Gorgias

“That is just what I suspected you meant, Gorgias. But don’t be surprised if a little later on I repeat this procedure and ask additional questions when the answer seems to be already clear. This, as I say, is not…

The Art of Rhetoric

Gorgias tries to defend his ideas on what rhetoric stands for and tries to define the term to Socrates.  Socrates allows Gorgias to hang himself with his definition of the term and Socrates pokes holes into Gorgias ideas.    SOCRATES:…

Exhibit A: Irony.

In Plato’s “Gorgias,” the rhetorician Gorgias is answering questions freely about his profession, and the philosopher Socrates approaches with plenty of questions to ask, ones about what the art of rhetoric is, whether it is in fact an art, and…

Where’s My Toga?

Time to break out the white sheets and sling them over our shoulders to create togas. The only way to truly understand Greek philosophers like Plato and Isocrates is to become one of them…and even then it gets difficult. When…

Gorgias

In Gorgias, Socrates concludes that rhetoric is the power of persuasion. By questioning Gorgias, it’s as though he reveals the truth about rhetoric by revealing that in itself it offers neither truth nor knowledge. When Gorgias states, “he should not…