erupted into the Peloponnesian War. This was, in fact, several ‘stop-start’ wars fought during the period 431–404 BCE. Plato served in the cause of Athens and its Allies between 409 and 404 B.C.E. The comprehensive defeat of Athens by Sparta ended the Athenian democracy, although after a brief oligarchy it was restored. Plato traveled for a dozen years throughout the Mediterranean, studying mathematics with the Pythagoreans in Italy, as well as geometry, geology, astronomy and religion in Egypt. It was during this time that Plato began his writings, a remarkable number of which survive to this day. The writings themselves are usually classified into three distinct periods although there is some uncertainty as to the exact order in which they were written. Having now returned to Athens Plato embarked upon an extraordinary undertaking. In around 385 B.C.E., he established a school of learning, known as the Academy. The extensive curriculum included astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory and philosophy. Plato hoped that those who studied there would be future leaders who would be better equipped thorough its teachings to understand how to build a better government. Plato would preside over its teachings until his death in Athens around 348 B.C.E.
Plato
Plato, one of the most renowned ancient Greek philosophers, was born in 427 B.C. to an aristocratic and wealthy family, which played a prominent part in Athenian politics. Plato in conjunction his teacher, Socrates, and his pupil, Aristotle helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and culture. While primarily influenced by Socrates, Plato’s work was also affected by the philosophies of Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans. Under the guidance of Socrates, Plato devoted himself to the pursuit of wisdom and upon Socrates’ death, joined a group of the Socratic disciples gathered at Megara. Later he travelled in Egypt, Magna Graecia, and Sicily. He returned to Athens and founded a school, known as the Academy, which seems to have been his home base for the remainder of his life. While thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters have traditionally been ascribed to Plato, modern scholarship doubts the authenticity of some of them. His early dialogues are also known as the Socratic dialogues and include Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, and Protagoras. He followed these with his transitional dialogues: Gorgias, Meno , and Euthydemus . The Symposium and the Republic are considered the centerpieces of Plato's middle period and are considered some of his most revered work, and other middle dialogues include Phaedo, Phaedrus, and Theaetetus. Plato’s Laws is the best known dialogues of his late period. Plato died in 347 B.C.
Read more from Plato
Plato: The Complete Works: From the greatest Greek philosopher, known for The Republic, Symposium, Apology, Phaedrus, Laws, Crito, Phaedo, Timaeus, Meno, Euthyphro, Gorgias, Parmenides, Protagoras, Statesman and Critias Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Laws Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Dialogues (Translated by Benjamin Jowett) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Dialogues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Dialogues of Plato Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Days of Socrates (Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Days of Socrates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTimaeus and Critias Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Essential Dialogues of Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential Plato: Apology, Symposium, and The Republic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDialogues of Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Protagoras and Meno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial and Death of Socrates: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings30+ Classic Philosophy Book Collection: The Art of War, Poetics, The Republic, The Meditations, The Prince and others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Republic: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTHE COMPLETE WORKS OF PLATO: The Republic, Symposium, Apology, Phaedrus, Laws, Crito, Phaedo, Timaeus, Meno, Euthyphro, Gorgias Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlato: Complete Works Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Meno
Related ebooks
Timaeus: "Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Philebus: "To be sure I must; and therefore I may assume that your silence gives consent" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Euthyphro: "Wisdom alone is the science of other sciences" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParmenides: "Death is not the worst that can happen to men" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Protagoras: "Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lysis: "Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conversations with Socrates (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Metaphysics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpace, Time, and Spacetime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Human Nature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSiempre: A Craft of Intimacy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Sense and the Sensible Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Metamorphosis: A Beginning Guide to Transformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMan and His God: Money, Science or Love? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRe-Creation: “Born Again of Water and Spirit” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Light's Vital Purposes: For a Free Humanity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoral Minds: The Nature of Right and Wrong Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What's Wrong with the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWar in the Hearts of Men Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe One True Adventure: Theosophy and the Quest for Meaning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Multiverse of Quantom Verses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImagine No Religion: How Modern Abstractions Hide Ancient Realities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret of the Universe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoney And The Upside Down World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChapter 3. Archetype Semantics: How It Corresponds To The Concept Of “An Image.” How Archetypal Are Images? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dream of Universe: Philosophy essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Religion and Philosophy (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way of the Platonic Socrates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Whisperer in Darkness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Road To Knowledge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Philosophy For You
