How does the recollection theory of learning appear in Plato’s Meno?

In the Meno, Plato introduces the theory of recollection to resolve the paradox known as "Meno’s problem." Meno questions how one can search for knowledge if they do not know what they are looking for, or how they would recognize the truth if they encountered it without prior understanding.1

Socrates counters this by proposing that learning is not the acquisition of new information, but the act of "recollecting" knowledge that the soul already possesses from an earlier existence. To demonstrate this, Socrates guides an uneducated slave boy through a complex geometrical problem. By asking a series of questions, Socrates prompts the boy to arrive at the correct mathematical conclusion without providing direct instruction.21

This suggests that fundamental truths—particularly in mathematics—are latent within the individual. While the literal theory of reincarnation is largely rejected today, the underlying concept that certain knowledge is innate remains a significant topic in epistemology regarding how humans acquire complex systems of understanding, such as language.21