In Plato's Gorgias, Socrates debates with Gorgias, Polos, and Callicles on the nature and ethics of rhetoric, questioning its value and relation to truth and power.
Extract
[...] Gorgias adds that rhetoric should be used with justice: there is therefore an ethical dimension to rhetoric. II/ Socrates vs Polos (461b-481b) a. Polos asks Socrates to define rhetoric. - Key passage 462c Socrates proves that rhetoric is not an art ( [...]
[...] Gorgias, On Rhetoric - Plato BCE) Socrates vs Gorgias (447a-461a) a. Socrates questions Gorgias about the name of his art (rhetoric) and his profession (rhetorician). - Key Passage 448d-449b It is a metalinguistic passage. Socrates sets the rules of the dialogue that will follow. By saying that Polos has not answered the question, he gives in veiled form the principle of philosophical discussion, as resting on questionsto erôtômenon) and responsesapokrinesthai). Il opposes rhetoricrhetoric) in dialogueto converse). He thus suggests from the outset that the use of speech by the orator (rhetoric) is opposed to the use of speech by the philosopher (the dialogue). [...]
[...] III/ Socrates vs Callicles (481b-522e) a. The Liberty and the Desires - Key Passage 493a Socrates cites a famous formula according to which the body is a tomb (sôma sêma). This means that physical sensations (pain and pleasure) prevent us from thinking freely. Socrates indeed believes in a separation of the mind and the body. - Key passage 493a-493d To be free, our physical needs must be met, as this allows us to think independently of our physical sensations. Socrates uses the metaphor of a pierced barrel - representing a man whose needs are never satisfied - and an intact barrel - representing a man whose needs can be satisfied. [...]
[...] IV/ The Myth (523a-527e) - Key passage 10: "Listen to a very beautiful speech (logos), what you would consider a fable ( [...]
