ng his oratory and denying himself a cure. Callicles presents the most powerful argument against Socrates. This is probably because he has experience behind his negative view. He sees it as a law of nature that the strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must. He is against the mortality of the weak, not against morality. The conqueror acts in accordance with nature, therefore he is just. Socrates argues by saying that in order for any art to be practiced properly, there must be right and wrong procedures. Oratory has no standards and does not use intelligence. Intelligence indicates the kind of life that is best and most natural, so it indicates the just. A third of Plato's works is "Meno." The dialogue "Meno" somewhat continues with the arguments brought about in Gorgias. It deals with the question of whther or not virtue can be taught. "Meno" once again has Socrates arguing, but this time it is against Meno. Meno starts off by defining this virtue or goodness the dialogue includes. He says that goodness is the wanting of things that involve honor, and the power to get them. Socrates argues that that would mean a man could knowingly desire evil and that if we draw out the definition to what it implies, it destroys itself. Meno contends this point by saying we cannot inquire because if something is known, it does not need to be questioned. To argue this point, Socrates questions Meno's slave who has never studied mathematics. He asks the boy how he could double the area of a square. The boy says to double the area of each side. However, this would be four times the area. He has the slave boy draw it out and he realizes if he draws a new square out of the diagonal of the old, the area of the new square will be twice as much as the old. The point of this is that the boy did not have this knowledge before the experiment and so must have got it from within himself. Socrates ends the dialogue by redefining virtue. He says onl...
