meno   

Men. I cannot tell you, Socrates; like the rest of the world, I am

in doubt, and sometimes I think that they are teachers and sometimes

not.

Soc. And are you aware that not you only and other politicians

have doubts whether virtue can be taught or not, but that Theognis the

poet says the very same thing?

Men. Where does he say so?

Soc. In these elegiac verses:



Eat and drink and sit with the mighty, and make yourself agreeable

to them; for from the good you will learn what is good, but if you mix

with the bad you will lose the intelligence which you already have.



Do you observe that here he seems to imply that virtue can be taught?

Men. Clearly.

Soc. But in some other verses he shifts about and says:



If understanding could be created and put into a man, then they [who

were able to perform this feat] would have obtained great rewards.



And again:-



Never would a bad son have sprung from a good sire, for he would

have heard the voice of instruction; but not by teaching will you ever

make a bad man into a good one.



And this, as you may remark, is a contradiction of the other.

Men. Clearly.

Soc. And is there anything else of which the professors are affirmed

not only not to be teachers of others, but to be ignorant

themselves, and bad at the knowledge of that which they are professing

to teach? or is there anything about which even the acknowledged