Full Idea
Seeking and learning are in fact nothing but recollection.
Gist of Idea
Seeking and learning are just recollection
Source
Plato (Meno [c.376 BCE], 81d)
Book Reference
Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.880
A Reaction
This is a prelude to the famous conversation with the slave boy about geometry. You don't have to follow Plato into the doctrine of reincarnation; this remark is a key slogan for all rationalists. As pupils in maths lessons, we pull knowledge from within.