Gorgias: Good Vs. Evil
Gorgias by Plato focuses on the nature of rhetoric, art, power, and good versus evil. The dialogue begins with Socrates and Chaerephon by asking Gorgias some questions about the nature of his art, and what he professes and teaches. Then, Polus comes in and exploited his actions by being arrogant. But as soon as Chaerephon ask him questions Polus does not fully answer the questions he was being asked. Then Socrates asks Gorgias and mentioned Polus that for him rhetoric is an art. Gorgias agrees and professes that he can make other men rhetorician, not only in Athens but in all places. The text moves on and talks about power. Gorgias definition of power is all about persuasion and persuade men of what he teaches. The art of persuasion in courts
…show more content…
Socrates mentions that to be a good rhetorician you must convey knowledge not the appearance of truth. Socrates asks a lot of questions to Gorgias, but we learned that he is not really answering the question at all. According to Gorgias, he referred rhetoric as an ‘art’ and generally art is concerned with doing and require little or no speaking (Plato 83). But rhetoric requires speaking. Even though Gorgias practices rhetoric, he was not very convincing when answering questions made by Socrates. He gave short answers and Socrates does not fully understand him. Unlike Socrates, he gives out examples and detailed explanations of what he believed was right. At that point, the long explanation remains useful in the author’s ideas because it gives us a good sense of what he really what’s to talk about. He also backups his arguments to convince us that he was right all along. Since he did not accept rhetoric as an art, but he was practicing this ‘art’ while asking Gorgias questions. He was trying to convince the three speakers that rhetoric was rather an experience rather than an ‘art’ because experience produces a sort of delight and gratification. Having some sort of an experience makes one person be better they can also learn from others which produce more ideas. During the whole argument, it concludes that art and experience differ from each other and rhetoric is more about the experience rather than
Socrates mentions that to be a good rhetorician you must convey knowledge not the appearance of truth. Socrates asks a lot of questions to Gorgias, but we learned that he is not really answering the question at all. According to Gorgias, he referred rhetoric as an ‘art’ and generally art is concerned with doing and require little or no speaking (Plato 83). But rhetoric requires speaking. Even though Gorgias practices rhetoric, he was not very convincing when answering questions made by Socrates. He gave short answers and Socrates does not fully understand him. Unlike Socrates, he gives out examples and detailed explanations of what he believed was right. At that point, the long explanation remains useful in the author’s ideas because it gives us a good sense of what he really what’s to talk about. He also backups his arguments to convince us that he was right all along. Since he did not accept rhetoric as an art, but he was practicing this ‘art’ while asking Gorgias questions. He was trying to convince the three speakers that rhetoric was rather an experience rather than an ‘art’ because experience produces a sort of delight and gratification. Having some sort of an experience makes one person be better they can also learn from others which produce more ideas. During the whole argument, it concludes that art and experience differ from each other and rhetoric is more about the experience rather than