On Plato's Meno:
"Perhaps more than any other single text, the Meno speaks directly to what we do at this college. The dialogue is about conversation. It's about looking at what you know and trying to understand whether it's correct. That's exactly what we do here."  - Mr. Deimel

"When I read the Meno freshman year I hated it. Perhaps one reason is that a high school English teacher had ruined it for me. But another reason is that I identified with Meno more than with Socrates. When I first read it, all I was aware of was how Socrates was humiliating Meno and being evasive. I didn't see the point of any of that. Now, one of the things I've learned at St. John's is to pursue knowledge wherever it is available and do it humbly and enthusiastically. So now I identify a little less with Meno and a little more with Socrates." - Mr. Morris

On the pursuit of knowledge through dialogue:
"In our inquiry, it doesn't seem like our goal is simply to learn an answer, but to ask ourselves how we get to that answer, and what certainty we have in that answer. At another school, where there are lecture classes, if you simply accept an answer that's been given to you, it may or may not be the right answer. What you don't know is how certain you are in the answer. But when you struggle through the foundations and then the building up of an idea - when you can see the whole process - you become aware of the line of thought, and where uncertainty might lie." - Mr. Morris

"I feel that it's not just that this school makes me want to inquire into lofty topics, but it makes me want to hold onto the things, like virtue, that I know I can't ever truly know, but that I still want to pursue. So it's not just knowledge that the school gives us, but a means for working out our own beliefs about things. Also, to let us know that you can't just hold onto ideas, you need to grasp onto them. If I turn my back on them they will flee. So I have to always actively be holding onto my beliefs." - Ms. Shaw

"I wonder sometimes if our process of learning is simply a process of trying to find the best set of premises. Every intellectual system seems to start with premises. You don't get anywhere if you don't assume something. So is what we're doing making assumptions and then following the consequences to see what picture we get and to see if that picture is more acceptable than an alternative?" - Mr. Davis

"I feel like I trust my idea more now having undergone such a process." - Ms. Duffey

Participants:
Stephen Vorkoper, Dallas, Texas
Thomas McBee, Franklin, Tennessee
Adam Robson, Richmond Virginia
Susan Shaw, Edmond, Oklahoma
Jill Delston, Washington, D.C.
Kay Duffey, Gresham, Oregon
August Deimel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Robbi Pollack, Concord, California
Robert Morris, Arlington, Virginia
Brenna McMahon, Portland, Oregon
Matthew Davis, tutor
Michael Bybee, tutor

Note - In St. John's seminars, students and tutors address each other by their last names to maintain constant level of decorum in a tightly knit community.

Click below to see other samples of seminar:

• On Euclid
• On Newton
• On Tocqueville
• On Austen