Key Arguments

• Critiques 'professors of education' who claim to 'put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before.'
• Argues 'the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already'; like the eye turning the whole body from darkness to light, knowledge requires turning the whole soul from becoming to being.
• Calls for an art that effects conversion 'in the easiest and quickest manner,' not implanting but reorienting the already existing faculty.
• Differentiates virtues acquired by habit from wisdom, which 'contains a divine element' that becomes useful or harmful depending on conversion.

Source Quotes

That, he said, is a very just distinction. But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes. They undoubtedly say this, he replied.

They undoubtedly say this, he replied. Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good. Very true.

Very true. And must there not be some art which will effect conversion in the easiest and quickest manner; not implanting the faculty of sight, for that exists already, but has been turned in the wrong direction, and is looking away from the truth? Yes, he said, such an art may be presumed.

Yes, he said, such an art may be presumed. And whereas the other so-called virtues of the soul seem to be akin to bodily qualities, for even when they are not originally innate they can be implanted later by habit and exercise, the virtue of wisdom more than anything else contains a divine element which always remains, and by this conversion is rendered useful and profitable; or, on the other hand, hurtful and useless. Did you never observe the narrow intelligence flashing from the keen eye of a clever rogue—how eager he is, how clearly his paltry soul sees the way to his end; he is the reverse of blind, but his keen eye-sight is forced into the service of evil, and he is mischievous in proportion to his cleverness?

Key Concepts

• certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes.
• the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already
• the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being
• some art which will effect conversion in the easiest and quickest manner; not implanting the faculty of sight, for that exists already
• the virtue of wisdom more than anything else contains a divine element which always remains, and by this conversion is rendered useful and profitable; or, on the other hand, hurtful and useless.

Context

After mapping the allegory, Socrates draws explicit educational conclusions about the nature of learning and the role of pedagogical method.

Perspectives

Plato

Affirms anamnesis-like reorientation: true education turns the soul toward Forms; curriculum must protect and convert the divine element of nous.

Socrates

Rejects 'filling' models of teaching; insists on guided turning through stages until the soul endures the sight of being and the Good.