Drama, Aporia and Irony in Plato’s Menon

Abstract

As is well known, the Platonic dialogue Meno concludes with the assertion of an aporia. In fact, in the end of this work, Socrates openly proclaims to his interlocutor, the young Thessalian Meno, that no secure knowledge has been obtained by them about what was investigated during the previous discussions, namely: the question concerning the genesis of virtue. Such failure, however, occurs, according to the philosopher, because one has not previously researched what virtue is in itself. We are thus apparently faced with a double negativity: we know nothing about how virtue originates, because we ignore its nature. Making use of an approach that takes seriously the dramatic and literary character of the Platonic dialogue, the present article intends to show how this final aporia that emerges at the end of the discussions of the Meno can be understood as an ironic statement that involves, between the lines, a philosophical meaning that is different with regard to what is explicitly stated by the letter of the text.