Menon (Plato)

Menon is one of Plato's dialogues . According to A. F. Losev , this dialogue is “the first draft of objective idealism ” ^[1] .

Dialogues of Plato

Dialogues are given in the sequence set by Thrasill
( Diogenes of Laertes , Book III)

First tetralogy:

Second tetralogy:

	Spent , or On the correctness of names
	Teetet , or About knowledge
	Sophist , or About Existing
	Politician , or On Royal Power

Third tetralogy:

Fourth tetralogy:

	Alcibiades the First
	Alcibiades the Second , or About Prayer
	Hipparchus , or Silver-lover
	Rivals , or About Philosophy

Fifth tetralogy:

Sixth tetralogy:

Seventh tetralogy:

	Hippias greater , or About the beautiful
	Hippias smaller , or About due
	Ion , or About the Iliad
	Menexen , or Tombstone

Eighth tetralogy:

Ninth tetralogy:

	Minos , or About the law
	Laws , or Legislation
-	After Law , or Night Council, or the Philosopher
-	Thirteen Letters

Wikisource has the originals and translations of the Plato Dialogues

Participants in the dialogue are: Menon, Socrates , the slave of Menon, Anith.

Dialog Composition

I. What is virtue and can it be learned? Menon tries to list the virtues, but Socrates stops him and makes him say what virtue in itself is as an idea.
II. Knowledge as a remembrance of what is seen in otherworldly life. Using leading questions, Socrates demonstrates that the slave knows geometry, although he has not studied it. Thus, he recalls what he knew in a past life.
III. Return to the issue of virtue. Socrates concludes that virtues cannot be learned, since there are no virtue teachers. The very valiant men of the Athenians, Themistocles and Thucydides, could not teach virtue to their sons. Therefore, virtue is a sign of divine destiny.

Wolf M.N. Epistemic search in the dialogue of Plato "Menon" // Bulletin of Tomsk State University. Philosophy. Sociology. Political science. 2011.No 4. P.146-159.
Jane Mary Day. Plato's Meno in Focus. Routledge, 1994 .-- ISBN 0-415-00297-4 .
Scott, Dominic. Plato's Meno. (Cambridge studies in the dialogues of Plato). Cambridge: University Press, 2006 .-- 238 pp. - ISBN 0521640334 .
Fowler DH Yet more on Meno 82a-85d. Phronesis , 35, 1990. - p. 175-181.
Lloyd GER The Meno and the mysteries of mathematics. Phronesis , 37, 1992. - p. 166-183.
Sternfeld R., Zyskind H. Plato's Meno 86e-87a: geometrical illustration of the argument by hypothesis. Phronesis , 22, 1977. - p. 206-211.

Plato. Menon . Translation by S. A. Osherov . - According to the publication: Plato. Sobr. Op. in 4 volumes. Volume 1. M.: “Thought”, 1990-1994. - ISBN 5-244-00385-2 , ISBN 5-244-00451-4 .
Losev A. F. Comments on the dialogue of Plato "Menon"
Losev A.F. Menon. The doctrine of recall . - In the book: A. Losev. Essays on Ancient Symbolism and Mythology. M. "Thought", 1993.
Menon (greek text)
Wolf M. N. Epistemic search in the dialogue of Plato “Menon” // Bulletin of Tomsk State University. Series: Philosophy. Sociology. Political science. 2011. No. 4 (16). C. 146-159.
καλοὶ λόγοι in Plato's Meno .
Socrates' analogy at Meno 71b4-7 .