Meno 5

In Meno 4 Socrates maintained that the human soul is immortal, in countless re-births has acquired knowledge of everything, and that all research and learning are recollection: ‘I am ready to inquire with you into the nature of virtue.’ (The Meno 81e2) Meno agreed, but he wanted to know what Socrates meant by anamnesis.

Meno: Yes, Socrates (Nai/ w} Sw&kratej), but what do you mean by saying that we do not learn, and that what we call learning is recollection (a0ll\ pw~j le/geij tou=to, o3ti ou0 manqa/nomen, a0lla\ h4n kalou=men ma/qhsin a0na/mnhsi/j e0stin;)? Can you instruct me that this is so (e1xeij me tou=to dida/cai;)?

Socrates: I remarked just now, Meno, that you are a rogue (Kai\ a1rti ei]pon, w} Me/nwn, o3ti panou=rgoj ei]); and so here you are asking if I can instruct you (kai\ nu=n e0rwta=|j ei0 e1xw se dida/cai), when I say that there is no teaching but only recollection (o4j ou1 fhmi didaxh\n ei]nai a0ll’ a0na/mnhsin): you hope that I may be caught contradicting myself forthwith (i3na dh\ eu0qu\j fai/nwmai au0to\j e0mautw~| ta0nanti/a le/gwn).

Meno: I assure you, Socrates, that was not my intention (Ou0 ma\ to\n Di/a, w} Sw&kratej, ou0 pro\j tou=to ble/yaj ei]pon); I only spoke of habit (a9ll’ u9po\ tou= e1qouj). But if you can somehow prove to me that it is as you say, pray do so (a0ll’ ei1 pw~j e1xeij moi e0ndei/casqai, o3ti e1xei w#sper le/geij, e1ndeicai).

Socrates: It is no easy matter (A0ll’ e1sti me\n ou[n ou0 r9a/|dion), but still I am willing to try my best for your sake (o3mwj de\ e0qe/lw proqumhqh=nai sou= e3nea). Just call one of your own troop of attendants there, whichever one you please (a0lla/ moi proska/leson tw~n pollw~n a0kolou/qwn toutwni\ tw~n sautou= e3na, o3ntina bou/lei), that he may serve for my demonstration (i3na e0n tou/tw| soi e0pidei/cwmai).

Meno: Certainly. You, I say, come here (Pa/nu ge. Deu=ro pro/selqe),

Socrates: He is a Greek, I suppose, and speaks Greek (E$llhn me/n e0sti kai\ e9llhni/zei )?

Meno: Oh yes, to be sure – born in the house (Pa/nu ge sfo/dra, oi0kogenh/j ge).

***

In Meno’s ‘Come here’ (Deu=ro prose/lqe) there is no equivalent to the ‘You’ of the translator. Meno must have made a gesture with which he selected, out of his many attendants, the boy he wanted Socrates to speak to; it is this gesture, which the boy must have seen, to which the translator responds with his ‘You’.

Plato makes a point of making it clear that Meno knew the boy: Meno was sure that the boy knew Greek very well (pa/nu ge sfo/dra), as he was ‘born in the house’ (oi0kogenh/j ge). On the face of it, as the Greek goes, all the questions that Socrates will put to the boy, are leading questions; how can Plato present Socrates’ questioning of the boy as a demonstration of recollection, which the boy derives out of his previous existence, before he was born? Obviously, the way the boy responded to Socrates’ questions indicated to Socrates, and to Meno, that the boy did not just follow Socrates’ questions, but step by step recollected the answers he was giving. It is important we realise this, and Plato did his best to make us do so.

On the face of it, in Greek, as in the English translation, Socrates’ questions are leading questions, the boy’s answers have nothing to do with ‘recollection’. If we read it like this, we miss the most important thing about this dialogue.

This is why Plato makes Socrates say about the boy: ‘he can do this with all geometry and every branch of knowledge (85e1-3).’ This remark of his makes us think: on what bases Socrates makes this remark, what entitles him to do so? It must be the way the boy looked when he gave his answers, how he behaved. Plato presses this point by Socrates’ repeated questions: ‘Do you observe, Meno, that I am not teaching the boy anything, but merely asking him each time?’ (82e4-5) Meno answers: ‘I do’ (82e7).