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tao Te Ching: Six Translations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Allegory of the Cave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quest for Cosmic Justice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Man Is an Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Meno
54 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A couple of the more enjoyable dialogues because they are much more accessible and they concern a more practical topic: virtue. That said, I find it hard to rate it high when I disagree with a large part of Socrates' argumentation and conclusions. I have no certainty that virtue is the same as knowledge, as he states in both of them, and then dismisses later in the Meno. I do think it's possible to have knowledge and still act unvirtuously, unlike Socrates. And I do think that sometimes emotions, passions, or other sorts of impulses can over-ride knowledge in the course of decision-making, unlike Socrates. I vehemently disagree with the conclusion in the Meno that virtue is some sort of divine inspiration. And finally, I completely disagree that it cannot be taught. There is also Socrates' false modesty on great display in Protagoras, especially 361a. I wish I knew how much of this was Plato and how much was the genuine Socrates.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An excellent introduction for the general reader, but notes so sparse I wonder why they bothered at all. The translation of Meno is flowing and readable. I can't speak for Protagoras as I recently read someone else's translation. The two dialogues are a sensible fit though as they both deal with virtue.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This short dialogue on the issue of virtue (arete) and whether it can be taught is apparently one of Plato's works from his second literary period, written after Book 1 but before the remaining books of The Republic. The introduction to this version is by the translator, Benjamin Jowett. There are few references to other works in the modern academic tradition, but Jowett makes particular mention of Meno in relation to the works of Descartes, Locke, Bacon, Hume, Spinoza, and Berkeley. I found this interesting as I have been exploring deductive versus inductive methods of research in recent times. Plato tends to be deductive, in moving from general ideas and principles to specifics, whereas the inductive method draws on specific cases to lead to general principles. Karl Popper was not a fan of induction, it seems. That Plato draws on Pythagoras and Heraclitus is obvious, but Jowett points out that there is no explicitly stated link. Most interesting was Plato's finding (through the words of Socrates, p. 75):Then, Meno, the conclusion is that virtue comes to the virtuous by the gift of God.That this is an early work makes sense. I frequently adopt the Socratic method in my teaching (as does much of academe even if implicitly) and a few times I have received feedback that sums it up thus: The Socratic method sucks. I hate it. By the end of this work, I couldn't help think that Socrates was being egotistical. Sure, he tried to shock people to realise their ignorance, but in this case, and as important as the idea is to so many philosophers, but in particular, Heraclitus, I thought the finding was quite a cop-out. All that posturing to say what Heraclitus had said more eloquently? The big lesson for me is that the Socratic method, when practised by the un- or under-practised, could easily come off as it does in Meno. I am half-way through a cover-to-cover reading of The Republic at the moment, which seems better polished and far less obtuse. It may well be that Desmond Lee's translation is better than Jowetts's. But clearly, if I am to be better at using the Socratic method, I must take into account how an amateurish use of the method may come off as egotistical with my students. I can recall the instances where this may well have been the case. But the idea of deduction versus induction and Jowett's comments on Plato in relation to other philosophers ranging from Descartes to Spinoza are worthy of further exploration. Additionally, Jowett states that modern philosophy no longer asks the sort of questions asked by Plato (p. 29). I think this explains why Nietzsche's madman shouts in the market place (The Gay Science, section 125, p. 90):God is dead! ... And we have killed him!Here Plato has Socrates tell us that virtue is a gift of God, which I can see means that to be virtuous requires one to find God. Rather than the shopkeepers telling the madman that they didn't know we had lost Him, and in spite of Plato's unrefined use of the dialogue (compared to his more advanced, later use), it would seem that modern philosophers are the crowd looking on and laughing at Nietzsche's madman (or, if you prefer, Huxley's self-flagellating Savage), while all the time they have forgotten their very origins.
Book preview
Meno - Plato
Meno by Plato
Translated by Benjamin Jowett
For someone whose influence has been so profound on Western thinking remarkably little is known of the Greek philosopher and thinker Plato.
Due to the means and social status of his family Plato was most probably educated by some of Athens' finest teachers. The curriculum would have been rich and varied and include the doctrines of Cratylus and Pythagoras as well as Parmenides.
Two major events shaped Plato’s life whilst he was a young man. The first was a meeting with the great philosopher Socrates. Socrates's methods of debate impressed Plato and he soon became a devoted follower. From here would flow Plato’s career as one of the finest minds civilization has produced.
Major event number two was the on-going rivalry between Athens and Sparta which erupted into the Peloponnesian War. This was, in fact, several ‘stop-start’ wars fought during the period 431–404 BCE. Plato served in the cause of Athens and its Allies between 409 and 404 B.C.E. The comprehensive defeat of Athens by Sparta ended the Athenian democracy, although after a brief oligarchy it was restored.
