A Study On How Does The Theory Of Recollection Solve The Meno’s Paradox

"How is knowledge possible" was the first question asked about knowledge in Western philosophy and also the first study of the theory of knowledge,which began with Plato’s mid-dialogue,Meno.The dialogue on the ‘Meno Paradox’ and the ‘Theory of Recollection’ in this text not only gives us the answer to the question of ‘how knowledge is possible’,but also addresses the question of the beginnings,conditions and verification of cognition.In general,a set of definitions of traditional knowledge has been developed.The central task of this paper is to explore how traditional definitions of knowledge are realized in texts and the possible epistemological challenges it may faces from later generations.The whole process of inquiry is divided into two steps.The first step is to define the scope of the Meno Paradox and to prove its validity.First,the definition of the scope requires answering the following questions: Does the paradox derive from Meno or from Socrates’ restatement? Is the core of their content equivalent? Secondly,the validity of the Meno Paradox needs to be demonstrated in both positive and negative terms.The negative proof involves responding to the prevailing argument which against the paradox,namely that its premises are wrong;the positive proof involves it is necessary to affirm the paradox in terms of its own philosophical significance and the concept of knowledge involved.The second step is to investigate whether the ’Theory of Recollection’ in the text answers the paradox.Firstly,the idea that the "Theory of Recollection" is invalid is explained: on the one hand,it is invalid because of the particularity of the soul myth,and on the other hand,this theory answers the conditions of inquiry activities,while the paradox needs to answer the specific process of inquiry activities.The response is also carried out in two ways.On the one hand,it shows the role of myth in the narrative of philosophical thought,and on the other hand,it explains the legitimacy of Socrates’ transformation of Meno’s question from empirical epistemology to ontological epistemology.Then this theory can avoid the question of exploring the time dimension of activity.Finally,it is necessary to clarify exactly what role the three parts of the ’Theory of Recollection’ play in answering the paradox.Having completed the above steps,the core of this paper has been explained,but at the same time a possible challenge-the Gettier problem-needs to be addressed.After a brief description of the Gettier problem,it becomes clear that it poses no threat to the early Platonic definition of knowledge,and that its root cause is a misunderstanding of the traditional definition of knowledge.It is also found through the two chapters that traditional knowledge does not stay at the JTB theory,in addition,the strength of justification between them is also different.In short,through the research of this paper,we can give a positive answer to "how is knowledge possible" in the dimension of traditional epistemology,and can respond to the challenge of epistemology from later generations.