Consider how Hume would respond to Socratess use of Menosslave to demo...

Consider how Hume would respond to Socratesâ€™s use of Menoâ€™s slave to demonstrate his theory of...

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Psychology

Consider how Hume would respond to Socratesâ€™s use of Menoâ€™sslave to demonstrate his theory of knowledge

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Meno declares himself utterly confused Socrates he says I used to be told before I knew you that you were always doubting yourself and making others doubt and now you are casting your spells over me and I am simply getting bewitched and enchanted and am at my wits end And if I may venture to make a jest upon you you seem to me both in your appearance and in your power over others to be very like the flat torpedo fish who torpifies those who come near him and touch him as you have now torpified me I think For my soul and my tongue are really torpid and I do not know how to answer you Jowett translation Menos description of how he feels gives us some idea of the effect Socrates must have had on many people The Greek term for the situation he finds himself in is aporia which is often translated as impasse but also denotes perplexity He then presents Socrates with a famous paradox Menos paradox Either we know something or we dont If we know it we dont need to enquire any further But if we dont know it we cant enquire since we dont know what were looking for and wont recognize it if we found it Socrates dismisses Menos paradox as a debaters trick but he nevertheless responds to the challenge and his response is both surprising and sophisticated He appeals to the testimony of priests and priestesses who say that the soul is immortal entering and leaving one body after another that in the process it acquires a comprehensive knowledge of all there is to know and that what we call learning is actually just a process of recollecting what we already know This is a doctrine that Plato may have learned from the Pythagoreans Meno asks Socrates if he can prove that all learning is recollection Socrates responds by calling See Answer

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