Meno is one of Plato’s earliest Socratic dialogues and is believed to have been written around 385 BCE. It begins with Meno, a visitor to Athens, asking Socrates whether virtue can be taught, and this question—along with the more fundamental question of what virtue is—occupies the two men for the entirety of the text. Important and recurring Platonic themes are introduced in Meno, including the form of the Socratic dialogue itself. Other important themes include an early form of anamnesis (the idea that the soul is eternal, knows everything, and has only to “recollect” to learn) and the contention that virtue as a kind of wisdom. Socrates also makes essential points about the nature of a definition.

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