Theories about whether or not virtue can be taught Essay - 93

Theories about whether or not virtue can be taught - Essay Example In the Meno, Socrates states that virtuous and wise people are not very good at imparting these qualities to others. For example, while Themistocles, the Athenian statesman and soldier could teach the skills of shooting javelins and standing upright to his son Cleophantus, no one ever stated about Cleophantus that he was virtuous and wise, and this holds true for Pericles and his sons Xanthippus and Paralus; Lysimachus and Aristides, his son; and Thucydides and his sons Stephanus and Melesias. Since there are apparently no teachers of virtue, it was inferred by Socrates that it is not possible to teach virtue; and since it cannot be taught, virtue cannot be translated as a kind of knowledge. Meno questions that if it is not possible to teach virtue, then how could good men exist? Socrates retorts that Meno and he overlooked that it is possible to execute a right action without knowledge. This can be explained in terms of the quality of guidance offered by two men to Larisa, one of wh om has been there whereas the other just knows about the way and has never actually been to Larisa. Of the two, the one who knows the way to Larisa would serve as a good guide, but so would be the other man who has never been to Larisa. If it is believed that truth as a guide is just as good as the man who is aware of that truth, it implies that a correct opinion is no less good a guide for the correct action than knowledge. In this case, Meno wonders what the factors that distinguish knowledge from correct opinion are, and also asks why should knowledge be preferred over correct opinion or vice versa? Socrates addresses these questions by saying that correct opinions can be interpreted as Daedalus’s statues, who was a highly skilled craftsman and mythological architect. The statues of Daedalus needed to be tied to prevent them from running away. Similarly, it is possible to tie down the correct opinions with the reason whereupon they discontinue being correct opinions and  becoming a form of knowledge.