The Knowledge and the True Opinions in “Meno”

In Apology Socrates argues that he sees himself as superior to others because he knows that he doesn’t know anything. This superiority according Socrates burdens him with the sacred mission to remind everyone that they also don’t know anything. Such a burden dooms him to his body to perish but his soul keeps living. In Meno he argues that souls are immortal and they travel from body to body. According to him, throughout the journey the soul is subjected to, the soul carries the concepts, or things it learned in its previous life for individuals to remember them in their present life. In other words, Socrates puts forward the doctrine of recollection through which he argues that people don’t learn, they remember the true opinions that they learned in their previous lives, and the emergence of true beliefs becomes only concrete when they are tied down with knowledge which can be given life by questioning.

            Recollection requires questioning of the beliefs people are certain of. Meno reacts to Socrates’ dialectic method by comparing Socrates with a torpedo fish which numbs the brain and causes Meno to have no answer regarding what virtue is. He admits that “Yet I have made many speeches about virtue before large audiences on a thousand occasions”, and he adds “but I cannot even say what it is” (Meno, 25c).  This carries utmost importance as it is the exact state Socrates wants him to be at. According Socrates, the state in which the individual is aware of his lack of knowledge is better than his previous state where he is certain of an incorrect opinion. However, Meno argues that such a state will cause motionlessness by proposing the notorious paradox, Meno Paradox, “How will you aim to search for something you do not know at all?” (Meno, 80d). To elaborate, Mena Paradox asserts that nothing can be learnt if the given agent is unaware of the given concept or the agent is unaware of the fact that he is incorrect. While this paradox allows Socrates to further expand on his argument, it also draws a contrast between Meno and Socrates. The doctrine of recollection encourages people to question themselves and others, but Meno’s paradox suggests that such questioning is in vain as people cannot know what they don’t know of. To reply to this Socrates suggests that “We must, therefore, not believe that debater’s argument, for it would make us idle, and fainthearted men like to hear it, whereas my argument makes them energetic and keen on the search “(Meno, 81e). Here, Socrates makes a claim about Meno’s paradox making people lazy, and motionless which is the same comment Meno makes by comparing Socrates with a numbing fish and blames him for causing numbness. However, here it is unveiled that Meno’s paradox causes idleness, and although this does not necessarily refute Meno’s paradox. It suggests that the doctrine of recollection requires motion and actively questioning the things people are certain they already know. Only questioning can save people from an impasse which they don’t even know they are in it.

Recollections occur when true beliefs or opinions are stirred with questioning. After challenging the slave with a geometrical question, the slave initially presumes that he knows the answer but after some questioning, the slave admits that he does not know the answer, and Socrates describes this state and says “but then he thought he knew, and answered confidently as if he did know, and he did not think himself at a loss, but now he does think himself at a loss, and as he does not know, neither does he think he knows” (Meno, 84b). Here, Socrates sets the fundamental ground for conditions in which recollection occurs. Socrates argues that the opinions were already inside slave but to bring them into light questioning is required as only questioning will drive the individual into a state called aporia. It is a state where the individual is aware of his lack of knowledge and is ready to start remembering. In a way, the doctrine of recollection asserts that people don’t learn in their present life, they solely remember the concepts whose knowledge and opinion they acquired in their previous life. Also, through this argument, Socrates implies that teachers are not implanting knowledge into our souls but they can only accommodate the necessary conditions for knowledge to emerge. One example could be Socrates himself. In Apology he compares himself with a gadfly that will irritate and trigger “sluggish” (Apology, 31a) people and enlighten people of their lack of knowledge portraying himself as a necessary evil. Thereby, when Socrates puts forward the idea of recollection, he claims that the individuals’ souls have absolute knowledge and opinions, and the body can only remember those through questioning.

 

More importantly, Socrates' refutation of the paradox conveys the essential pillar of the doctrine of recollection, which is the combination of knowledge and true opinion. Socrates confutes the paradox by challenging the slave with a tricky problem in which the slave initially confidently proposes an answer and then realizes that he was utterly incorrect. However, in the end, the slave arrives at the true answer. In this process of arriving at the true answer, Socrates does not hint at the answer, he merely asks questions that can bring forth the slave’s opinions lying in his soul, and this holds vital importance as it implies that it was the slave’s opinion that aided him in answering the question. Socrates summarizes this by asking a rhetorical question: “So the man who does not know has within himself true opinions about the things that he does not know?” (Meno, 85c). After establishing how true opinions emerge Socrates proceeds into the question of what is virtue and such question raises another question that begs to be answered: Provided that virtue is good and beneficial, the qualities that contribute to being virtuous such as modesty, courage and justice can sometimes be harmful, why? To answer that question Socrates further expands his argument of remembrance and puts forward an allegory about Daedalus and asserts that “And that, Meno, my friend, is recollection, as we previously agreed. After they are tied down, in the first place they become knowledge, and then they remain in place. That is why knowledge is prized higher than correct opinion, and knowledge differs from correct opinion in being tied down” (Meno, 98e). Here Socrates presents the fundamental structure of recollection that produce correct opinion that is consistent and applicable. He says “knowledge differs from correct opinion in being tied down” (Meno, 98a) meaning knowledge rests in the deeper parts of men drawing it to be the ground for the correct opinion. A concrete ground that can be only constructed by “giving an account of the reason why” (Meno, 98b), thereby, ensures the right belief to subsist longer. Hence, this explanation depicts knowledge as the underpinning for the correct opinion. 

In conclusion, Socrates proposes that there is a previous and present life, implying and alluding to the idea of reincarnation. In the individuals, previous lives the individuals learn the concepts and in their present life, they can only remember them. Further, it can be also argued that it all comes down to the idea of forms and how souls are bestowed with the ability to catch a glimpse at those forms and understand them purely. To put it another way, the concepts appear to souls which are freed from their bodies, and it is at that moment the soul can acquire the knowledge of such thing. In the physical world, according to Socrates, people should offer their relentless and implacable effort to remember the knowledge and correct opinion they acquired in the form realm. While this eliminates the concept of teaching and learning, Socrates views himself as obliged to remind people of what they don’t know and encourage them to question, and this portrays him similar to a teacher.

Plato, A., G. G. M., & Cooper, J. M. (2002). Five dialogues. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.