The goal within the Meno is to discover what the concept of virtue resembles. In the first lines of the Meno, Socrates begins to question the initial proposed definition of human virtue. In typical Socratic style, Socrates addresses some of the problems inherent in Meno's definition of virtue by asking a series of important questions. In this way, Socrates presents a logical argument composed of a series of premises that build on each other. Through deductive reasoning, Socrates shows Meno that the fundamental nature of virtue, as revealed by his definition, shows that the virtue of all people is the same. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay At the beginning of this particular topic, Socrates directly questions Meno's definition of virtue. According to Meno, man's virtue is managing the city well, while for woman's virtue is managing the home well, among a number of other particular statements. It is a loose collection of particular statements that attempts to cover a variety of individuals. According to this definition, personal and rigid qualities such as gender and age can change how virtue applies to human beings. This is a problematic issue because of the large disparity that human beings can have among each other in the qualities they possess. From this perspective, any attempt to find an essential virtue that can be present in all human beings appears dubious. Socrates was not convinced that the nature of virtue was subjective. He later asks Meno whether it is possible to govern a city, a house, or anything else well if one does not do one's duty moderately and justly. Therefore, to be good, one must be moderate and just. To manage and act with moderation and justice, Socrates says that we can only do this through moderation and justice. In other words, there is no way to practice these virtues except by moving in their direction. After Meno readily agrees to this point, Socrates states that if the management of a city, a family, or otherwise requires justice and moderation, men and women can move toward being virtuous by exemplifying the same qualities. Whereas actions are linked by these, virtues are not necessarily related to gender. Meno agrees that this appears to be the case. To further support his position, Socrates poses the negation of his previous question: “So what? Could a child or an elderly person ever become good by being licentious and unjust? (73b). Socrates shows the fallacy of Meno's definition by revealing that not even virtue is separated along age lines. To build his next statement, Socrates again confirms with Meno that this notion that all people are capable of approaching virtue in a similar way is true. Having ensured the soundness of his argument, Socrates then uses his previous premises to support the idea that all human beings are equally good because achieving the same good things makes them so. By virtue of the fact that all individuals possess the same good individual qualities such as justice and moderation, all human beings are necessarily good in the same way. People, however, can only be good in the same way if all individuals move in the direction of the same virtues. Socrates goes on to say that if people moved towards different virtues, then people would not be equally good. This part suggests that virtue has a direct connection to one's goodness. This idea that we can differ in.
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