Plato's Pragmatic Approach To Rhetoric

In Plato’s Republic he has many examples of rhetoric. In regards to the controversial topic of women and eugenics in which Plato is almost forced into mentioning because of Adeimantus and Glaucon, he uses various rhetorical statements to portray his view on the matter. His readers believe women should be equal, so Plato attempts to persuade his readers into thinking he believes the same. For example, in the passage on women and family Plato states, “we shall assign these to each accordingly; but if the only difference apparent between them is that the female bears and the male begets, we shall not admit that this is the difference relevant for our purpose, but shall still maintain that our male and female Guardians ought to follow the same occupations” (164). He uses the women are equal and can do the same things as men strategy in order to make Athenian men understand what he is trying to say while still stroking their egos by using rhetoric. Men are in general are hard to persuade when it comes to power, so as a result Plato gives a sense of gender equality while at the same time still giving men the upper hand.

What is unusual about the first section of the Gorgias is that, rather than disabuse one for claiming to know some Y or Z, Plato tried to show that rhetoric is one of moral bankruptcy. Socrates wished to know what is rhetoric and its purpose. Gorgias is consulted by Socrates since he was deemed an expert in rhetoric. Rhetoric for Gorgias is the ability to persuade others, specifically jurors in the courts, members of the Council, and citizens attending the assembly (Plato, 13, 452e). However, Socrates astutely found that other professions have the ability to persuade. Gorgias responded by stating that the ability to persuade is specifically for mass meetings (Plato, 15, 454b). Persuasion can take two paths: one that confers conviction without proper understanding and another which confers knowledge. Rhetoric as described by Gorgias is persuasion which leads to conviction. Therefore, rhetoric is an agent of persuasion to produce conviction and not to educate citizens. The nature of persuasion produced is based on opinion and not knowledge. The rhetorician is an expert in knowing what the masses want, which is pleasure. From this knowledge the rhetorician can please the crowd to gain their support. In contemporary American politics this is an indispensable ability where the citizens’ passions are used in order for the politician to be elected to public

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, whether it is written or spoken. Rhetoric has been around for centuries. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, believed that there were three basic ways to persuade an audience: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is the appeal to ethics: how the speaker portrays himself/herself to the audience. Can the audience trust him/her?

In this week’s reading of the “Rhetorical Approaches to College Writing”, the foundations for rhetoric were introduced. The book describes rhetoric as a word with many definitions that all have a commonality. From the reading rhetoric seems to have a way of calling people to action in some distort manner similar to enticement. From the reading three definitions of rhetoric were given by different sources. The first source being from a ancient Greek philosopher who defined rhetoric as, “the faculty of discovering in any particular case all of the available means of persuasion”(RACW pg.3). I learned that for Aristotle the Greek philosopher rhetoric was a means of political engagement in civic life (RACW pg.4). The second source was from another

Along with Aristotle’s philosophical and scientific interests, he was a master of reasoning who proposed many theories still believed and used to this day. Over time, the philosophies he had taught were further expanded, hence Classical Rhetoric; he would write important, detailed texts about the basics of these notable ideas he fathered -- one of which is Rhetoric. In this text, composed of three books and total of sixty chapters, he introduces the rhetorical triangle. Each point in the triangle - ethos, pathos, and logos - holds a certain value in the context of communication, simultaneously influencing the others creating a trilateral relationship. The devices used in classical rhetoric are modern additions to the basic Aristotelian Rhetoric

During the 2016 presidential election there have been numerous very memorable speeches made by the candidates, especially the democratic and republican nominees. Because speeches made by candidates are primarily how the American public form their opinions on those candidates, paying attention to the rhetoric they use is a good way to discover more about them and defend your voting position. If Plato could analyze the rhetoric of the major party candidates he would probably say they were untrustworthy. I think Plato’s position on modern political rhetoric would reflect the position he takes in the Gorgias, and the modern nominees can be compared to Callicles because they “flatter convention (Bizzell and Herzberg, 1990)” and use rhetoric to

Socrates was a unique character in ancient Greece, specifically in the city-state of Athens, which was the seat of democracy at the time. Athens practiced direct democracy where citizens, specifically male, directly participated in and voted on legislation. The implication is that most of the men of Athens served in some political way. A way to distinguish oneself apart from the citizenry was to invoke the power of speech and persuasion to be more respected, powerful, and thus wealthier. Socrates’s philosophy in Plato’s dialogue Gorgias is shown in contrast to rhetoric and its perceived benefits to the individual and the people of the democracy. It offers severe critiques on the practice of rhetoric, specifically for the harm it does instead

