Learning and Meno's paradox in Aristotle's 'Posterior Analytics'

Meno's paradox, from Plato's Meno, is one of the most famous puzzles in the history of philosophy. Learning or inquiry is impossible, so the argument goes, for either you already know what you are inquiring into, in which case there is no need for you to inquire, or you do not already know, in which case there is no way for you to inquire. I argue that Aristotle's Posterior Analytics---often regarded as a poorly organized, even incoherent text---is best understood as a unified work structured around responses to different versions of Meno's paradox, each threatening the possibility of a different type of learning.For each type of learning Aristotle discusses, I present both the relevant version of Meno's paradox and Aristotle's solution to it. Each version presupposes an 'all or nothing' conception of knowledge: either you know x completely or you do not know x at all. Each solution involves showing that this assumption is false: there are certain intermediate epistemic states that fall between knowing x completely and not at all. These states form the basis on which the relevant sort of learning takes place.In Metaphysics I.9 Aristotle distinguishes between three types of learning: (1) learning by demonstration, (2) learning by definition, and (3) learning by induction. I argue that the Posterior Analytics divides neatly along these lines: book A explains the nature of learning by demonstration much of book B explains learning by definition and the work's final section (B 19) explains learning by induction. There is, moreover, a clear logic to Aristotle's order of presentation: learning by demonstration presupposes knowledge of definitions learning by definition presupposes knowledge of (i) the terms used to construct definitions and (ii) preliminary accounts of the terms to be defined and finally learning by induction is the means by which one acquires knowledge of these terms and preliminary accounts. The upshot is that the Posterior Analytics is a clearly organized work that delves deeper and deeper, as it unfolds, into the epistemological foundations of scientific knowledge.