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Gorgias (dialogue)

Gorgias (/ˈɡɔːrɡiəs/;[1] Greek: Γοργίας [ɡorɡíaːs]) is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC. The dialogue depicts a conversation between Socrates and a small group at a dinner gathering. Socrates debates with self-proclaimed rhetoricians seeking the true definition of rhetoric, attempting to pinpoint the essence of rhetoric and unveil the flaws of the sophistic oratory popular in Athens at the time. The art of persuasion was widely considered necessary for political and legal advantage in classical Athens, and rhetoricians promoted themselves as teachers of this fundamental skill. Some, like Gorgias, were foreigners attracted to Athens because of its reputation for intellectual and cultural sophistication. Socrates suggests that he (Socrates) is one of the few Athenians to practice true politics (521d).[2]

Socrates

Gorgias

Polus

Callicles

Chaerephon

Major themes[edit]

Definition of rhetoric[edit]

Socrates interrogates Gorgias to determine the true definition of rhetoric, framing his argument in the question format, "What is X?" (2).[3] He asks, "… why don’t you tell us yourself what the craft you’re an expert in is, and hence what we’re supposed to call you?" (449e).


Throughout the remainder of the dialogue, Socrates debates about the nature of rhetoric. Although rhetoric has the potential to be used justly, Socrates believes that in practice, rhetoric is flattery; the rhetorician makes the audience feel worthy because they can identify with the rhetorician’s argument.

The question of techne: art vs. knack[edit]

Socrates and Polus debate whether rhetoric can be considered an art. Polus states that rhetoric is indeed a craft, but Socrates replies, "To tell you the truth, Polus, I don't think it's a craft at all" (462b). The dialogue continues:


"POLUS: So you think oratory's a knack?


"SOCRATES: Yes, I do, unless you say it's something else.


"POLUS: A knack for what?


"SOCRATES: For producing a certain gratification and pleasure." (462c)


Socrates continues to argue that rhetoric is not an art, but merely a knack that "guesses at what's pleasant with no consideration for what's best. And I say that it isn't a craft, but a knack, because it has no account of the nature of whatever things it applies by which it applies them, so that it's unable to state the cause of each thing" (465a).

The morality of rhetoric[edit]

Socrates discusses the morality of rhetoric with Gorgias, asking him if rhetoric was just. Socrates catches the incongruity in Gorgias' statements: "well, at the time you said that, I took it that oratory would never be an unjust thing, since it always makes its speeches about justice. But when a little later you were saying that the orator could also use oratory unjustly, I was surprised and thought that your statements weren't consistent" (461a). To this argument, Gorgias "… is left wishing he could respond, knowing he cannot, and feeling frustrated and competitive. The effect of the 'proof' is not to persuade, but to disorient him".[4]


Socrates believes that rhetoric alone is not a moral endeavour. Gorgias is criticised because, "he would teach anyone who came to him wanting to learn oratory but without expertise in what's just …" (482d). Socrates believes that people need philosophy to teach them what is right, and that oratory cannot be righteous without philosophy.

Truth[edit]

Socrates continually claims that his methods of questioning are aimed at discovering the truth. He sarcastically compliments Callicles on his frankness because it helps expose the truth about oratory: "I well know that if you concur with what my soul believes, then that is the very truth. I realize that the person who intends to put a soul to an adequate test to see whether it lives rightly or not must have three qualities, all of which you have: knowledge, goodwill, and frankness." (487a). Truth can be found through deliberation with others, relaying to one another the knowledge in one's soul to come to a conclusion about each other's beliefs.


At the same time, truth is not based upon commonly accepted beliefs. Socrates outlines a problem about truth when it is misaligned from public opinion: "you don't compel me; instead you produce many false witnesses against me and try to banish me from my property, the truth. For my part, if I don't produce you as a single witness to agree with what I'm saying, then I suppose I've achieved nothing worth mentioning concerning the things we’ve been discussing" (472c).

1804

Thomas Taylor

Plato (1871). . Translated by Benjamin Jowett – via Wikisource.

Gorgias 

Plato (1987). Gorgias. Donald J. Zeyl translation. Indianapolis: Hackett.

James H. Nichols Jr., 1998

Plato: Lysis, Symposium, Gorgias. Greek with translation by W. R. M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library 166. Harvard Univ. Press (originally published 1925).  978-0674991842 HUP listing

ISBN

1925: Perseus

Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb

1952: Read online at HathiTrust.

W. C. Helmbold

A revised text with introduction and commentary by Professor E.R. Dodds. Oxford University Press, London, 1959.

Translation and introduction by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, London, 1994.

Sachs, Joe (trans.) (2008). Plato: Gorgias and Aristotle: Rhetoric. Focus Philosophical Library. Focus.  978-1585102990.

ISBN

Schofield, Malcolm (edt); translations by Tom Griffith (2009). Plato: Gorgias, Menexenus, Protagoras. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge University Press.  978-0-521-83729-3.

ISBN

Adaptation and introduction by Julian Ahlquist (2023). Plato's Gorgias. ACS Books.  978-1-7359966-5-3.

ISBN

The Rhetoric of Morality and Philosophy: Plato's Gorgias and Phaedrus (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).

Seth Benardete

Michael Vickers, "Alcibiades and Critias in the Gorgias: Plato's 'fine satire'," Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne, 20,2 (1994), 85–112.

Harold Tarrant, "The Gorgias and the Demiurge," in Idem, From the Old Academy to Later Neo-Platonism: Studies in the History of Platonic Thought (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2010), (Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS964).

Christina H. Tarnopolsky, Prudes, Perverts, and Tyrants: Plato's Gorgias and the Politics of Shame (Princeton, PUP, 2010).

at Standard Ebooks

Gorgias, in a collection of Plato's Dialogues

Approaching Plato: A Guide to the Early and Middle Dialogues

Full text of Plato's Gorgias (Translated by Benjamin Jowett) – The Internet Classics Archive

Full text of Plato's Gorgias at Project Gutenberg

Is Gorgias an early draft of an unfinished dialogue?

public domain audiobook at LibriVox

Gorgias

Full text of Plato's Gorgias (Translated by W.R.M. Lamb) – Perseus Digital Library