The Theory of Anamnesis in Plato’s Meno

In this study, we will try to understand the main theme that constitutes the dialogue Meno as a whole. On this ground, we will assert that there are two scenes that encompass each other in their entirety; that the slave boy experiment is a miniature of the Meno dialogue as a whole; and that Meno also obtains ortha doxa like the slave boy by the hypothesis method in the search that is accompanied by Socrates. This shows that hypothesis method is present there, and that an inquiry based on poion ti questions conducted the hypothesis method is, aside from being contrary, is an indispensable element of this anamnesis process. Therefore, the first phase of the process of anamnesis is a person’s joining to a survey conducted by the method of hypothesis based on poion ti question accompanied by sophos. Considering both the anamnesis theory and its demonstration on the uneducated slave boy, we will defend that the kind of anamnesis that is in question in the Meno dialogue is dianoetic anamnesis. This type of anamnesis explain the process of obtaining ortha doxa. And we will argue that both in the beginning and at the end of the dialogue, it is pointed out to be the noetic anamnesis with two different similes. These two examples which refere to each other in the dialogue, are meant to express episteme as an high order knowledge by making it similar to an example from the real world. In the given examples, namely the one about Meno and the other about the road to Larissa, the description of the episteme as a direct experience of the objects, suggests that the experience of an episteme in these analogies is the noetic anamnesis. This case shows that the type of knowledge that is described as episteme in these samples correspond to noetic anamnesis.

Keywords

Plato, dianoetic anamnesis, noetic anamnesis, episteme, ortha doksa.