Meno's Paradox
How can you search for something you don't know? And how would you recognise it if you found it?
c. 380 BCE9 min read
Ancient Greek philosophy
Socrates
470 BCE – 399 BCE
Athenian philosopher who wrote nothing but whose method of inquiry — question and answer, pushing interlocutors to examine their assumptions — defined the philosophical tradition. He is the principal speaker in Plato's dialogues, including the Meno, where he draws out the paradox of inquiry: we cannot search for what we already know, and we cannot search for what we do not know, since we would not recognise it if we found it. He was tried and executed by Athens in 399 BCE on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth.