Comparing Meno And The Republic

Platonic literatures seem to hold many ideologies in common that are often briefly discussed throughout his writings. Plato, being the pupil of Socrates, felt his ideas were important and documented them in both the Meno and The Republic. In doing so, we now have some of the most influential ideas of Socrates to study. Although the Meno and The Republic are two unequivocal different literary works from Plato, they bear superficial similarities in the dissecting of Epistemology and the sacredness of one’s knowledge while differing in the utilization of the soul as a knowledge-bearing fruit or just as another tool used to aid in learning, or rather the origination of knowledge in itself.
Epistemology is a stem of philosophy in which we must
It is concerned with how our minds are related to reality, and whether or not these relationships are valid or invalid. Epistemology is the explanation of how we think and is required in order to determine the true from the false. While these two dialogues may differ in some ways, they both show an intense understanding of the meaning of epistemology and the value of coming to knowledge with oneself. In the Meno, epistemology is the baseline at which Socrates allows Meno to understand that knowledge is of great importance, but to get to the full awareness of knowledge you have to study further into things to get to their true meaning and rise above not truly knowing, or your opinion. On page 88 of our text in the Meno, Socrates states, “The opinions have just been stirred up like a dream, but if he were repeatedly asked these same questions in various ways, you know that in the end his knowledge about these things would be as accurate as anyone’s.” (85d) Meno simply agrees with him in that going from not truly knowing something to knowing is an arduous task, however it is possible through the repetition of the outward opinion. Similarly, The Republic Book VII gives an example of human beings living underground with substantiating surroundings. Chained to the floor, these
In The Republic, Plato expresses that knowledge is something gained by a learning experience and also that you are required to rationalize and think-through the teachings you come across to truly apprehend something. On page 177 it is written, “… the virtue of reason seems to belong above all to something more divine, which never loses its power but is either useful and beneficial or useful and harmful, depending on the way it is turned.” (518e). Although it is known that knowledge is not easy to obtain, it truly depends on the “way that you are turned,” or rather the way that you are taught equaling the amount of knowledge you possess through a given amount of time. Opposed to that idea is the writing in the Meno, which is where we are told that knowledge is not quite something that is learned, but that it is innate in all of us. This dialogue is expressing that in order to learn something, you are only recollecting from what you have known in a past life, and that you don’t necessarily have to be taught but rather just reminded through rigorous questioning and thought process. In the reading, Socrates says, “… he will know it without having been taught but only questioned…” in response to Meno as he claimed that knowledge must be something taught by a certain specified teacher. (Page 89, 85d) As he says this, he