Socrates raised the question in the Meno and declined to give a straight answer. His pitch went something like this: It seems that moral values can’t be taught, for if they could, why is it that fine men like Pericles, who have given their children the best home environment and schooling, have no-good sons? “Up to the present at least,” he said, moral excellence must be considered as something we are endowed with, a gift from the gods, like personal beauty or blue eyes and curly hair. But that “up to the present” is important. Socrates does not close the door entirely on the question. Maybe if
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