Gorgias
In the beginning of Plato's work entitled Gorgias, he writes of a dialog between Socrates and Gorgias. In this dialog, philosopher Socrates meets with rhetorician Gorgias to discuss the true meaning of the art of rhetoric. Rhetoric is a term that is defined strongly on whom you are asking to define it. Webster's Dictionary states that rhetoric is "the art of expression and the persuasive use of language." The Greek-English Lexicon states that the word is based on the "root rhet-, which designates something that is stated or specified. The related word rhetra designates "the laws" that constitute the social contract between a people and its political leader." In one of Plato's other works, Phaedrus, Socrates asks, "Must not the art of rhetoric, taken as a whole, be a kind of influencing of the mind by means of words, not only in courts of law and other public gatherings, but in private places also?" I.A. Richards states, in The Philosophy of Rhetoric that "Rhetoric, I shall urge, should be a study of misunderstanding and its remedies." It is clear that there are many gray areas in the actual meaning of the word 'rhetoric' and, consequentially, the word 'rhetorician.' The discussion between Gorgias and Socrates attempts to
" Gorgias confirms this, leaving an inconsistency in the dialog. In the first part of Plato's dialog, philosopher Socrates is attempting to find out the true meaning of rhetoric by rhetorician Gorgias. The point of classifying these terms is to clearly see that one cannot persuade someone of something they know not to be true. and the just man must always desire to do just and no injustice. Socrates confirms with Gorgias that "so he whom you make a rhetorician must either know the nature of the just and unjust already, or he must be taught by you. The questions follow: Is there rhetoric and truth or more than that? Is persuasion both knowledge and opinion or just one or the other? To clarify that knowledge and opinion are two different things, Socrates goes on to say, "Is 'having learned' the same as 'having believed,' and are learning and belief the same things?" Gorgias declares that they are not the same. Since opinion and knowledge are two very different terms, one can either have knowledge of a topic or an opinion on it, however not both. A rhetorician cannot persuade experts of knowledge that contradicts what they already know. This last statement is Socrates viewpoint in this part of the dialog. What also must be distinguished in this dialog is the difference between truth, knowledge and what is real versus opinion, persuasion and what is counterfeit. Gorgias, on the other hand, believes that rhetoric is the art of persuasion and therefore a rhetorician can persuade people based solely on appearance alone. Socrates believes that it may be true that people can believe things based on appearance alone, but that is not the end of the discussion.
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