Socrates Virtue

In the dialogue Meno, Plato asks the question, “What is virtue?” Socrates proposes the following hypothesis: if virtue is knowledge, then it is teachable also if it is not, it cannot as it is a gift from the gods. The next point to consider, then, is whether or not virtue is knowledge. Socrates demonstrates the theory of knowledge with a slave by giving a geometrical question and asks, “How do you double the size of a square”. Even though this question does not prove what ‘virtue’ is, it does demonstrate the steps of knowledge. Socrates opens the discussion if virtue can be taught. In order to teach something, then it must first be defined. The theory of recollection can be broken down into three stages: 1) thinking you know something, 2) becoming confused with what you thought you know or aporia, and 3) a moment of understanding. The slave tried to answer the question the best he could, but it was at a certain point amongst his confusion when the, “Ah-ha” moment came. This moment of understanding supports Plato’s Metaphysics also the theory of forms which are math, good, beauty, and justice.

Knowledge is something that cannot be challenged, like the, Law of “attraction, conservation, thermodynamics etc.”, also mathematics. By using formulas, such as in geometry, it is a universal language that conveys information that is relative also measurable. But what if you are regarding ‘true belief’ by using the senses, morals, values, hunches or objects. Believing and knowledge could vary from person to person. Until science proved we circled the sun or gravity existed, it was a “true belief” the sun will rise every morning, additionally if I drop something it will fall to the ground, then this ‘true belief’ became knowledge. The ‘true belief’ then becomes something that is