Meno.....

Hey guys, I am sorry this post from Meno last week is so late, I had issues getting the blog to work but here it is finally........

Toward the end of class on Thursday, we were discussing Meno's attitude and thoughts following his dialogue with Socrates. The conversation begins with Meno asking a forceful, perfectly posed, confident question on how one comes to have virtue. Meno lists Socrates a list of optional answers to his question. Instead of answering with one, Socrates begins posing questions to Meno. The whole latter part of the conversation pretty much consists of Socrates asking questions or making statements and Meno typically agrees with him using statements like "Certainly," "That's my opinion, at any rate," and "Yes, absolutely." These short and concise answers gave me the impression that Meno is disinterested in Socrates' statements. It appears to me that Meno is simply agreeing with Socrates so he would hush. I would think that if Meno truly agreed and understood what Socrates was saying, he would have much more to say. He would have asked more questions and tried to gain more understanding.

Also, while I was reading the end of Meno, I was actually very curious as to why Socrates says to Meno, "As for you, persuade Anytus here, your guest-friend, of the same things that you yourself have been persuaded of, so that he may be gentler.If you do persuade him, there is a certain benefit you'll render to the Athenians as well." I was completely unaware that Anytus was one of Socrates' persecutors. This now makes complete sense as to why Socrates would ask this of Meno. I feel that this is a huge clue of how Meno felt about the dialogue with Socrates. As we learned in class, Anytus was obviously not convinced by Meno since Socrates was put to death. Meno was not compelled to convince Anytus. Is this an indicator of his disintrest? Is it an indicator that he did not understand enough to converse with Anytus?