Meno Summary

Socrates meets a philosopher named Meno who immediately asks him whether virtue is natural to a good person or whether it is taught to him. Socrates responds to this question with one of his own: What is virtue? Meno responds by listing virtues that are appropriate to people in various states of life, but Socrates is not satisfied with this answer. He did not ask for an enumeration of different virtues, but what virtue itself is. Meno does not at first understand what Socrates means, but Socrates explains that if all particular virtues are commonly called virtues, then there must be some common nature among them, much like there is a common nature among different shapes which makes all of them shapes, even though they differ in what particular shape they are.

Finally understanding Socrates' meaning, Meno offers a definition of virtue borrowed...