Introducing Socrates (and Plato)
When first encountering Socrates in the works of Plato, one almost becomes like Socrates themselves: full of questions but lacking in answers. Socrates as a character is endlessly entertaining although he can also be very confusing.
In Plato’s Meno is where I first met this man who claims to know nothing. In his discussion with the beautiful and willing Meno, Socrates plays the part of flirtatious older man, someone who doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut, acts as a fountain of knowledge, and manages to turn everything that Meno says into a question. This one of the characteristics of Socrates that is very interesting. Initially, Socrates repetitive asking of questions can be considered an easy way out of answering a very difficult question or explaining something very difficult like Meno’s question, “What is virtue?” It can be irritating to the reader, who could feel that Socrates is expertly escaping Meno’s inquiry. It can be frustrating as well, because like Meno, we want an easy answer too. But after careful reading and several readings of Plato’s Meno, one can detect that Socrates’s questions are not necessarily a cheap escape. They are an encouragement, and in Meno’s case, an compliment to his intelligence. While Socrates may not know the answer himself, which he will readily admit, he prods Meno to expand his mind. Because we live in the age of instant gratification through technology, this concept can be excruciatingly vexing. We want the answer now! We don’t care how we get it! Just tell us! Socrates rebels against this then and he would rebel against it now. We have to work for an answer, and there is no guarantee we will ever reach one. But, in the process, as Socrates teaches Meno, you can learn other things and expand your mind. They have a thought provoking and interesting discussion which, I believe, ends up being fun for the both of them.
I think this is a wonderful place to start in learning philosophy, because Socrates could not illustrate the basic concept better. It is about thinking, it is about stretching you mind past the simple answers that you may be so sure about. Socrates makes you work for it, and prepares you for the work that is down the philosophical road.