and that although virtue can be knowledge to some people, it is not necessarily that way for everyone, all the time. In both the Euthyphro and the Meno, Socrates is categorizing. He attempts to divide what can be taught with what cannot be taught, what is objective and subjective, what has all three components of knowledge (justified true belief), and what only has one or two. It is hard to say that he defines anything, or puts anything into a definite category, but his leading questions tend to make the person with whom he is arguing agree. This methodology works effectively, and to his advantage.Socrates discusses his theory of recollection in the Meno. He claims that knowledge is within the individual, and that if he seek deep enough inside our minds, we will find it. This is where we see a paradox. If we have knowledge inside, and it does not come from anywhere else, than how do we know it? Socrates and Meno discussed earlier in the dialogue when trying to come up with a definition for virtue. There is a paradox, for example, when you think that you do not know what virtue is, so you will try to find out. If you ever find the true meaning of virtue, since you did not know it to begin, then how will you recognize it? Also, why would you ask the question, if the knowledge is inside you already? Socrates takes a slave off the street to illustrate exactly what he is talking about. He begins to ask him questions about geometric shapes, and at first, the boy agrees with Socrates, following all his leading questions. Eventually, Socrates manages to get substantial answers out of the slave boy, with the boy having absolutely no prior knowledge of geometry. It has never been taught to him before, Socrates made sure of that, yet he is able to obtain knowledge to answer the questions. Where did the knowledge come from, if not from within? The slave boy is able to obtain the correct answer to Socrates’ problem through corre...
