PHL 3305 Lecture 11

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Plato. Meno

What is virtue? (they never actually come up with a definition)

1. Meno gives instances of virtues for different people (man, woman, child, etc.), but does not define virtue itself
   • Socrates uses image of bees in unnatural "swarm" state to illustrate
   • Bees are same image used in Iliad
2. Meno: "Ability to rule over human beings?"
   • What about slaves and children?
3. Meno: "Justice is virtue"
   • "Justice is virtue" or "Justice is a virtue"
   • S. brings up geometry: is roundness shape?
   • Defining color as "effluences": Meno likes definition, but Socrates thinks it's crummy
   • Defining shape as the boundary of a thing ... this is actually the definition of "definition"
4. Meno: "'to delight in noble things and have power.' . . . when a man desires noble things and is capable of procuring them.
5. Meno eventually concedes that S. has made him numb
   • Meno in an eristic argument (looking only to win rather than seeking truth as in dialectic)

Logic Text

name

a vocal expression to signify our grasp of what something is

sign

that which, over and beyond the impression it produces on the senses (hence it must make an impression upon our senses), brings to the mind something other than itself

Types of signs

• natural sign: a natural connection between the sign and the thing signified (smoke is a sign of fire)
  • purely natural signs: nature without intent (e.g.,
  • natural signs by intent: doing something natural on purpose (e.g., yawning to signify boredom)
• conventional signs: signs attributed to human reason as opposed to nature (e.g., words)
• formal sign: an interior connection that allows us to grasp conventional and natural signs (e.g., how colors could evoke a feeling)