According to Meno, virtue is “to desire beautiful things and have the power to acquire them” (66). However, Socrates disagrees, because a thief can do this. It is obvious to Socrates that Meno does not know what virtue is, and yet, neither does he. Meno gives his argument about inquiry. There is no need to search for something you already know, and if you do not know what you are searching for, then you will never know (81).

Following this paradox, the theory of recollection was presented. The soul is immortal and goes through a cycle of death and rebirth. Since the soul “has been born often, and had seen all things here and in the underwor

The last argument is over knowledge and true opinion, or belief. A man who has knowledge will always be correct, or succeed, whereas a man with true belief can be either correct or incorrect (89). True beliefs, as long as they remain, do good things, but since they are temporary and “escape from a man’s mind”, they do not have as much meaning “until they are tied down by giving an account for the reason why” (90). Once they are first tied down, this is recollection, and then it becomes knowledge, where it always stay in place (90).

Socrates arrives at the conclusion that knowledge is recollection by asking the slave, who was never taught geometry, numerous questions regarding geometrical problems. The boy answers each problem correctly, which made it apparent to Socrates that he has already possessed the knowledge. His knowledge must predate his birth, which supports the theory of recollection. I do believe in this theory of recollection and that abstract concepts are different from ideas and beliefs. There is knowledge that comes from the immortal soul and it is always true. For instance, I know that 1 + 1 = 2 always. I do not have to prove it, because it will always be a true statement. I had already possessed knowledge of this, and all

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