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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper that demonstrates Socrates' arguments in Plato's Gorgias. The writer reflects on Socrates' contention that oration is closer to flattery than to philosophy. Bibliography lists no additional sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Gorgias.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Gorgias represents only an "image" of politics, and that it is closer to flattery or pandering than to a genuine discourse representing political significance. Socrates supports his arguments with
Gorgias own defenses, demonstrating that by calling his theoretical oration an art form, Gorgias himself directs the credibility away from his own arguments. Socrates contentions are based on
a number of important considerations regarding his beliefs about politics, rhetoric, and the difference between representations of the soul and representations of the body. Socrates arguments are not intended
to discredit Gorgias or to "make fun" of his profession. Instead, Socrates provides this discussion as a way of delineating between the whole within which rhetoric is devised and
the essence of rhetoric itself. Socrates argument is based in his first contention: that rhetoric itself is not a part of an art or craft, but instead a
habit. "The orator need have no knowledge of the truth of things; it is enough for him to have discovered a knack of convincing the ignorant that he knows more
than the experts" (Plato 38). Rhetoric, Socrates would argue, is designed to direct man, to devise a means for shaping the perceptions of others, and often appears in the
form of flattery. Socrates voices such strong opposition to the type of oration he attributes to men like Gorgias because knowledge and the pursuit of truth are essential
to his perceptions of wisdom and an imperative in his life. Socrates supports political discourse as a representation of genuine consideration, of which an element is the truth, while
he demonstrates to Polus and Gorgias that truth is not essential to orations. Though Socrates intention is not to insult the profession of Gorgias, his discourse clearly presents
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