Meno visits Socrates in Athens with an entourage of enslaved people and asks for Socrates's views on virtue.

Socrates claims complete ignorance about the nature of virtue, asserting that no one in Athens truly knows what it is.

Meno argues that virtue differs for men, women, children, the elderly, and the enslaved, offering multiple separate definitions.

Socrates uses the example of bees to argue that all instances of virtue must share a single common quality.

Meno claims that justice is virtue, and Socrates corrects him by showing that justice is only one virtue among many.

Meno offers the Sophist definition: virtue is the desire for honorable things combined with the power to attain them.

Socrates shows that all people desire what they believe is good, meaning Meno's definition makes every person virtuous by default.

Meno compares Socrates to a torpedo fish that numbs and perplexes everyone who comes into contact with it.

Meno poses his famous paradox: how can someone search for knowledge they lack and recognize it as correct when found?

Socrates introduces the theory that immortal souls are endlessly reborn and already possess all essential knowledge of reality.

Socrates guides an enslaved man through a geometry problem to demonstrate that all people recollect innate truths when questioned.

Socrates proposes a working hypothesis that virtue is a form of knowledge, which would in principle make it teachable.

Anytus joins the conversation and declares that the Sophists are a corrupting influence that ruins Athenian youth.

Socrates points out that celebrated leaders like Pericles failed to transmit virtue to their sons, suggesting virtue cannot be taught.

Socrates and Meno conclude that virtue must be a divine gift from the gods rather than teachable or inherited knowledge.

The dialogue opens with Meno, a wealthy young Thessalian leader, arriving in Athens to ask Socrates for his views on the nature of virtue. Socrates immediately claims ignorance and challenges Meno's assumption that virtue can be easily defined, pushing the conversation toward deeper philosophical inquiry. The dialogue's central crisis arrives when Meno poses his famous paradox — how can anyone recognize knowledge they do not yet possess — and Socrates resolves it with his theory of the immortal soul and recollection, illustrated through a geometry lesson with an enslaved man. As the discussion moves from definition to teachability, the arrival of the politician Anytus introduces a charged political dimension, with Socrates arguing that even celebrated leaders failed to pass virtue to their sons. The dialogue ends without resolution, as Socrates and Meno conclude that virtue cannot be taught and must be a divine gift from the gods, leaving the fundamental question permanently open.

The major milestones of Socrates and Meno's dialogue on virtue.

Socrates praises the Thessalians for gaining a new reputation for wisdom, attributing this shift to the Sophist philosopher Gorgias.

Socrates asks whether both men and women must exercise temperance and justice to be virtuous; Meno agrees that they must.

Meno insists that the defining virtue for a man is the ability to govern and command other people.

Socrates uses the examples of roundness as one figure and whiteness as one color to show that justice is similarly just one virtue among many.

Socrates teases Meno by joking that even a blind man could tell Meno is handsome because he always speaks in imperatives.

Socrates deliberately adopts Gorgias's Sophist rhetorical style to explain color as effluences flowing through passages commensurate with sight.

Socrates refines virtue beyond mere desire for good things, arguing it must also be pursued through pious and just means.

Socrates retorts to Meno that he confuses others only because he is himself genuinely perplexed about the nature of virtue.

Socrates calls forward one of Meno's enslaved attendants to serve as a demonstration subject in a geometry exercise.

The enslaved man guesses that doubling a square's side length will double its area, and Socrates shows this is wrong.

Socrates draws diagonal lines through a large square composed of four smaller squares to identify the correct side length that doubles the area.

Meno confirms that the enslaved man has never received any prior instruction in mathematics or geometry.

Meno grows impatient with defining virtue and asks Socrates to explain instead how virtue is acquired in the first place.

Socrates uses the analogy of a geometer testing whether a triangle fits a circle to justify forming a hypothesis before testing it.

Socrates and Meno agree that good outcomes in life depend on wisdom and sound judgment rather than the circumstances of one's birth.

These events trace the supporting arguments and exchanges that fill out the central philosophical debate. Socrates begins by praising the Thessalians and their Sophist education before teasing Meno about his imperious manner and cheekily explaining color using Gorgias's own rhetorical style. The conversation moves through Socrates's careful refinements of the definition of virtue, showing it cannot simply be the desire for good things but must involve just and pious conduct pursued in the right spirit. The demonstration with Meno's enslaved man unfolds step by step — from calling him forward, to exposing his wrong guess, to locating the diagonal solution — providing concrete evidence for the theory of recollection. The pool closes as the dialogue shifts from definition to acquisition, with Meno growing impatient and Socrates agreeing to test the hypothesis that virtue is knowledge, a move that sets up the arrival of Anytus and the final debate about teachability.

The supporting arguments and secondary exchanges that give texture to the central debate.

Socrates pushes Meno to identify what all virtues share in common rather than simply listing different virtues for different people.

Socrates proposes that virtue, like health and strength, must possess an essential quality common to every one of its forms.

Meno concedes that even the virtue of governance must include justice, reluctantly linking the idea of rulership to moral conduct.

Meno names courage, temperance, wisdom, and magnanimity as separate virtues when Socrates presses him for concrete examples.

Socrates asks whether someone who knows a desired path will harm them would still pursue it; Meno agrees they would not.

Socrates reveals a flaw in Meno's definition: if all people desire the good, the definition fails to distinguish the virtuous from everyone else.

Meno warns Socrates that his habit of confounding questioners with his own professed ignorance would get him imprisoned as a magician elsewhere.

Socrates admits that neither he nor Meno now knows what virtue is, even though Meno was confident at the start of the conversation.

The enslaved man immediately grasps that multiplying a square's side by itself gives the square's total area, despite having no prior training.

Socrates concludes from the enslaved man's intuitive understanding that all humans carry innate knowledge within their souls waiting to be recollected.

Socrates sarcastically declares himself Meno's slave and yields to Meno's impatient demand to skip ahead and discuss how virtue is acquired.

Socrates and Meno agree on a working principle that virtue must be profitable — genuinely beneficial rather than harmful to its possessor.

Socrates invites Meno's friend Anytus into the dialogue and asks him whether a student should learn any skill from those who profess to teach it.

Anytus issues a veiled warning, telling Socrates to be careful after Socrates implies Athens's greatest leaders failed to raise virtuous sons.

Socrates closes the dialogue by asking Meno to use his friendship with Anytus to reconcile the angry politician to their conclusions.

These events capture the critical turns and discoveries that change the direction of the conversation. Early on, Socrates presses Meno to move beyond listing separate virtues and instead identify what all virtues share in common, forcing a deeper level of philosophical reflection than Meno had anticipated. The debate reaches a crisis when Socrates exposes the fatal flaw in Meno's Sophist definition — that it applies to every person equally and therefore explains nothing — and Meno retaliates by comparing Socrates to a numbing torpedo fish who would be jailed as a magician elsewhere. The dialogue's midpoint is marked by Meno's famous paradox and Socrates's counter-theory of recollection, which the enslaved man's geometry lesson powerfully and unexpectedly dramatizes for the first time. The closing section shifts to a political register as Anytus's irritation builds into a veiled threat, and Socrates risks serious personal consequences for his criticism of Athenian leadership. The dialogue closes with the nature of virtue still unresolved and Socrates making a final appeal to Meno to calm the angered politician.

The key decisions, revelations, and emotional shifts that redirect the dialogue.