Socrates and Meno
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Socrates and Meno arrive at the conclusion that virtue is either wholly or partly wisdom. This is based on an initial question that Meno presents. His question is to whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice, and if neither, where does it spawn?
Socrates final conclusion has its own premises, and I will in fact list these, as the prompt request. However, I do not believe that this is where Socrates logic is flawed. I do believe that his premises and conclusion are valid, and perhaps his any parts of his final conclusion sound, nevertheless I feel that he demonstrated inappropriate logic along the path to this final conclusion.
If we are good, then we are profitable. Virtue is good. Therefore virtue is profitable. If, virtue is profitable and virtue is a quality of the soul and none of the things of the soul are either profitable or hurtful in themselves, then there must exist another factor that controls the souls outcomes. The soul, under the guidance of wisdom results in happiness, and under irrationality results in unhappiness. Then it is only reasonable to conclude that virtue that exist within the soul, has predictable outcomes based on some sort of wisdom or practicality. If the souls rightfulness is universally true of all human nature, and all other things within the soul rely on wisdom for goodness, and wisdom is inferred to be that which profits, then we can conclude that virtue is either wholly or partly wisdom.
“all other things hang upon the soul, and the things of the soul herself hang upon wisdom and so wisdom is inferred to be that which profits- and virtue, as we say is profitable… (we) thus arrive at the conclusion that virtue is either wholly or partly wisdom” (Plato 80)
This argument, when cited correctly from the works of Plato, is valid. And there are also many parts of his final conclusion that I find to be sound. I do believe in souls that exist universally though human nature. This is a conclusion that several religions unanimously concluded BCE. There are several more premises that are obviously true. However, for one to understand why I feel that his final conclusion is only partly sound, and that his logic leading up to this conclusion is not sound, one needs to exam the entire argument, not just the final premises.
By examining the entire document, I am addressing question number three. The initial question of Meno was whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice, and if neither, where does it spawn?
On page 73, Socrates states, “There is no teaching, but only recollection”. His example and premises derive from a geometry question with a slave. I will not go into detail as to the events of his argument assuming you know this. I will instead instantly express that I disagree with this statement. I believe that not all knowledge must be regurgitated, that there exist knowledge that can be absorbed