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The nature of Virtue in the Meno

The Meno is one of the earliest Plato’s dialogues which involve the conversation between Meno enquiring Socrates whether virtue can be taught. It starts when Meno asks Socrates whether virtue is teachable or not. He states, “Can you tell me, Socrates, can virtue be taught? Or is it not teachable but the result of practice, or is neither of this, but men possess it by nature or in some other way?”(Meno 70a). Socrates then answers Meno by telling him he does not have the definition of virtue; hence, he does not know whether it is teachable. Meno is astonished by the reply and goes ahead to define virtue in three different ways.

The first description of Virtue by Meno is that virtue is dependent on the person and varies from person to person. For example, a woman’s virtue is that she can stay at home and manage household duties. He gives another scenario of a soldier’s virtue which is to be brave and skilled in battle. He goes on and on, giving different instances trying to show how virtue is dependent on the person. He then goes ahead to state how virtue varies for every action, occasion, and age. Socrates objects this definition due to Meno’s various instances stating that the common thing shared by the people should be the proper meaning of virtue.

After Socrates’s objection, Meno goes further to describe virtue as the gift to rule over men. In this definition, he states, “What else but to rule over people, if you are seeking one description to fit them all” (Meno 73d). In this description, Meno tries to argue how virtue’s main desire is the fulfillment of purpose. The ultimate purpose of men is happiness and pleasure, which is only satisfied by acquiring the power of ruling. His main aim in this definition is to show how ruling over men helps in acquiring virtues. Socrates, on the other hand, objects this definition by noting that the gift to rule over men is only useful if it is just; hence the definition involves only one virtue, which is Justice. Socrates also uses the analogy of how shapes cannot be defined by describing other shapes such as squares to object the second description of virtue.

Meno then gives the third definition, where he defines virtue as the desire and ability to acquire beautiful and elegant things. In this definition, he states, “I think, Socrates that virtue is, as the poet says, to find joy in beautiful things and have power” (Meno 77b). Socrates goes on to object to this definition by stating that everybody thinks his or her desires are good; hence, acquiring these things to fulfill one’s wishes can be bad or good. Meno agrees with Socrates that the capability will count as a virtue only if it is a good thing.

On failing to define virtue successfully, Meno asks Socrates to respond to his initial question on whether virtue is teachable or not. Socrates acknowledges that virtues can be taught where he then tries to explain his reasoning. He states that virtues are a good thing to have, accompanied by specific wisdom or knowledge. Hence virtue can be referred to as good wisdom or knowledge, which makes it possible to acquire. Thus virtue can be learnt if a person has the necessary knowledge and wisdom to acquire it.

Works Cited

Cooper, John M. Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo. Hackett Publishing, 2002.

Weiner, Ariel. “Knowledge and True Opinion in Plato’s Meno.” Pseudo-Dionysius 17 (2015).