The Meno's Teachings

Plato’s the Meno is most commonly taken as a book about virtue. In my opinion, the Meno’s central issue is teaching. The entire book revolves around Socrates answering Meno’s questions about virtue. It is a book that teaches us about teaching, rather than actually answering the question that is presented, “Can virtue be taught? Or is it not teachable but the result of practice, or is it neither of these, but men possess it by nature or in some other way?” Every time Meno presents a question to Socrates, Socrates presents a question back. The question is never answered throughout the text which lets us know that this is not the purpose of the book.
Meno asks Socrates many questions throughout the text but none of those questions are really answered straight from Socrates. Socrates is constantly presenting Meno with a question to ponder. Meno, in turn, is actually learning from himself. He has all the answers within himself and it is up to Socrates to bring them ...