Tutorial # 12. Plato's Meno. Virtue, Knowledge and Belief. Discussion Questions

In Light of the reading (Meno, 89c-100c) and of the material below (especially the Stanford Encyclopedia entry) try to think about the following questions.

• How do we come to know what virtue is?
• What are the criteria for a good definition? Think about this case. What are the common features inherent to mammals, or to colors?
• What is the value of a good definition?
• Do you think there are no teachers of “virtue”?
• Should we “choose” our teachers (and the teachers of our kids)? How?
• How serious is Socrates’ conclusion that virtue is true belief (or right opinion)?
• How does knowledge differ from true belief? Assume that smoking kills. Do you have knowledge that smoking kills, or rather a true belief? Why? Make other examples.
• What is it about knowledge (if anything) that makes it more valuable than mere true belief?
• Consider Socrates’ example of “the way to Larissa”.
  Is knowledge really of more practical use than true belief? Consider different way of knowing (e.g. knowing that a square has four equal sides; knowing that Family Guy is a better animated sitcom than SouthPark; knowing your way home; knowing that the human brain has approximately 100 billion neurons).
• Is it more useful to know how livers work, or just to have a true belief about how livers work?
• Does knowledge, unlike true belief, give you more confidence? In which sense?
• Does Socrates reach a conclusion as to what virtue is?