Plato's The Gorgias: Rhetoric

Socrates makes a more compelling argument throughout the writing of Gorgias and puts Gorgias in the spotlight numerous times. Throughout Gorgias Gorgias is simply answering Socrates’ questions that actually contradict what Gorgias said about rhetoric and knowledge before his conversation gets intense with Socrates. Socrates compels his argument in his usual manner by obtaining acceptance in certain propositions that Gorgias cannot deny, and then Socrates shows that they lead to conclusions very different from what he had imagined. Socrates says at the beginning that he does not want to hear a speech by Gorgias, but instead wants to engage in a conversation with him. Gorgias makes wonderful claims for the power of rhetoric, Socrates wants

Imagine yourself sitting inside a dark, damp, cave where the only thing you can see are moving shadows on the cave wall in front of you. You can’t move anywhere or see anything besides the shadows, and these are the only things you’ve seen for your entire life, so these moving dark images are the most real things you’ve ever known. At some point in our childhood we were mentally in this state of darkness, we didn’t know anything about the world or have any complex thoughts. How then, were we brought out of our caves of darkness and misunderstanding? The Allegory of the Cave is a well known section of Plato’s

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.

     In the Encomium of Helen, Gorgias attempts to prove Helen’s innocence since she is blamed to be the cause of the Trojan War. Gorgias uses rhetoric to persuade listeners to believe why there are only four reasons to explain why Helen was driven to Troy. All of which he will argue were not her fault. Fate was the first cause, followed by force. Gorgias then seems to focus the most on the power of Logos, or words. Finally he explains how she could have been compelled by love (82B116).

Rhetoric was written sometime between 360 and 334 B.C. In this work, he writes about the art of public speaking. It seems that he is writing in direct response to Plato's condemnation of the art. He believes that different rhetoric treats specific cases. These specific cases are topoi, which are different topics that can be

This prevents the misuse of rhetoric to persuade souls to misdeeds. The theme is demonstrated throughout Phaedrus, as noted in the allegory regarding love as well as Socrates’ analyses of the soul and rhetoric. His own use of rhetorical strategies allows Plato to effectively educate his speech while swaying them to support his ideals of universal truth and

A debate between Gorgias and Socrates is sparked throughout Gorgias. Socrates argument consists of trying to search for the precise essence of rhetoric. Gorgias thinks you need rhetoric, whereas Socrates believes people need knowledge. In the first part of Gorgias Socrates tries to prove that an entire sphere of human exertion, persuasive speech, is morally inoperative. He believes that rhetoric doesn’t require anyone to understand about the subject matter about which they speak. Rhetoric is really only a talent for persuading people into believing something instead of arguing using knowledge. Socrates argues rhetoric is made up of telling people what they want to hear instead of telling them the truth. When Gorgias is unexpectedly not

Persuasion is an essential skill for rhetoricians. Since all a rhetorician needs is not the truth but his own opinion, persuasion is necessary to address the assembly. While persuasion could be used to lead a city to making the right decisions and gaining glory, the power of persuasion could be also abused or used by the wrong person. Demosthenes uses his rhetorical skills to push Athens away from its course of destruction. He also advocates for policies which are beneficial to Athens. Demades and the other orators were supportive of Athens becoming allies which was the wrong course of action because it led to the destruction of Athens. Someone could misuse their skill of persuasion due to lack of knowledge and morality. Good orators can also have flaws, like Demosthenes and his susceptibility to bribery. The negative potential can be reduced if the rhetoricians are philosophers and knowledgeable of ethics. Socrates and Phaedrus’s discussion shows how truth is relative to whoever is most persuasive. While Plutarch does not state any solutions to reducing negative potential in rhetorical speeches, Plato’s method for giving a persuasive speech worthy of praise is by dialectic speech. Both Plato and Plutarch acknowledge the power of rhetoric and persuasion to affect the course of events in both a positive and negative way and recognize the problem that comes with it.

With reference to Plato’s work entitled Gorgias, this essay will provide a short background to the dialogue, provide a synopsis of the points put forward by Callicles and how Socrates refutes those claims, ending with a final assessment of the dialogue in completion.

3) Plato’s view on the Rhetoric in Gorgias is completely different than Phaedrus view on rhetoric. In Gorgias, Plato emphasis the use of rhetoric as flattery that only lacks merit in scientifically sense. As stated with the readings, Plato warns “when the rhetorician Is more persuasive that the physician, the ignorant is more persuasive with the ignorant that he who has knowledge—is not the inference.” (Plato, 48). This implies that rhetoric creates this distortion that allows others to distort what is fake into something that is real through rhetoric. Plato was very fearful of the use of language in a destructive way because of his overall faulty it may lead and the Sophists discuss how rhetoric can be deceptive in its means. In contrast, Phaedrus approaches rhetoric in an entirely different view focusing on the ways in which rhetoric is a craft and used as a tool of self-expression.

Plato and Aristotle are two rhetoricians than had a great impact on the history of rhetoric. Although they were similar in many ways, their use and definition of rhetoric were different. Plato had the more classical approach where he used rhetoric as a means of education to pass down his beliefs and practice of rhetoric to his students. He believed that it should be used to educate the masses, provoking thought, and thereby preserving that knowledge. Plato thought that rhetoric should be used to convey truth, truths already known to the audience, revealed through that dialectic critical thought. Plato also operated on absolute truths, things that are right or wrong, black or white. Aristotle was more modern in that he used rhetoric as a

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’s Gorgias is a stimulating, and at times inconsequential dialogue in that the interactions are at times full of antagonism, unbending divergence, and misunderstanding. The spat between philosophy and rhetoric shows itself as an unattractive street-fight in the Gorgias. Socrates was seemingly rather concerned with discussion as a means of reaching the very best possible version of the truth, as one can see throughout his early questioning of both Gorgias and Polus, but this does not necessarily mean that his methods are just. In Gorgias, Socrates is out to criticize some form of hedonism – the pursuit of pleasure, although it is not obvious at first. His attack; however, consisted of two arguments: one attempting to show that pleasure

In Gorgias, named for the Sicilian sophist and rhetorician featured in the dialogue, Socrates speaks with Gorgias concerning the nature of rhetoric as compared with philosophy; also, he speaks with Gorgias’s pupil Polus concerning the tyrant and how he truly is the most unhappiest of all, despite any ill-gotten gains they may have attained. Socrates’ distaste –

In Plato’s book, “The Republic”, there are 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.