Meno’s paradox states that “a man cannot search…for what he does not know…for he does not know what to look for.” Socrates’ alternative explanation to the paradox is his recollection theory. The recollection theory is a theory ultimately based on a supposed immortality of the soul. While his argument cannot be refuted (just as the many arguments for God’s existence cannot be disproved), nevertheless it is an argument that is difficult to believe, and that ultimately cannot be proven either.
The main point of the dialogue’s interlude between Socrates and the slave boy is to show that we do not “learn” anything; rather, we recollect all the information that we seem to be learning anew. This is a profound philosophical statement, and a bold one at that. It ultimately is trying to show that along with the soul’s immortality we already “know” everything, and can never be “taught” things, but can only recollect them from our soul’s previous experience.
In the dialogue between Socrates and the slave boy, Socrates tries to show that the boy is not learning, but is rather recollecting information about geometry. The basic summary of the geometry section is that Socrates asks the boy what the area of a square with double the size-length lines of a 4-foot area square would be; the slave boy guesses 8 feet, which is wrong; ultimately Socrates “shows” (and the boy supposedly recollects) that the square’s area is actually 16 feet. The problem with this assumption that the boy recollects, as opposed to him learning is that Socrates is clearly playing the role of somewhat of a sophist here. He is urging the boy on, questioning him in order to teach him about geometry. Yet he makes the statement to Meno, “Watch him [the slave boy] now recollecting things in order, as one must recollect.” The only reason the boy reveals his understanding of the geometry problem “in order” is that Socrates literally moves the discussion in a preformed direction. Socrates rules the conversation, and is clearly teaching the boy. His argument is not provable because it is like a person saying that one does not eat food, but the food enters the body instead. Whereas both assertions cannot be disproved, the former is more likely and more believable.
Socrates’ attempt to show that the soul is immortal and that we “recollect” information rather than learning it, is not a sound philosophical argument. Yet we can learn about the important philosophical belief in the immortality of the soul, which various philosophers, from Plato to Leibniz, have offered us. It is a critical theory in both philosophy and religion. Nevertheless, the theory of the immortality of the soul cannot be proven, so it should not be accepted blindly.
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Title: Plato’s Meno Paradox
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