Introduction to Philosophy Quiz 1: Plato's Meno, Descartes, and Terms

This assignment provides detailed answers to an Introduction to Philosophy Quiz. The first question analyzes Socrates' argument in Plato's Meno, exploring his case for innate knowledge and recollection. The second question examines the purpose of the 'evil deceiver' in Descartes' Meditations, detailing its role in Descartes' arguments and its importance. The final section selects three vocabulary terms—metaphysics, mind-body dualism, and idealism—and uses them in grammatically correct sentences to demonstrate their philosophical context. The assignment demonstrates a clear understanding of the philosophical concepts and provides well-supported arguments, referencing relevant philosophical texts and concepts.

1. In Plato’s dialogue the Meno, Socrates makes the case that some forms of knowledge
are innate, and that retrieving them is a matter of recollection, rather than learning new
things. How does Socrates make his case; what does he prove or try to prove? Is
Socrates successful, and if so/not, please explain why.
Answer. In the ‘Meno’ Plato’s Dialogue involved a discussion with Plato, where the
concern of the philosophers was to discern whether the attribute of knowledge render a
person virtuous. The thinking has been carried a few steps forward to contradict to the fact
that the true nature of the knowledge is not accessible to the human. The course of the
discussion thereby ends up with the discussion that the true nature of the knowledge would
not be accessible to the humans with the knowledge about this truth. Such ambiguity and
complexity of the name has rendered it the identity of being the Meno’s Paradox. According
to Plato, human understanding is a process of cognition that allows us to attain the state of
truth. Such state of truth id made available to us by the innate knowledge that we possess.
However, the knowledge lies interior to us and need to be discovered through recollection.
Involving the interaction of Socrates with a slave boy, Plato exhibited how the boy’s reaction
to the questions made by Socrates in terms of geometry was acquired by the boy through the
resource already available to him, something he referred to as the inner resource. Plato
thereby proposes that the human mind is aided with the capability of discerning the truth that
has been the concern of the philosophers Plato and Socrates (Shorey, 1903). The case of the
interaction with Plato. Meno and the slave boy, the fact that Socrates was trying ti establish
was that the knowledge that is inner and innate to human nature can be brought into being by
recollection. Such recollection of the innate knowledge is possible by transmigrating the soul.
Plato in this case hold the belief that the soul does not suffer from the ravages of time and
therefore immortal. As such, the truth that lies with the human soul needed to be aroused
from the dormant state. Socrates has been trying to prove the same and has been successful in

his venture by elucidating the same by posing questions in front of his disciples (Bluck,
1961).
2. Please explain the purpose of the “evil deceiver” in Descartes’ Meditations. What
does this image allow Descartes to imagine or argue and why is this important for his
case?
Answer. ‘Evil deceiver’ is a supposition made by Descartes who has rendered it extremely
powerful in his suppositions. He also asserts that the supposition cannot be false in its
rendition. The role of the deceiver as it has been explicated by the Descartes was to deceive
him when went out on the quest of truth. As such each time his perception about life has been
disrupted to a greater extent. As such, every experience experienced by Descartes was a result
of the sequence that has been synthesized by the deceiver. As such the act of deceiving has
placed him in a state of complete uncertainty from where he denies all the human existence.
This primarily happens because he is the state of uncertainty about the existence of the
deceiver in concern.
The importance of the existence of the deceiver in this respect is by the fact that every
act requires a mediator. As such the act of deception requires a deceiver to complete the dead.
As such the existence of the deceiver depends upon the thinking. Descartes at this point
declares that his existence is conceptualized by his own thoughts which he is capable of
attaining with certain level of clarity. He perceives this thinking through what he calls the
‘light of nature’. As such the light perpetrated by nature is allows him to provide his second
revelation about the truth. His perception of the truth is based upon the perception about the
god who is non deceiving in his attribute. As such the evil deceiver’s function is marked by a
series of inconsistency as the role of the deceiver is to evoke doubt about the perception made

by us through the sensory experience. Such experiences renders the world in a state of
existence that does not have any existence in the reality (Rothleder, 2018).

3. From the following set of vocabulary terms, please select three words and use each in
a complete sentence that is both grammatically meaningful and shows a sense for how
philosophers use the word in context. For example, if you had the term “epistemology,”
you might write: “Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that studies knowledge
claims, or how we know anything with justification.” Feel free to combine or separate
your sentence(s); just be sure to select and utilize three terms.
Answer.
Metaphysics: The role of Metaphysics as a philosophical branch is to discern the reality in its
fundamental nature. As such, the concern of the discipline is to discuss the nature of
connection that exists between the matter and mind, which form an inseparable part of it. The
contribution of the branch of metaphysics is to determine the nature between the one that is
potential and the one that is actual. The word has been derived from the Greek word that
gave out the sense of togetherness whose later sense went on to discuss the study that would
concern nature.
mind-body dualism: It belongs to the branch that is concerned with discussing the philosophy
in relation to mind. The proposition of the theory states that the nature of mind and body is
distinct in nature and thereby involves the mind that not physical in its attributes. The scope
of the dualism of mind and body extends beyond these concerns to encompass the
dualitybetween subject and object as well. The concern is also with the enactivism and
physicalism. This dualism incorporates the view of Plato whereby he discusses the existence
of more than one soul which then he had placed in a hierarchical existence.
Idealism: The discipline of idealism has been derived from the branch of metaphysical
studies whose concern is with the domain of idealism. The assertion of the reality in this
branch is made in a way whereby it has been rendered in a way that is inseparable from the

understandings of the humans. Such understanding of the reality is closely linked with the
perception as well. As such it is connected to something that is constituted by mind or
something that has been related to certain forms of ideas.

References
Bluck, R. S. (1961). Plato's Meno. Phronesis, 6(1-2), 94-101.
Shorey, P. (1903). The unity of Plato's thought (Vol. 7, No. 9). University of Chicago Press.
Rothleder, D. (2018). The evil deceiver and the evil truth-teller: Descartes, Iago, and
scepticism. In The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Philosophy (pp. 323-
335). Routledge.