Knowing What Virtue is in Plato’s Meno

Noting the distinction between Plato and his character Socrates, I show that the failure of the Socratic project early in the Meno serves as the catalyst for the character to try out new methods to cope with concepts that lack any unitary definition. As the dialogue proceeds, Socrates uses (i) a method of ‘looking and pointing’ (in the geometry episode) whereby the slave identifies an indefinable length on a diagram, and (ii) a hypothetical method allowing consideration of other questions while keeping a disjunction of possible answers to an earlier question still unresolved. Although the hypothetical method is perfect for the Meno’s task, Socrates applies it incompetently, and the results are disappointing, in Plato’s drama. Nevertheless, the dialogue undermines Socrates’ initial assumption that one must find a definition before continuing the enquiry. It shows Plato recognizing that some ordinary concepts are not definable, and responding with appropriate procedures.