write a 6 page typed (double-space) paper 

You should observe normal grammar and punctuation, as can be found in a style sheet guide such as MLA, Turabian, or Chicago Manual of Style. The paper should have a title. It does not need to have a separate title page, but it can. You should have put your name on the paper.

You do not need to use any secondary sources and this is discouraged, but not prohibited. If you do make use of secondary sources, then you need to footnote them when used, in accordance with some style sheet. Since none are expected, neither is a bibliography necessary.

You are to use the editions of the Meno and Protagoras assigned for class. If you are using some other edition of the Meno, then you should footnote this edition when anything in it is first referenced, but you do not need to footnote it, if you are using the edition assigned.

When you refer to any text in Plato, you should use the Stephanus number that runs along its margins; thus, for example : “……” (11b). If your text is different from the edition to be used, you only need to footnote it the first time you refer to the text. Thereafter, you can just refer to it as above. (If your text is the edition assigned, you do not need to footnote at all and can just use the Stephanus number, from first to last.)

The third part of the Meno, from 89a on, discusses the question of whether and how virtue is to be acquired. For this discussion, you should assume it is agreed that qualities such as temperance (i.e., self-control or moderation), courage, justice, piety, and generosity are all examples of virtue, that the goods of the soul (of which the virtues are one) are greater than the goods of the body or external goods, that virtue empowers us to lead good lives and be fulfilled or happy, but that all of the virtues will fail to be such unless under the guidance of wisdom, which is thus an essential part of being virtuous. All of these things seem to have been established by 89a in the Meno, and thus, when the question is asked “whether virtue can be taught or is acquired in some way?” we have some idea, even if imperfect, of what we are talking about by “virtue”. And, as noted several times in class, “virtue” is another word for “excellence”, and being “a virtuous person” is quite similar to being “a good person”.

There are two ways of taking the word “teaching”. In a narrow sense, this is an intellectual activity exemplified by the teaching of mathematics, physics, history or anything we would regard as a “science” of some sort. They reject that virtue can be taught this way, or “out of a book”. In the broad sense, “teaching” could encompass any guidance or inculcation by which someone acquires or learns not just what a standard of virtue is, but to be virtuous. In that broader sense, the question then becomes “can we lead, guide, or inculcate virtue in others?” This is the question.

Your task is twofold. First, you need to be clear on what the arguments and counter-arguments are, as these are given in the Meno and the Protagoras. Second, you need to decide which are the better arguments and counter-arguments given, and thus conclude with what you yourself think about this matter: i.e., how do you come down on the question whether we can or cannot inculcate or guide others to virtue?

You should begin, in your first paragraph, by indicating to your readers where you will be headed in the paper. This is your thesis, and is the conclusion towards which you are headed. It will be that virtue can or cannot be inculcated, or that it can be, but only in some qualified way.

(For the purposes of this essay, let us assume that there are “outlier cases”, such as being a psychopath or sociopath, where someone may be incapable of becoming virtuous or having it inculcated. Let us take these extremes as instances of some debilitating disease or physical condition and “bracket” them, as being extremes and not relevant to our question, which concerns those who do not have such an extreme condition.)

However, before you get to your conclusion, you need to expose to your potential reader just what the arguments are in these two texts. You should assume your reader is intelligent and is interested in the question, but that he or she may not be familiar with the texts themselves. Your first order of business in this paper, then, will be to expose carefully what the given arguments are, from both of the dialogues given.

Very roughly speaking, both in the Meno and in the Protagoras, Socrates appears to doubt that virtue can be taught. However, Plato also puts into the mouth of Protagoras in the dialogue named for him arguments that suggest it can be. Both dialogues offer arguments on each side of the question: arguments that it can be inculcated, at least to some extent, are given in the Meno, and arguments that it can not be are given in the Protagoras. We have a right to see Socrates as being skeptical that virtue can be inculcated and Protagoras as being skeptical that it can not be.

As some aid to your initially thinking about this matter, I here remind you of some of the things that were said in class from our reading of the Meno. Is it enough to be virtuous to be able to inculcate virtue (i.e., to lead other to be virtuous)? It is assumed that all virtuous persons would  wish to do this for their children. Why, then, do they seem to fail to do so in some cases? (Socrates argues they do fail, both in the Meno and in the Protagoras, and even Anytus, who opposes his view, concedes some children are not virtuous like their fathers.) Is this due to the fact that being virtuous is not enough to guide others to be virtuous? Or is this due to their children being unable or unwilling to learn what their parents are trying to give them? If a parent can guide to virtue, should he or she not be able to find a way to help overcome a resistance in the children to be so guided? Or is this asking too much of the parents? Students articulated differing positions on this question. A second set of issues was raised in relation to right belief and knowledge, wisdom, or understanding. We saw that, in the Meno, one could hold right beliefs or have the right convictions in two different ways: simply possessing these or being able to give an account as to why they were right, i.e., being able to justify one’s right beliefs (which Socrates identifies with knowledge, understanding, or wisdom). Socrates argues that we can guide others well if we have the right beliefs, but that these are weak if we are unable to give a good account of why they are true and good. Thus, while a parent with a right belief might be able to guide a child in some way towards virtue, this is not going to be enough to lead a child securely to virtue. So, this raises the issue of how important it is to be able to justify or give an account of one’s right beliefs in guiding others. And it also raises the question of how one is to attain the wisdom necessary to be virtuous and whether this, too, can in some way be inculcated by wise parents. Students had various things to say about these issues, as well. So we had begun to expose some of the arguments on both sides.

We did not get to the Protagoras. In it, Socrates again raises several objections to inculcating virtue. Protagoras there, however, responds strongly, through the story he tells and through the arguments he gives. If the “weight” of the Meno inclines to the difficulty or impossibility of inculcating virtue, the “weight” of the Protagoras inclines in just the opposite direction. We did not examine Protagoras’ arguments, but these are things that you will also need to incorporate into your paper. And thus, organizing the things that are said in both dialogues on both sides of the issue (i.e. “pro” and “con”), you will eventually need to articulate how you think we should best see this matters and to conclude with your own views as to which arguments are the strongest and on how you would put together all of your own thoughts so as to articulate your final view.

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