Plato's Meno and Phaedo: philosophical dialogues

Meno & Phaedo

Eternal Souls

One of the most important components of Plato's dialogue known as Meno was the elucidation of the concept of the theory of recollection. This theory is so eminent within this work partly due to the fact that Socrates would refer to this notion, and to others that were engendered due to thought and study on related to this subject, in subsequent dialogues, the likes of which include Phaedo.

The crux of Plato's argument about recollection and its importance in the discussion of virtue is that the soul has actually been bestowed with all of the knowledge that it will ever attain before a person is born. Therefore, all someone has to do to access this knowledge is to recall that which he or she already knows about the subject by gently prodding it out of him or her. The following quotation explicates this concept rather succinctly.

Socrates argues that this confirms something that he has heard from certain wise priests and priestesses -- that the soul is immortal and that at our birth we already possess all theoretical knowledge (he includes here not just mathematical theory but moral knowledge as well (J.M.C 59).

What is of importance in this quotation is the fact that the theory of recollection elucidates certain characteristics of the soul -- which Socrates posits and goes on to fully believe is immortal. The ramifications of this point will be manifold, as the enduring nature of the soul was one of the extreme points of contention at Socrates' trial: the outcome of which would condemn him to death.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the theory of recollection is based entirely on questioning. The Socratic method of instruction or learning is highly dependent upon questioning any way, but the philosopher is able to initially conceive of the notion of the theory of recollection by questioning a simple slave about principles of mathematics. When the slave is able to understand the concepts and apply them to a particular example -- without any explicit instructions but simply through a series of innocent questions from Socrates, the philosopher eventually becomes convinced of the truthfulness found in the theory of recollection and applies it to the soul, which is alluded to in the following quotation.

Watch him now recollecting things in order, as one must recollect. Tell me, boy, do you say that a figure double the size is based on a line double the length? Now I mean a figure such as this, not long on one side and short on the other, but equal in every direction like this one, and double the size, that is, eight feet. See whether you still believe that it will be based on a line double the length (Meno 83a, 79).

The fact that a simple slave is able to understand and correctly identify mathematical principles is indicative of the fact that he already was cognizant of mathematical principles -- despite having no formal training in this subject. This idea is underscored by the diction Plato invokes Socrates of using, by telling the slave to "recollect" things that were previously etched in his soul.