The Bucket List Book Adventure: Meno by Plato — On Virtue, Wisdom, and Frustration
The Bucket List Book Adventure: Meno by Plato - On Virtue, Wisdom, and Frustration
by a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads – Art & Other Odd Adventures
.png "The Bucket List Book Adventure: Book 17 — Meno by Plato")
Dear Henry,
Book 17 of the Bucket List Book Adventure is done! Let me tell you all about Meno by Plato.
“Meno by Plato” - rather fun to say out loud.
Plato was born into an aristocratic family in Athens, Greece, around 428 BC. He studied under Socrates and later became Aristotle's teacher. His most extraordinary claim to fame is the founding of The Academy, the first center for higher learning in the Western world, and the foundation of today’s universities.
"This argument shows that virtue, being beneficial, must be a kind of wisdom."
- Socrates
Plato’s teacher, Socrates (470 – 399 BC), was one of the most influential thinkers of ancient Greece, though not always the most popular. His questioning style, now known as the Socratic Method, made him as famous for his intellect as for frustrating his fellow Athenians. His approach was often parodied in plays, most notably Aristophanes’ Clouds, which remains the only surviving comedic reference to Socrates.
Meno is one of Plato’s early dialogues. In it, Socrates debates a soldier from the aristocratic Meno family of Thessaly about the nature of virtue, what it is, whether it can be taught, and who possesses it.
At the time, Greek society defined virtue as the ability to manage one’s public life successfully, benefiting oneself and one’s friends while harming one’s enemies. Of course, this definition applied only to free male citizens. Women, children, and enslaved people were thought to possess different “virtues” based on their roles and duties.
Socrates challenges this idea and begins his famous wandering inquiry.
"..but I would contend at all costs both in word and deed as fas as I could that we will be better men, braver, and less idle if we believe that one must search for the things one does not know, rather than if we believe that it is not possible to find out what we do not know and that we must look for it."
-Socrates
.png "Socrates on the Search for Knowledge – Plato’s Meno Quote")
In the process, Socrates proposes that: Virtue is universal, Virtue requires justice and moderation, Virtue is a form of wisdom. Therefore, virtue can be taught. At least, that’s what he seems to conclude. And then, suddenly, Socrates changes course.
So after all that reasoning, he throws up his hands and decides virtue is a divine mystery after all.
“It follows from this reasoning, Meno, that virtue appears to be present in those of us who may possess it as a gift from the gods.”
— Socrates, Meno
I thought he’d built a solid foundation, universality, justice, moderation, and I agreed with his claim that virtue is a form of wisdom. But then he dropped the “gift from the gods” conclusion, and I found myself disagreeing.
Virtue can (and must) be learned. You might need grace to develop it, but you can’t live virtuously if you’ve never seen virtue modeled.
And, if I’m being honest, I find the Socratic Method… exhausting. The constant circular questioning makes me wonder if I’d have thrown a chair at the great philosopher midway through one of his “logical clarifications.”
Unfortunately, I still have several of these dialogues ahead.
Wish me luck as I try to get through Gorgias.
xoxo,
a.d. elliott
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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller living in Salem, Virginia.
In addition to her travel writings at www.takethebackroads.com, you can also read her book reviews at www.riteoffancy.com and US military biographies at www.everydaypatriot.com
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