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Rhetoric in Platos Gorgias
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method of rhetoric as a form of persuasion is the primary focus of Plato’s written work. Plato uses the character of Socrates as the transmitter of the message that Plato wants to extend to his readers. “G In Plato’s philosophical work entitled “Gorgias,” the philosopher’s criticism of the orgias” is a philosophical discourse in that I explore the truth and falsity of how effective and fraudulent the process of rhetoric can be in discovering the truth and living life righteously and in the proper way of living that Plato (or Socrates) refers to as “proper existence.” In the philosophical work Socrates illustrates his disagreement with the rhetorical methods of persuasion and he categorizes his disagreements with various issues wherein rhetorical methods are usually used: in the realm of education and politics. I think the usage of rhetorical methods in education and politics indicates a fraudulent form of persuasion, because it aims to incite “pleasure in order to create the impression of good”. Socrates states that an orator produces opinion and false belief and not true knowledge by saying what the audience wants to hear. Furthermore, contrary to Gorgias’ claim that the rhetorical method is the “science of words,” Socrates points out that rhetoric does not aim for truth nor virtue, two important factors that Plato asserts as the essential needs of the individual in order to achieve “proper existence” and a righteous life, which can be obtained through a disciplined and healthy body and a “positive temperance” of the soul. These important ideas are the issues about rhetoric method that Plato criticizes through the voice of Socrates.
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