Hi. Hi, I'm Peter Adamson, and you're listening to the History of Philosophy podcast, brought to you

with the support of King's College London and the Lever Hume Trust online at www. History of Philosophy.

Net. Today's episode We Don't Need No Education, Plato's Meano.

Here on the history Need No Education, Eudication. Plato's Mino.

Here on the History of Philosophy podcast, we're proud of our listening audience.

You, the listeners, are obviously distinguished by your good taste in podcasts and your interest in the great ideas that

animate the history of philosophy itself. An informal survey has shown that you are

slightly above average height and good-looking in a mysterious thoughtful kind of way.

You are kind to children and animals, and gladly give up your seat to pregnant ladies and the elderly on public transport.

You are, in short, a wonderful specimen of humanity, and we can hardly say how glad we are to have you tuning in.

But being philosophers, we have to wonder, how did you get this way?

How did you get so darn virtuous? Were you born like this? Did you inherit it from your

parents so that virtue comes to you naturally, the way it comes naturally to dogs to turn around

in circles for no reason before they lie down.

If not, then somebody must have taught you to be virtuous.

But how would that work?

Is virtue even the sort of thing that can be taught? This very question begins Plato's dialogue. the an undergraduate course which touched on Plato, chances are pretty good that you were asked to read

the Mino, and for good reason. It's not terribly long, it's kind of funny, and it's got at the center

of it a memorable scene and a memorable theory about learning.

At the risk of giving away the punchline, the theory is that we don't ever actually learn at

all.

Rather, when we seem to be learning, we are in fact remembering or recollecting. We are recollecting knowledge not from some point

...