Meno

One of the founders of Western philosophy, Socrates believed that the purpose of life was to cultivate virtue, and that the best method involved study and introspection. Socrates strongly influenced his student Plato, who collected Socrates’s teachings into a series of 30 dialogs that have influenced Western thought for 2,400 years. Socrates’s method of inquiry, the Socratic Method, uses a question-and-answer system and close reasoning to arrive at logical conclusions about life and reality. The philosopher’s dedication to the truth above all else, and his willingness to die for his beliefs—he irritated Athens’s leadership with his criticisms until they had him executed—set a tone for philosophy that has echoed down the generations to the present day.

Young and wealthy, Meno studied under Gorgias, a Sophist philosopher skilled in political debate and public speaking. He visits Socrates for a discussion about virtue. Though he seems to enjoy discussing philosophy, Meno shows hints of arrogance and the entitlement of his class; he seems more interested in how to convince others that he’s virtuous than actually how to behave with virtue. Meno later leads a detachment of Greek mercenaries in battle against the king of Persia; his side is defeated, but he turns against his own men and is spared briefly but later executed.

A prominent Athenian politician, military general, and friend to Meno, Anytus joins the conversation near its end. He and Socrates discuss the Sophists, whom Anytus believes have corrupted Athenian youth. Socrates, arguing that virtue can’t be taught, cites several Athenian heroes whose sons didn’t turn out well; Anytus takes offense at this aspersion on the city’s leadership. A few years after the dialog, Anytus prosecutes Socrates on charges of impiety and corrupting the morals of youth; he gets a conviction, and Socrates is forced to die by poison.