Table of Contents
What did Plato think rhetoric was?
Plato thought that rhetoric should be used to convey truth, truths already known to the audience, revealed through that dialectic critical thought. He believed that rhetoric was a means of discovering truth. His rhetoric was highly deliberative since he used it mainly for persuasion.
What was Plato’s objection to rhetoric?
Abstract: Plato’s chief argument against rhetoric is epistemological. Plato claims that rhetoric accomplishes what it does on the basis of experience, not knowledge. In this article I examine Plato’s criti- cisms of rhetoric in the Gorgias and the Phaedrus.
What is Plato’s view of rhetoric in Gorgias?
In the dialogue Gorgias, Plato (through his mentor Socrates) expresses his contempt for sophistical rhetoric; all rhetoric is “a phantom of a branch of statesmanship (463d) …a kind of flattery …that is contemptible,” because its aim is simply pleasure rather than the welfare of the public.
Does Socrates think rhetoric is an art?
In the first (463a6-465e1) Socrates describes rhetoric as a pseudo-art: a mere knack based on experience (ἐμπειρία) with no real knowledge of its subject-matter; it is a branch of “flattery” (κολακεία) of the same status as cookery and cosmetics.
Why did Plato dislike rhetoric?
Plato’s rejection of rhetoric is built upon two general lines of argument: Democratic weakness: most people are little better than sheep and cannot be trusted to judiciously pierce rhetoric’s “oral” spells. Epistemological weakness: rhetoric lacks proper knowledge.
Who said that art is twice removed from reality?
According to Plato’s theory of mimesis (imitation) the arts deal with illusion and they are imitation of an imitation. Thus, they are twice removed from reality. As a moralist, Plato disapproves of poetry because it is immoral, as a philosopher he disapproves of it because it is based in falsehood.
What are Plato’s arguments against poetry?
Plato had distrusted poetic imitation because it represented particulars, and not general statements of truth; because mimesis works differently for Aristotle, it can repre- sent those general statements.
What does Plato say about poetic inspiration?
Plato gives all three requirements for true inspiration and true poetry here: possession and elevation beyond the earthly, beneficent teaching, and knowledge of realities in the creator of beauty.
Who was against rhetoric?
Aristotle defends rhetoric against two major attacks, the first exemplified by Aristophanes, who criticized rhetoric in the name of justice and the political community, the second by Plato, who criticized rhetoric in the name of philosophy.
Is gorgia speech persuasive?
He asks him what rhetoric produces, and Gorgias replies that it is persuasion. He claims that rhetoric enables a man to persuade judges, members of the assembly, and others that deal with governmental issues. He also boasts that a rhetorician can have anyone he wants as his slave by using his powers of persuasion.
Who argued that nothing exists?
One of the earliest Western philosophers to consider nothing as a concept was Parmenides (5th century BC), who was a Greek philosopher of the monist school. He argued that “nothing” cannot exist by the following line of reasoning: To speak of a thing, one has to speak of a thing that exists.
What does Socrates say is the problem or problems with engaging in the art of rhetoric?
And Socrates’ position is that rhetoric = flattery = persuasion from a position of not-knowing. There is something else [anti-rhetoric] = education = persuasion from a position of knowing. Rhetoric convinces but leaves people ignorant. The implication that rhetoric is flattery, appealing to what the individual wants v.
Was Aristotle a sophist?
As a paid tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle could be accused of being a sophist. However, despite the opposition from philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, it is clear that sophists had a vast influence on a number of spheres, including the growth of knowledge and on ethical-political theory.
Who is the Greek teacher of rhetoric?
Aristotle (384-322 BCE), the most famous Greek Scholar, defined rhetoric as the “faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion in reference to any subject whatever.” He divided the “means of persuasion” into three parts–logical reason (logos), human character ( ethos ), and emotional.
What does Plato say about persuasion?
Plato, he thinks, was a propagandist, a fundamentally dishonest leader of the “revolt against civilization.” The Greek word translated by “persuasion” can mean, he says, either (a) persuasion by fair means or (b) talking over by foul means; and it is the latter which he believes Plato is recommending as a political.
How did Plato regard the use of rhetoric in public speaking?
This first speech serves as an example of “bad” rhetoric. This speech allows Socrates to give us a taste of the more general criticism of current theory and practice that will come in the second half of the dialogue.
What were isocrates main issues with the Sophists?
Isocrates’ Criticism of the Sophists The first accusation is that sophists make big promises that they cannot fulfill, especially relating to having the ability to teach the virtue and justice. The inconsistency between what the sophists claim to teach and their actual ability is Isocrates’ second point.
Who Hated sophists?
Plato hated the Sophists because they were interested in achieving wealth, fame and high social status. Plato noted that the sophists were not philosophers. He claimed that the sophists were selling the wrong education to the rich people.
What is Plato’s theory of art?
In the Republic, Plato says that art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. In other words, a work of art is a copy of a copy of a Form. It is even more of an illusion than is ordinary experience. On this theory, works of art are at best entertainment, and at worst a dangerous delusion.
Why is art an imitation for Plato?
Plato asserted that when artists are making or performing art they are imitating. Art imitates physical things (objects or events). Physical things imitate Forms (read Plato’s Theory of the Forms). Therefore art is a copy of a copy, the third remove from reality.
How does Aristotle refute Plato’s views on art and imitation?
Aristotle replied to the charges made by his Guru Plato against poetry in particular and art in general. He replied to them one by one in his defence of poetry. Plato says that art being the imitation of the actual is removed from the Truth. Art cannot be slavish imitation of reality.
