Socrates Argument Of Recollection In Meno

In this paper, I will explain and critique Socrates’ claims in Plato’s Dialogues. First, I will analyze Socrates argument of recollection in Phaedo. Next, I will explain Socrates claim that the soul is immortal in Meno. Lastly, I will critique Socrates’ argument in Meno and explain why that critique does not apply to Phaedo.

In Phaedo, Socrates proposes his theory that all learning is recollection. Socrates believes that “to know is to acquire knowledge, keep it and not lose it” (Plato 114). This means that humans are always seeking knowledge and when they do lose it, the cycle begins again through learning by recollection. One way humans recollect is when seeing one thing, triggers the memory of another. Socrates simply means that “the sight

Socrates’ main piece of evidence is the demonstration with the slave that proves the boy acquired the information in a past life. Socrates claims that the boy comes to the correct answer for the geometry problem through recollection all on his own. Socrates fails to mention that the Socratic method of questioning did all the work of recollecting for the slave. Socrates’ method of questioning prompts and leads the slave to whatever answer Socrates wants. If the slave answers incorrectly or drifts away from the correct train of thought, Socrates will ask a question that causes the boy to reevaluate his answer. For example, when he asks the boy how many times larger the shape is, the boy says four. This response being incorrect, Socrates asks the boy “but we should have had one that was twice as large or do you not remember” (Plato 76). Socrates asks the boy if he remembers his previously correct answer in order to encourage the boy to reevaluate the answer he just gave. Without this guidance and leading questions, the boy would not have gotten the correct answer to the geometric problem. This proves Socrates’ entire proof that the boy recollected information from a past life