Lesson Two: Correct Form isn’t Everything (73c8–75a9)

Abstract

Having secured Meno’s admission that there is something that makes virtue the same in all cases, Socrates now eggs him on with the words: “recall what Gorgias and you, in agreement with him, say virtue is” (73c7). The invitation is loaded in a number of significant respects. Meno is encouraged:

• a to recall (anamnēsthēnai). The word anamnēsthēnai is the verbal form of the word used throughout for learning by recollection. Doubtless Plato was playfully capitalizing on the double meaning here.

• b to recall Gorgias’ definition in such a way as (per impossibile) will meet Socrates’ demands. From what we have learned from Aristotle about Gorgias’ view, again this request must be understood as a playful one.

• c to recall what Gorgias has said and that with which he, Meno, agrees. This request for what the pupil has learned by instruction, as well as agreement with an authority, also stands in sharp contrast to the view of learning by recollection about to emerge in the slave-boy interview.

Given these observations, the words “recall what Gorgias and you in agreement with him say virtue is” must have been spoken tongue-in-cheek. The ludicrousness of Meno’s comment, prior to his definition, “if you are seeking a characteristic that covers all cases” (73c—d), must have struck Plato’s readers/audience as being out of character.