The Refutation of Gorgias: Notes on a Contradiction

• Authors: Refik Güremen
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper claims that Socrates’ refutation of Gorgias in the eponymous dialogue is designed not to find out the truth about the nature of the art of rhetoric itself but to refute the master of rhetoric himself. I try to justify this claim by displaying some major contradictions between the conclusions reached at with Gorgias and those reached at with Polus. When these contradictions are taken into account, the discussion with Polus is to be seen as reflecting the genuine Socratic position about rhetoric, whereas the discussion with Gorgias seems only to be devised as a dexterity in refutation.

Keywords

EN

Gorgias; Polus; Socrates; rhetoric

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Peitho. Examina Antiqua
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 237-248

Dates

published

2017-10-24

Contributors

author

Refik Güremen

• Mimar Sinan University

References

• Dodds, E. R. (ed.), 1959, Plato, Gorgias. Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary, Oxford.
• Domaradzki, M., 2008, “Plato’s Ambivalence about Rhetoric in the Gorgias”, Eos 95, pp. 19–31.
• Doyle, J., 2012, “Intellectualism and the Elenchus” (unpublished paper), Pennsylvania Circle of Ancient Philosophy, March 2014; International Plato Society meeting, Ann Arbor, September.
• Fussi, A., 2002, “Socrates’ Refutation of Gorgias”, Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquiıum in Ancient Philosophy 27, pp. 123–145.
• Khan, C., 1983, “Drama and Dialectic in Plato’s Gorgias”, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 1, pp. 75–121.
• Liebersohn, Y., 2014, Who is afraid of the rhêtôr?, Piscataway.
• Murray, S. J., 2001, “Plato on Power, Moral Responsibility and the Alleged Neutrality of Gorgias’ Art of Rhetoric (Gorgias 456c–457b)”, Philosophy and Rhetoric 34, pp. 355–363.
• Robinson, R., 1953, Plato’s Earlier Dialectic, Oxford.
• Santas, G., 1964, “Socratic Paradoxes”, Philosophical Review 73, pp. 147–164.
• Vlastos, G., 1994, Socratic Studies, Cambridge.
• Zeyl D. J. (transl.), 1997, “Gorgias”, in Plato, Complete Works, J. M. Cooper (ed.), Indianapolis–Cambridge.

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/pea.2017.1.15