the paradox of inquiry
E831702
The paradox of inquiry is a philosophical problem, discussed in Plato’s Meno, that questions how one can search for knowledge of something completely unknown without already having some prior grasp of it.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| the paradox of inquiry canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9955577 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: the paradox of inquiry Context triple: [Μένων, introducesConcept, the paradox of inquiry]
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A.
The Notion of Truth
"The Notion of Truth" is a philosophical essay exploring the nature, meaning, and conditions of truth within human understanding and discourse.
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B.
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry is John Dewey’s major work on logic, presenting a pragmatic account of reasoning as an experimental, inquiry-driven process grounded in experience.
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C.
Constructions of Reason
Constructions of Reason is a philosophical work by Onora O’Neill that develops a Kantian account of practical reason, autonomy, and justification in ethics and political philosophy.
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D.
The Challenge of Facts
"The Challenge of Facts" is an influential essay by American sociologist and classical liberal thinker William Graham Sumner that critiques moralistic interference in social and economic processes and defends empirical, scientific analysis of society.
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E.
The Art of Thought
The Art of Thought is a seminal 1926 book by social psychologist Graham Wallas that introduced the influential four-stage model of the creative process (preparation, incubation, illumination, verification).
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: the paradox of inquiry Target entity description: The paradox of inquiry is a philosophical problem, discussed in Plato’s Meno, that questions how one can search for knowledge of something completely unknown without already having some prior grasp of it.
-
A.
The Notion of Truth
"The Notion of Truth" is a philosophical essay exploring the nature, meaning, and conditions of truth within human understanding and discourse.
-
B.
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry is John Dewey’s major work on logic, presenting a pragmatic account of reasoning as an experimental, inquiry-driven process grounded in experience.
-
C.
Constructions of Reason
Constructions of Reason is a philosophical work by Onora O’Neill that develops a Kantian account of practical reason, autonomy, and justification in ethics and political philosophy.
-
D.
The Challenge of Facts
"The Challenge of Facts" is an influential essay by American sociologist and classical liberal thinker William Graham Sumner that critiques moralistic interference in social and economic processes and defends empirical, scientific analysis of society.
-
E.
The Art of Thought
The Art of Thought is a seminal 1926 book by social psychologist Graham Wallas that introduced the influential four-stage model of the creative process (preparation, incubation, illumination, verification).
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Socratic problem
ⓘ
epistemological paradox ⓘ philosophical problem ⓘ |
| addressesDomain |
the conditions of successful inquiry
ⓘ
the nature of knowledge ⓘ the possibility of learning ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Meno’s paradox
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
paradox of learning ⓘ |
| centralQuestion |
How can one inquire into something completely unknown?
ⓘ
How can one recognize the correct answer if one does not already know it? ⓘ |
| connectedTo |
Socratic elenchus
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
dialectical reasoning ⓘ |
| debatedBy |
ancient philosophers
ⓘ
modern epistemologists ⓘ |
| describedIn | Plato’s dialogue Meno NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| discussedByCharacter |
Meno
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Socrates NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| formulatedAs |
Either you know what you are inquiring about or you do not know it at all
ⓘ
If you know it, inquiry is unnecessary; if you do not know it, inquiry is impossible ⓘ |
| hasExample | search for the definition of virtue in Meno ⓘ |
| hasStatus |
classic problem in epistemology
ⓘ
standard topic in introductions to Plato ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod | Classical Greek philosophy NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| influencedField |
epistemology
ⓘ
philosophical methodology ⓘ philosophy of education ⓘ philosophy of science ⓘ |
| involvesAssumption |
A person must have some grasp of what they seek in order to search for it
ⓘ
Complete ignorance makes directed inquiry impossible ⓘ |
| logicalStructure | apparent dilemma about knowing and not knowing ⓘ |
| motivates |
accounts of concept possession prior to inquiry
ⓘ
accounts of inquiry as refinement of prior beliefs ⓘ accounts of partial knowledge ⓘ theories of innate ideas ⓘ |
| originatedInAuthor | Plato GENERATED ⓘ |
| originatedInWork | Meno NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| problemType | problem about the possibility of acquiring new knowledge ⓘ |
| raisesIssue |
how criteria for correct answers are obtained
ⓘ
how questions are possible ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
Meno’s slave demonstration
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Socratic method NERFINISHED ⓘ a priori knowledge ⓘ concept formation ⓘ epistemic justification ⓘ problem of the criterion ⓘ recollection theory ⓘ |
| standardResponseInMeno | doctrine of recollection ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: the paradox of inquiry Description of subject: The paradox of inquiry is a philosophical problem, discussed in Plato’s Meno, that questions how one can search for knowledge of something completely unknown without already having some prior grasp of it.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.