Meno - Plato

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Résumé :
Plato's Meno is a Socratic dialogue between the two main speakers, Socrates and Meno, and explores the definition of virtue and whether it is something that can be taught. Meno is an attractive and well-to-do young man visiting Athens and is a student of the sophist Gorgias, who has greatly influenced Meno's ideas on virtue and knowledge. The dialogue begins abruptly with a question posed by Meno, who asks Socrates whether virtue can be taught. Socrates replies that he does not as yet know what virtue is, and has never known anyone who did. A fascinating and thought-provoking dialogue ensues between Meno and Socrates exploring what exactly virtue is and whether the definition is the same for all people. Meno contends that virtue is dependent on one's station in life and there is one kind of virtue for men and one for women, one for children, and one for adults. Through detailed and exhaustive questions and answers, Socrates reveals his belief that virtue is the same for all people, whether old or young, man or woman. Socrates then begins to question one of Meno's slaves to prove his proposition that much knowledge is innate and merely needs to be revealed with the proper questioning, or the Socratic method, rather than taught. This timeless and engaging classic is a must read for all students of philosophy. This edition is printed on acid-free paper and is translated with an introduction by Benjamin Jowett.

Biographie:
Plato (428/427 or 424/423 - 348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the pivotal figure in the history of Ancient Greek and Western philosophy, along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle.[a] Plato has also often been cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality.[4] The so-called Neoplatonism of philosophers like Plotinus and Porphyry influenced Saint Augustine and thus Christianity. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.[5] Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy. Plato is also considered the founder of Western political philosophy. His most famous contribution is the theory of Forms known by pure reason, in which Plato presents a solution to the problem of universals known as Platonism (also ambiguously called either Platonic realism or Platonic idealism). He is also the namesake of Platonic love and the Platonic solids. His own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been along with Socrates, the pre-Socratics Pythagoras, Heraclitus and Parmenides, although few of his predecessors' works remain extant and much of what we know about these figures today derives from Plato himself.[b] Unlike the work of nearly all of his contemporaries, Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years.[7] Although their popularity has fluctuated over the years, the works of Plato have never been without readers since the time they were written