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 

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.

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.

 

Throughout their conversation, Socrates admits he doesn’t know what virtue truly is or whether it can be taught, but he proposes to reason it out. His method leads to contradictions, questions, and even a detour into geometry, where he guides an uneducated slave boy to “discover” mathematical truths through reason alone.

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.

After two or three rereads, I understand why Socrates wasn’t everyone’s favorite dinner guest.

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

P.S. You can check out my YouTube Video here: https://youtu.be/iNCIZqQEGVQ

*Note* The Bucket List Book Adventure continues on Rite of Fancy — my literary corner of the Take the Back Roads journey. Come read more reflections on philosophy, faith, and the books that shape the road.

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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life

She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.

You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.

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