1. Meno
By Plato

2. Meno: How will you inquire into something, Socrates, when you don’t at all know what it is?
Will you lay out a thing before us and then try to find it?
Or, if at best you meet it by chance, how will you know this is that which you did not know?
[8od5-8]

3. Socrates (to boy):
If the length of each side of a square is kept equal, the area of a square is x.
2 feet
2 feet

4. Socrates:. If you half the length of one. side of the square, what is
Socrates: If you half the length of one side of the square, what is the area now?
Boy: Half.
2 feet
1 foot

5. Socrates: So how do we get a square with double the area?
Boy: Double the length of each side:
4 feet
4 feet

6. Socrates (to Meno):
See, the boy thinks he knows the answer, but he doesn’t. But he has the beliefs that guide him in his inquiry.
The lack of knowledge per se does not prevent inquiry, as belief is the only pre-requisite.