The theory of recollection, according to Socrates, means that before we are born we possess all knowledge. We are never taught anything new, but instead reminded of things we already know. Socrates deduces this from the argument that the soul is immortal, "as the soul is immortal, has been born often and has seen all things here and in the underworld, there is nothing which it has not learned; so it is in no way …showed first 75 words of 378 total…

…showed last 75 words of 378 total…Tell me now, boy, you know that a square figure is like this?" Here we can tell that Socrates is indeed controlling the boy's answers by asking him a leading question. He does not ask what is this figure, but instead gives the answer within the question. The boy is answering according to how Socrates is asking the question. Here, we can see that Socrates experiment with the slave boy does not prove this theory.