Socrates attempts to steer Meno away from regarding virtue as the task appropriate for each particular individual to do, towards the way in which anything is done (well, justly, with self-control). The means by which Socrates attempts to do this suggest that he realizes that Meno is not amenable to strict logical. We may also note that despite Socrates emphasizing that he is looking for the one aspect of virtue, he splits "well" into "justly" and "with self-control", which will become significant shortly.

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 explains that he is looking for the aspect of arete (virtue), the one thing which is common to all the different types of arete.

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 turns the tables. Instead of saying what sort of thing he thinks arete (virtue) is, he manipulates Meno into telling him what Gorgias says arete is. Meno answers in the style of Gorgias, generously and without fear. Each type of person according to gender, age, and social status has an appropriate role or task, and this is a virtue. Meno is happy to say that there are very many virtues, he is that generous. This is surely an answer befitting one who knows what arete is.

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 finally manages to get Meno to react despite not selecting one of the choices Meno gave him regarding the sort of thing arete (virtue) is. Meno reacts to the suggestion that someone not knowing Meno at all would not know what sort of person Meno is, but immediately turns to the scoop that Socrates doesn't know at all what arete (virtue) is ( for which reason Socrates claims not to know what sort of thing arete is).

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 continues his reply to.Meno's first question since Meno fails to react to any of the shocking things Socrates says. Having portrayed Gorgias as a seller of sophia, teaching people to be able to answer any question put to them, and having adopted Meno's conception of abstracts as concrete things, it follows that Gorgias' move from Attica to Thessaly has resulted in a drought of sophia in Attica, meaning that no one in Attica could possible answer Meno's question - and yet Meno fails to conclude that Socrates cannot answer his question; Socrates will have to spell this out next time.

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 begins his reply to Meno's first question

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

Meno's first question is not what it is usually considered to be. It is about the sort of thing arete (virtue) is, and not whether Socrates can tell Meno how to acquire virtue.

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 a barebones summary of my full analysis of Politeia in my 2015 book entitled Plato's Republic as a Philosophical Drama on Doing Well, Lexington Books, with special emphasis on the explicit use of paradeigmata in the dialogue.

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

Final part of the summary of my analysis of Hippias Major.
The original analysis was published as

Hippias Major: An Interpretation (Palingenesia XXXVII), Stuttgart 1991

My more recent article assessing Hippias Major and Minor together may be found in

“Plato on the Good: Hippias Minor and Hippias Major”, in Y.Z. Liebersohn, I. Ludlam, A. Edelheit edd. For a Skeptical Peripatetic: Festschrift in Honour of John Glucker (Studies in Ancient Moral and Political Philosophy 3), Academia Verlag: Sankt Augustin 2017

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 scholars tend to treat as a flawed philosophical argument is actually much worse than that. The dynamics of the dialogue require Socrates to appear impressed by Hippias, while Hippias must appear good (by being expert) to Socrates. Socrates is beneficial in that he continually applies dialectic and attempts to make Hippias think dialectically; Hippias is harmful, especially here, where he attemtps to teach Socrates eristics, the very opposite of dialectics (neither affects the other since they are both static models in this philosophical drama). The question "What is the fine?" is answered and refuted seven times.

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