Meno
by Plato · Μένων
Assigned by 5 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 385 BCE
- Language
- Greek
- Length
- Short · 40 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendFive Dialogues, translated by G. M. A. Grube, revised by John M. CooperHackett, 2002The standard translation, in a volume that pairs it with the Apology and Phaedo.
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The young Thessalian aristocrat Meno asks Socrates whether virtue can be taught. Socrates says he does not even know what virtue is, and the two fail to define it. When Meno objects that one cannot search for what one does not know, Socrates leads an uneducated slave boy to a geometrical truth and argues that learning is recollection of what the soul already knows. The dialogue ends by suggesting that virtue, if it is not knowledge, comes by a kind of divine gift.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Meno are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
