I'm sure I won't say anything you don't already know, but at the end of Plato's Meno there is a veiled reflection on the possibility of teaching virtue because, although it is clearly stated that no one can teach someone to be a good politician, because "virtue comes to us by a divine dispensation" (θείᾳ μοίρᾳ ἡμῖν φαίνεται παραγιγνομένη ἡ ἀρετὴ οἷς ἂν παραγίγνηται), Socrates also hints that one day there may be someone capable of making good politicians; a statement that can be understood as the classic “profess the example,” make virtuous people by being virtuous, the only way to eliminate a caste of rulers who are leading us to disaster, the same caste that killed Socrates.
Greek:
[100α] παραγίγνηται, εἰ μή τις εἴη τοιοῦτος τῶν πολιτικῶν ἀνδρῶν οἷος καὶ ἄλλον ποιῆσαι πολιτικόν. εἰ δὲ εἴη, σχεδὸν ἄν τι οὗτος λέγοιτο τοιοῦτος ἐν τοῖς ζῶσιν οἷον ἔφη Ὅμηρος ἐν τοῖς τεθνεῶσιν τὸν Τειρεσίαν εἶναι, λέγων περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οἶος πέπνυται τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου, τοὶ δὲ σκιαὶ ἀίσσουσι. ταὐτὸν ἂν καὶ ἐνθάδε ὁ τοιοῦτος ὥσπερ παρὰ σκιὰς ἀληθὲς ἂν πρᾶγμα εἴη πρὸς ἀρετήν. [100β]
English:
[100a] unless there should be somebody among the statesmen capable of making a statesman of another. And if there should be any such, he might fairly be said to be among the living what Homer says Teiresias was among the dead—“He alone has comprehension; the rest are flitting shades.” In the same way he on earth, in respect of virtue, will be a real substance among shadows. [100b]
#Plato #Meno #Socrates #AncientPhilosophy #PoliticalVirtue #TeachingVirtue #GreekPhilosophy #VirtueEthics #ClassicalStudies #PoliticalPhilosophy #MoralPhilosophy #Ethics #HistoryOfIdeas #Platonism #Virtue #PoliticalThought #Philosophy #moral