The dialogue Io is very short but still not well understood. All agree that Socrates is talking to a rhapsode. The conversation is simple but Plato's intent is not obvious.

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

We are finally in a position to uncover the underlying concept or idea of the dialogue which is dramatized as it is and as it appears to be (correctly, to a dialectical reader, and incorrectly to the Many) in every aspect of the dialogue. Just as in HIppias Minor and in Politeia, there are actually several paradigms dramatizing this idea in various stages of false appearance. The characters are deigmata of the various paradeigmata.

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

The deigmata (examples).

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

We look at the various characters in the dialogue, so consistent that they may be regarded as models: Meno, Socrates, Anytus (based on a character in Theognis), Gorgias, Meno's slave. They seem to have features in common, but we still cannot see the diagonal line, as it were, which will make everything fall into place.

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

This is the second part of the overview of the dialogue Meno. Once again, we see that nothing actually said should be taken as the words of Plato himself, and that the philosophy must be found in what is more consistent in the dialogue, namely the characters themselves.

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

This and the following podcast provide a brief summary of the dialogue Meno, emphasizing the lack of philosophical content in what is said. To put it another way, the philosophy of Plato is not to be found in the words spoken by the characters. We should start thinking about the characters of the dialogue, which is only possible through listening to what they say.

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

Before reaching conclusions regarding the dialogue Meno, I thought it would be helpful to provide an overview of the general structure of a Platonic dialogue (at least, of the ones I have analysed), with the aid of the examples of Euthyphro, Hippias Minor, and Hippias Major (to these may be added the overview of Politeia, aka Republic, in episode 75).

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

The end!
Who would be the politikos who could make another person politikos?  If reasoning has led to the fourth option proposed by Socrates, is it not episteme, and if so, why should it be reexamined? Socrates leaves Meno with an outline of the dialectic method.

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

Socrates provides Meno with a new answer to the question asked by Meno at the beginning of the dialogue. Virtue comes to people through divine lot.

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com

What is the significance of good politicians being called divine? Why does it matter that not only women but also Spartan men think this way? We find out that all through Socrates' unflattering portrayal of good politicians as people lacking sense, Anytus has been listening, and appears to be, according to Meno, upset. Is this at all important for our understanding of the philosophical import of the dialogue, or is it merely a nod to the historical fact that Anytus was one of the prosecutors of Socrates?

Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.

The resulting analyses may be found at:

https://theplatoparadigm.com