Plato traveled for a dozen years throughout the Mediterranean, studying mathematics with the Pythagoreans in Italy, as well as geometry, geology, astronomy and religion in Egypt. It was during this time that Plato began his writings, a remarkable number of which survive to this day.
The writings themselves are usually classified into three distinct periods although there is some uncertainty as to the exact order in which they were written.
Having now returned to Athens Plato embarked upon an extraordinary undertaking. In around 385 B.C.E., he established a school of learning, known as the Academy. The extensive curriculum included astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory and philosophy. Plato hoped that those who studied there would be future leaders who would be better equipped thorough its teachings to understand how to build a better government. Plato would preside over its teachings until his death in Athens around 348 B.C.E.
Index of Contents
Introduction
On the Ideas of Plato
MENO
Plato – A Short Biography
Plato – A Concise Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
This Dialogue begins abruptly with a question of Meno, who asks, 'whether virtue can be taught.' Socrates replies that he does not as yet know what virtue is, and has never known anyone who did. 'Then he cannot have met Gorgias when he was at Athens.' Yes, Socrates had met him, but he has a bad memory, and has forgotten what Gorgias said. Will Meno tell him his own notion, which is probably not very different from that of Gorgias? 'O yes--nothing easier: there is the virtue of a man, of a woman, of an old man, and of a child; there is a virtue of every age and state of life, all of which may be easily described.'
Socrates reminds Meno that this is only an enumeration of the virtues and not a definition of the notion which is common to them all. In a second attempt Meno defines virtue to be 'the power of command.' But to this, again, exceptions are taken. For there must be a virtue of those who obey, as well as of those who command; and the power of command must be justly or not unjustly exercised. Meno is very ready to admit that justice is virtue: 'Would you say virtue or a virtue, for there are other virtues, such as courage, temperance, and the like; just as round is a figure, and black and white are colours, and yet there are other figures and other colours. Let Meno take the examples of figure and colour, and try to define them.' Meno confesses his inability, and after a process of interrogation, in which Socrates explains to him the nature of a 'simile in multis,' Socrates himself defines figure as 'the accompaniment of colour.' But some one may object that he does not know the meaning of the word 'colour;' and if he is a candid friend, and not a mere disputant, Socrates is willing to furnish him with a simpler and more philosophical definition, into which no disputed word is allowed to intrude: 'Figure is the limit of form.' Meno imperiously insists that he must still have a definition of colour. Some raillery follows; and at length Socrates is induced to reply, 'that colour is the effluence of form, sensible, and in due proportion to the sight.' This definition is exactly suited to the taste of Meno, who welcomes the familiar language of Gorgias and Empedocles. Socrates is of opinion that the more abstract or dialectical definition of figure is far better.
Now that Meno has been made to understand the nature of a general definition, he answers in the spirit of a Greek gentleman, and in the words of a poet, 'that virtue is to delight in things honourable, and to have the power of getting them.' This is a nearer approximation than he has yet made to a complete definition, and, regarded as a piece of proverbial or popular morality, is not far from the truth. But the objection is urged, 'that the honourable is the good,' and as every one equally desires the good, the point of the definition is contained in the words, 'the power of getting them.' 'And they must be got justly or with justice.' The definition will then stand thus: 'Virtue is the power of getting good with justice.' But justice is a part of virtue, and therefore virtue is the getting of good with a part of virtue. The definition repeats the word defined.
Meno complains that the conversation of Socrates has the effect of a torpedo's shock upon him. When he talks with other persons he has plenty to say about virtue; in the presence of Socrates, his thoughts desert him. Socrates replies that he is only the cause of perplexity in others, because he is himself perplexed. He proposes to continue the enquiry. But how, asks Meno, can he enquire either into what he knows or into what he does not know? This is a sophistical puzzle, which, as Socrates remarks, saves a great deal of trouble to him who accepts it. But the puzzle has a real difficulty latent under it, to which Socrates will endeavour to find a reply. The difficulty is the origin of knowledge:--
He has heard from priests and priestesses, and from the poet Pindar, of an immortal soul which is born again and again in successive periods of existence, returning into this world when she has paid the penalty of ancient crime, and, having wandered over all places of the upper and under world, and seen and known all things at one time or other, is by association out of one thing capable of recovering all. For nature is of one kindred; and every soul has a seed or germ which may be developed into all knowledge. The existence of this latent knowledge is further proved by the interrogation of one of Meno's slaves, who, in the skilful hands of Socrates, is made to acknowledge some elementary relations of geometrical figures.