The ancient paradox of why we can't learn anything new
In Plato's Meno, the character Meno presents a frustrating puzzle about the nature of inquiry. If you already know what you are looking for, inquiry is unnecessary because you already have the answer. If you do not know what you are looking for, you cannot search for it, because you won't recognize it even if you stumble upon it. Socrates attempted to resolve this by arguing that learning is actually just "recollecting" knowledge from past lives.
The Search for the Essence of Virtue
Plato's dialogue opens abruptly, without dramatic scene-setting, as the young Thessalian aristocrat Meno poses a direct challenge to Socrates. Meno wants to know whether virtue can be taught, acquired through practice, or possessed by nature. Rather than answering directly, Socrates deflects the question by admitting his own ignorance. He asserts that before one can determine how virtue is acquired, one must first establish what virtue actually is. This shift in focus from the properties of a concept to its fundamental definition sets the stage for the philosophical investigation that follows.
Meno attempts several times to define virtue, offering lists of duties tailored to men, women, the elderly, and rulers, or describing virtue as the desire for fine things paired with the power to acquire them. Socrates systematically dismantles each proposal. He points out that offering examples of virtuous actions is not the same as identifying the single common nature that unites them, comparing Meno's approach to listing different types of bees instead of explaining what a bee is. Frustrated and stripped of his former confidence, Meno confesses that Socrates has left him completely numb, comparing Socrates to a torpedo fish that paralyzes anyone who touches it.
The Mechanics of Meno's Paradox
In his state of bewilderment, Meno raises an epistemological puzzle known as the Learner's Paradox or the Paradox of Inquiry. The argument takes the form of a sharp dilemma regarding the very possibility of seeking knowledge. Meno asks Socrates how a person can possibly search for something when they do not know what it is in the first place. If you are entirely ignorant of the object of your search, how will you know where to look, and how will you recognize it as the truth if you happen to come across it?