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Full Idea
The slave boy's knowledge of geometry will not come from teaching but from questioning; he will recover it for himself, and the spontaneous recovery of knowledge that is in him is recollection.
Gist of Idea
The slave boy learns geometry from questioning, not teaching, so it is recollection
Source
Plato (Meno [c.385 BCE], 85d)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.886
A Reaction
Of course, if maths and geometry are huge tautological axiom systems, we would expect to be able to derive them (with hints from a teacher) entirely from their axioms. It is not clear why we might be able to derive the truths of all nature a priori.
| 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] |