Meno

1
ph1101EGEM1004 Reason Persuasion Assoc. prof.
John Holbo
Lecture 5 Meno
2
On to Meno Three-Part structure of the
dialogue I. A discussion of the nature of
virtue. II. A rather lengthy geometry
lesson. III. Another discussion of virtue.
3
Part I Surely you met Gorgias when he was here,
Socrates!
Part III Sophists! Bah!
4
What is virtue? What is a bee? Definitional
difficulties.
5
This is more Menos style.
6
It seems to me no accident that Socrates is
almost a parody of that self-help style.
7
Tell me the nature of virtue as a whole and stop
making many things out of one as jokers say to
people who have shattered something. (p. 231)
8
Theyre both wrong! Meno is wrong to think the
empirical question simple. And Plato (or
Socrates) is wrong to think that the difficulty
can be sorted out by sitting down and just
thinking.
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
Virtue is to want the best things in life, and
have the power to get them.
15
Sometimes its hard to tell the difference
between wisdom and money.
16
(No Transcript)
17
The problem with virtue, in this sense, is that
to the extent you can teach it its no virtue.
And to the extent that its a virtue you cant
teach it.
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
Paralyzing effect of Socrates on Meno. How is it
even possible that you could give thousands of
speeches about something without ever pausing to
wonder what it IS?
25
What if, when you asked people what virtue is
what true success and excellence is they all
answered I dont know.
26
Why dont we store all the truly good children in
a big vault? Because they really are more
valuable than gold.
27
(No Transcript)
28
Menos paradox Either we know what something
is, or we do not. If we do, then there is no
point searching for it. If we do not, then we
will not know what to search for. http//plato.s
tanford.edu/entries/analysis/s2.html
See page 238 in Meno.
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32

• As cognitive science experiments go, it isnt all
  that well-controlled. But what might be
  interesting about it
• Hypotheses about innateness
• How do thought-experiments work?

33
Plato thinks of the world we live in as having
the same scientific interest that a picture in a
geometry book has for a geometer. Namely, not
much interest at all. Turning this point around.
Plato thinks scientists who are empiricists - who
look - are like Obtuse Ollie (a character from
the geometry book I learned from, who always got
everything wrong.) It is clear from looking at
the picture. - Obtuse Ollie It is clear
from observing the world. - Empiricist
scientist
34
And yet Platos view - odd though it is - has
affinities with more contemporary ones
Separated at birth?
35
I cannot imagine a unified and reasonable theory
which explicitly contains a number which the whim
of the Creator might just as well have chosen
differently, whereby a qualitatively different
lawfulness of the world would have resulted A
theory which in its fundamental equations
explicitly contains a constant would have to be
somehow constructed from bits and pieces which
are logically independent of each other but I am
confident that this world is not such that so
ugly a construction is needed for its theoretical
comprehension. - A. Einstein
36
And How can it be that mathematics, being
after all a product of human thought independent
of existence, is so admirably adapted to the
objects of reality? - A. Einstein
37
Confused? Good. Let me pose a problem to
illustrate the Platonic intuition behind
Einsteins outlook Imagine that you are
standing on the bank of a river containing two
islands and five bridges connecting both banks
and both islands . . . Confused again? As Obtuse
Ollie would say, its clear from looking at the
picture . . . I got this puzzle from Bas Van
Frassen, Laws and Symmetry
38
Bank
Islands
Bank
39
There has been a flood, as a result of which
there is a 50 chance that each bridge is washed
out. (That is, for each individual bridge, there
is an independent 50 chance it is washed out.)
The question What are the odds that enough
bridges remain standing, in suitable
configurations, for a pedestrian on either bank
to cross the river without getting her shoes wet?
40
Working out the probabilities is a bit tedious.
(And I promised no maths.) The neat thing about
the problem is that, if you look at it the right
way, you can instantly see the solution. You
have to recognize a certain symmetry. Namely,
that the pedestrians problem is equivalent to
another one.
41
The Pedestrians Problem (top to
bottom) Entry Entry Connector Exit Ex
it
The Boatmans Problem (left to right) Entry E
xit Connector Entry Exit
42
P Either the pedestrian can cross or the boatman
can cross (not both and not neither). C But the
pedestrian problem and the boatman problem are
the same problem. They are symmetrical and
equivalent. Therefore, there is a 50/50 chance
that the pedestrian can avoid getting her shoes
wet. (Get it?)
43
You can think it through later on your own time.
For now, what is important is that we have
migrated from mathematics to dialectic. The proof
I offered, to get the answer, is dialectical.
Plato would say even deeper than mathematics -
underlying all the math you would have to do to
solve the probability problem in the standard way
- there is dialectic. Or, rather, a need for
dialectic. There are necessary relations between
concepts, governed by logic.
44
Consider the so-called Principle of Sufficient
Reason Everything happens for a reason. Nothing
happens for no reason whatsoever.
45
Confused again? Well, so is this fellow. . . as
you can plainly see. He is Buridans Ass, and we
can use him to illustrate Einsteins point.
46
Which haystack will he choose?
47
Lets let Zeus stand in as our Einsteinian
creator. (He sort of looks like Albert.) But,
mind you, z is just a variable.
WWZD?
GUT x
GUT y
Grand Unified Theory
48
And, come to think of it, this was Euthyphros
problem as well, trying to have Zeus pick ethical
theories. . .
WWZD?
49
It seems that Zeus will pick the right one,
whichever it is. Either
50
Or
51
What makes mathematics possible?
52
Three cows or one?
53
Three cows or one?
54
(No Transcript)
55
(No Transcript)
56
(No Transcript)
57
(No Transcript)
58
(No Transcript)
59
(No Transcript)