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The Unity of Plato′s Meno. Reconstructing the Author′s Thoughts

Published/Copyright: June 17, 2011
Philologus
From the journal Philologus Volume 155 Issue 1

Abstract

In Platonic dialogues the author’s reflections and intention are to be found not only in the statements of particular characters, but in the arrangement of the text as a whole. Not only does Plato decide what his main character says but he also chooses the reactions of his interlocutors, the progress and results of the conversation and whether his characters consider these results to be final answers. It seems that a Platonic dialogue could tell his reader more than what the interlocutors tell each other.

In my paper I try to reconstruct from discernible phenomena what the Meno is intended to tell us. My starting point is the question how the topics of this dialogue are connected with each other. Why did Plato present the question whether ἀρετή is teachable, the theory of recollection, the method of hypothesis and the distinction between knowledge and opinion in the same dialogue? Is the Meno to be considered as a collection of philosophical topics independent of each other, or did Plato see an interconnection between them? And how could this interconnection be described?

Keywords: Plato; Meno; Anytus; dialogue form; knowledge
Published Online: 2011-06-17
Published in Print: 2011-06

© by Akademie Verlag, Berlin, Germany

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Per l’interpretazione di Pind. Fr. 140 a S.-M. (= G 8 Ruth.)
  2. Forms and Conceptions of Dike in Euripides′ Heracleidae, Suppliants, and Phoenissae
  3. The Unity of Plato′s Meno. Reconstructing the Author′s Thoughts
  4. Natura e fine dei Caratteri di Teofrasto. Storia di un enigma
  5. Das Bild des Kynikers Diogenes in griechischen, syrischen und arabischen Texten
  6. Die zweite Reise des Odysseus in Lukians Verae Historiae
  7. Folklorica
  8. When Giants Stumble: Two Influential Misjudgements on Horace′s Odes (2. 20. 5–6 and 3. 30. 10–14)
  9. Die Seelentaube bei Prudentius
  10. Is the First Line of the Acharnians Paratragic?
  11. Stratone AP 12. 193. 1
  12. De Philippicarum locis aliquot
  13. A New Echo of Pliny the Younger in Jerome?
https://doi.org/10.1524/phil.2011.0003
Keywords for this article
Plato; Meno; Anytus; dialogue form; knowledge

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Per l’interpretazione di Pind. Fr. 140 a S.-M. (= G 8 Ruth.)
  2. Forms and Conceptions of Dike in Euripides′ Heracleidae, Suppliants, and Phoenissae
  3. The Unity of Plato′s Meno. Reconstructing the Author′s Thoughts
  4. Natura e fine dei Caratteri di Teofrasto. Storia di un enigma
  5. Das Bild des Kynikers Diogenes in griechischen, syrischen und arabischen Texten
  6. Die zweite Reise des Odysseus in Lukians Verae Historiae
  7. Folklorica
  8. When Giants Stumble: Two Influential Misjudgements on Horace′s Odes (2. 20. 5–6 and 3. 30. 10–14)
  9. Die Seelentaube bei Prudentius
  10. Is the First Line of the Acharnians Paratragic?
  11. Stratone AP 12. 193. 1
  12. De Philippicarum locis aliquot
  13. A New Echo of Pliny the Younger in Jerome?
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