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Full Idea
How will you aim to search for something you do not know at all? If you should meet with it, how will you know that this is the thing that you did not know?
Gist of Idea
How can you seek knowledge of something if you don't know it?
Source
Plato (Meno [c.385 BCE], 80d05)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.880
A Reaction
Vasilis Politis cites this as a nice example of the 'aporiai' (puzzles) which Aristotle said were the foundation of enquiry. Nowadays the problem is called the 'paradox of enquiry'.
| 1913 | Is virtue taught, or achieved by practice, or a natural aptitude, or what? [Plato] |
| 1916 | Even if virtues are many and various, they must have something in common to make them virtues [Plato] |
| 1918 | How can you know part of virtue without knowing the whole? [Plato] |
| 11259 | How can you seek knowledge of something if you don't know it? [Plato] |
| 1919 | You don't need to learn what you know, and how do you seek for what you don't know? [Plato] |
| 5985 | Seeking and learning are just recollection [Plato] |
| 5986 | The slave boy learns geometry from questioning, not teaching, so it is recollection [Plato] |
| 1921 | If virtue is a type of knowledge then it ought to be taught [Plato] |
| 1922 | Spiritual qualities only become advantageous with the growth of wisdom [Plato] |
| 1923 | As a guide to action, true opinion is as good as knowledge [Plato] |
| 20219 | True opinions only become really valuable when they are tied down by reasons [Plato] |
| 1927 | It seems that virtue is neither natural nor taught, but is a divine gift [Plato] |