In part 2 of Meno, by Plato, Socrates and Meno begin to talk about many different topics, including mathematical theories that they test on Meno’s servant, a young boy. The boy proves he knows quite a bit about these mathematical theories and Socrates comes up with a theory that implies that the boy is in a “state of knowing”:

Now if he always had it, he was always in a state of knowing; and if he acquired it all some time, he could not have acquired it in this life. Or has someone taught him geometry? You see, he can do the same as this with all geometry and every branch of knowledge. Now, can anyone have taught him all this? You ought surely to know, especially as he was born and bred in your house.(27)

This quotation expands on the idea about being in a state of knowing. Another topic they spoke about was how the boy was confident in his answers even when he doesn’t fully know the answer. We still use this method of answering today. We guess things when we aren’t fully sure of our answer, and yet we still answer confidently. They also mentioned the different branches of knowledge which we talked about in our first TOK class.