Plato’s attempt in Phaedrus to establish a basis for a true art of rhetoric is seen through his characterizations and plot developments conveying themes throughout. What is true art of rhetoric? True art of rhetoric is the art of influencing soul and mind. Adapting to audience’s soul is the art of rhetoric, soul of love, soul of lust, and soul of honor. It is a means of persuasion regardless of content or a means of dialectic between two people or more who want the truth regardless of who wins. “Rhetoric is the art of directing the soul by means of speech” (Plato). Plato centers on what happens in the soul when persuasion occurs. The art of rhetoric is a soul-moving power of discourse. Discourse prompted by the love of wisdom and philosophy,

When Plato was writing Phaedrus he strategically wrote inspiring speakers arguing one who speaks noble and well must know the truth about the subject he is going to discuss. Likewise, Plato did not forgot about the responsibility of an audience. “According to reflections inaugurated by the Theuth and Thamus myth, the written word is not the most suitable vehicle for communicating truth, because it cannot answer questions put to it; it simply repeats itself when queried; it tends to substitute the authority of the author for the reader’s open minded inquiry into the truth; and it circulates everywhere indiscriminately, falling into the hands of people who cannot understand it.”(Kraut) Thus, the responsibility of the audience is to have an accurate

However, Petruzzi explains that Plato's dialogical strategy leads to an assumption of the indeterminate nature of truth and a “philosophical rhetor who "knows" that she is not able to know with any certainty” (Petruzzi 16). He insists that the primary quality of Plato's texts is “that dialogue and dialectic express neither a technical skill nor a method, but rather a mode of being-in-the-world: Dialectic is not so much a techne-that is, an ability and knowledge-as a way of being" (Petruzzi 17). For Plato, rhetoric is is agreement between participants where its success is reliant upon them presenting opposing sides or bringing a problem under consideration. Petruzzi explains that Plato searched for a stable definition that would anchor a concept in “"one" unified and temporary intellectual position.” However, he struggled because the disclosure of truth, through dialogue and dialectic, “explicitly contains the perspectival and relational quality of aletheia, or unconcealment” (Petruzzi 17). As we see, Plato strove for truth, but his error with in thinking that there were absolute truths that don’t change. William Benoit said that Plato’s views stand in sharp relief against those of the Sophists because he believed in certain knowledge, for he declares rather bluntly in the Gorgias that "truth, you see, can never be refuted." In the Phaedrus, he

This study focuses on rhetoric and persuasion. It examines the different rhetorical devices used by Cicero in his speech and the elements of persuasion involved. It is limited to just that one speech

The Gorgias written by Plato is a book about rhetoric being questioned as being The greatest art, and also about good and evil in political events. It can be argued that the World that we live in today is so corrupted that the issue of good and evil doesn't matter any more in political activities. It is all about what is best for the community, city or country and anything will be said or done, whether it is good or evil to achieve what is required for the society to prosper. The art of Rhetoric has to do with persuasion and if one can be persuaded into giving you what you want or desire you are said to be a rhetoric. The arguments that Plato made in Gorgias all have to deal with the problems that we are facing in the 21st century. The main

He writes, “when turned towards the twilight of becoming and perishing, then [the soul] has opinion only, and goes blinking about, and seems to have no intelligence” (Book VI, p. 25). By establishing opinion as the opposite to the ultimate good, and by definition, the ultimate evil, he criticizes the use of rhetoric and persuasion while praising to his long-winded, circuitous form of writing. By continually asking questions and telling parables, Plato avoids direct advocation of his beliefs and allows his readers to discover the truth for themselves, rather than to be coerced through eloquent language.

Rhetoric is an art form created before the reign of Gorgias, by Aristotle. As time progressed throughout the ages, Aristotle taught the art of rhetoric to his student Socrates, who eventually taught it to Plato. The art gradually adapted into the rhetoric we use today, providing the reason as to why Plato chooses to recreate the account of Socrates and Gorgias’ discussion. Plato shows us how Socrates’ knowledge of proper usage of rhetoric is vaster than that of Gorgias’. He helps us visualize the various ways he uses rhetoric, to provide the reason for his ability to use rhetoric better than the other Orators. This is illuminated by Socrates’ use of pathos, in his argument of pain and pleasure, the use of ethos in speaking about the comparison of medicine and gymnastics, and his use of logos in his debate on the body and soul. Plato places special consideration into choosing the topics he highlights in the story because of Socrates innate ability to refute these topics the way does.

Plato makes the distinction between an orator and a philosopher in the Gorgias, by using characters such as Polus and Socrates. He also uses these characters to illustrate that Socratic discussion--not oratory--is the only legitimate philosophical path of finding the truth way to discovering the truth. Plato does this by orchestrating the debate between Polus and Socrates and later showing that Socrates developed the idea of happiness in his last refutation.