***

Socrates: Now observe closely (pro/sexe dh\ to\n nou=n) whether he strikes you as recollecting or as learning from me (o9po/ter’ a1n soi fai/nhtai, h2 a0namimnhsko/menoj h2 manqa/nwn par’ e0mou=).

Meno: I will (A0lla\ prose/cw).

Socrates: Tell me, boy (Ei0pe\ dh/ moi, w} pai=), do you know that a square figure is like this (gignw&skeij tetra/gwnon xwri/on o3ti tiou=to/n e0sti;)?

Boy: Certainly (E!gwge).

Socrates: Now, a square figure has these lines, four in number, all equal (E!stin ou]n tetra/gwnon xwri/on i1saj e1xon ta\j gramma\j tau/taj pa/saj, te/ttaraj ou1saj;)?

Boy: Certainly (Pa/nu ge)

Socrates: And these, drawn through the middle [i.e. the middle of each side of the square], are equal too, are they not (Ou0 kai\ tautasi\ ta\j dia\ me/sou e0sti\n i1saj e1xon;)?

Boy: Yes (Nai/).

Socrates: And a figure of this sort may be larger or smaller (Ou0kou=n ei1h a2n toiou=ton xwri/on kai\ mei=zon kai\ e1latton;)?

Boy: To be sure (Pa/nu ge).

Socrates: Now if this side were two feet (Ei0 ou]n ei1h a3uth h9 pleura\ duoi=n po/doin) and that also two (kai\ au3th duoi=n), how many feet would the whole be (po/swn a2n ei1h podw~n to\ o3lon;)? Or let me put it thus (w{de de\ sko/pei): if one way it were two feet (ei0 h]n tau/th| duoi=n po/doin), and only one foot the other (tauth|~ de\ e9no\j po/doj mo/non), of course the space would be two feet taken once (a1llo ti a3pac a2n h]n duoi=n po/doin to\ xwri/on;)?

Boy: Yes (Nai/).

Socrates: But as it is two feet also on that side (E)peidh\ de\ duoi=n po/doin kai\ tau/th|), it must be twice two feet (a1llo ti h2 di\j duoi=n gi/gnetai;)?

Boy: It is (Gi/gnetai).

Socrates: Then the space is twice two feet (Duoi=n a1ra di\j gi/gnetai podw~n;)?

Boy: Yes (Nai/).

Socrates: Well, how many are twice two feet (Po/soi ou]n ei0si\n oi9 du/o di/j po/dej; )? Count and tell me (logisa/menoj ei0pe/).

Boy: Four, Socrates (Te/ttarej, w) Sw&kratej)

Socrates: And might there not be another figure twice the size of this (Ou0kou=n ge/noit’ a2n tou/tou tou= xwri/ou e3teron dipla/sion), but of the same sort (toiou=ton de/), with all its size equal like this one (i1saj e1xon pa/saj ta\j gramma\j w#sper tou=to;)?

Boy:Yes (Nai/).

Socrates:  Then how many feet will it be (Po/swn ou]n e1stai podw~n;)?

Boy: Eight (O)ktw/).

Socrates: Come now (Fe/re dh/), try and tell me (peirw~ moi ei0pei=n) how long will each side of that figure be (phli/kh tij e1stai e0kei/nou h9 grammh\ e9ka/sth). This one is two feet long: what will be the side of the other, which is double in size?

Boy: Clearly, Socrates (Dh=lon dh/, w} Sw&kratej), double (o3ti diplasi/a).

Socrates: Do you observe, Meno (O9ra|j, w} Me/nwn), that I am not teaching the boy anything (w(j e0gw_ tou=ton ou0de\n dida/skw), but merely asking him each time (a0ll’ e0rwtw~ pa/nta;)? And now he supposes that he knows about the line required to make a figure of eight square feet (kai\ nu=n ou[toj oi1etai ei0de/nai); or do you think he does (h1 ou0 dokei= soi)?

Meno: I do (E!moige).

Socrates: Well, does he know (Oi]den ou]n;)?

Meno: Certainly not (Ou0 dh=ta).

Socrates:  Now watch his progress in recollecting (Qew~ dh\ au0to\n a0namimnhsko/menon e0fech/j), by the proper use of memory (w(j dei= a0namimnh/skesqai).