Customer Reviews

Meno

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To my mind the Meno is among the most mysterious of Plato's dialogues. Beginning with a discussion as to whether virtue can be taught, the interlocutors move into an inquiry into the nature of knowledge itself. Here we get a famous scene in which Plato demonstrates his theory of knowledge as recollection through an illustration in geometry. This is principally a work of epistemology, but it remains a strangely oblique portrait of eidetic truth.

I purchased this for a college course as it was not available in the campus bookstore. When I received it I was a bit upset as it does not have numbered lines, like most copies of this do. I found a way to make it work, but it required a lot of extra work on my part. I couldn't send it back because we received such short notice to get it.

An interesting look at what virtue is, and whether or not it can be taught. Plato places his mentor Socrates in the "driver's seat" of this conversation with Meno, one of his students. They discuss virtue, and the fact that A virtue is not the same as virtue itself. Socrates/Plato then continues on to debunk the idea that merit based on fighting skill/willingness, good judgment, or any of the other Greek notions of virtue are actually virtuous. This book gives insight into Greek thought and culture as it becomes a point for thought in this day and age. What, exactly, is virtue?

This particular edition has a lot of room on each side to enter notes and is a very readable and understandable translation of the original.

For a free copy, this is a nice one. However, if you are looking for Stephanus numbers, or standard pagination, this is not a good one for you.