Can you explain the learning paradox from Socrates point of view?

Answer 1

The learning paradox is that a man cannot search either for what he knows or for what he does not know, because if he knows he doesn't need to search, while if he doesn't know he won't recognize his quarry when he comes upon it. So, Meno suggests, there's no purpose in going on with the search for new information. Deductively, if you know what you're looking for, inquiry is unnecessary. If you don't know what you're looking for, inquiry is impossible. Therefore, inquiry is either unnecessary or impossible. Socrates believed that you can't come to know something that you didn't already know. That is, that inquiry never produces new knowledge, but only recapitulates things already known. Therefore, he was not a teacher, since nothing could be taught, but a seeker of truth and absolute knowledge from within, as was everyone else. So, Meno asks, why seek knowledge or ask questions or try to seek knowledge or try to learn? In reply, Socrates proposes the Doctrine of Recollection to explain how it is that someone can identify the object of the definitional search, yet not already know what that object is: the "learner" has been exposed to the object of his search in a previous existence, but does not now remember it well enough to call it to mind without the aid of a dialectical reminder. Socrates' theory is that we already have within our souls (which are immortal and have eternal knowledge) the answers to such questions. Thus, arriving at the answers is a matter of retrieving them from within. We recognize them as correct when we confront them. To demonstrate this theory, Socrates asks a slave boy a series of questions about a subject he knew nothing about, geometry. After several questions, without instruction, the boy is able to answer a geometry question regarding the calculation of the area of a square. Socrates then said to Meno, either then he has at some time acquired the knowledge which he now has, or he has always possessed it. If he always possessed this knowledge, he must have been unaware of it (which he claimed to have been); if on the other hand he acquired it at some previous time, it cannot have been in this life, unless somebody has taught him geometry (which Meno said had not occurred). Therefore, Socrates states that the slave boy has always had knowledge of geometry, since one cannot acquire new knowledge in this or any other lifetime, the soul and the knowledge it processes are eternal.

Answer 2

Socrates believed that true knowledge comes from recognizing one's own ignorance. The learning paradox, as posed by Socrates, highlights the idea that to truly learn, one must first acknowledge that they do not have all the answers. This paradox emphasizes the importance of humility and open-mindedness in the pursuit of knowledge.