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Rhetorical Analysis On Gorgias

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Rhetoric is the art of persuasion through the use of compelling writing or speaking. In Plato’s “Gorgias”, famed philosopher Socrates argues the truth and how rhetoric can influence a conversation. He claims that rhetoric is a false knowledge; knowledge that is detracted from reality. False knowledge that is only to be used to manipulate people. However, Gorgias, a rhetorician, argues that rhetoric should be used to effectively control people through speaking only. Throughout the debate, Socrates seizes his knowledge of rhetoric and uses it against Gorgias. His understanding of rhetorical appeals and devices allows him to conspire a plan to trap Gorgias in his own contradictions. Through the use of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos, Socrates adequately …show more content…

The passage shows how Socrates is able to definitively appeal to the audience while he’s talking to Gorgias. He undermines Gorgias claims of rhetoric and uses them against him, showing how easily it is to influence people in general. Unknowingly to Gorgias, he was already trapped in his own convictions. Socrates sees the crowd can be used as tool to against Gorgias .Using ethos, Socrates successfully appeals to the audience trapping Gorgias using a mode of rhetoric.
In the debate, Socrate uses another mode of rhetoric, logos, the ability to logically appeal to an audience. While pursuing the truth of rhetoric, Socrate also disparages Gorgias use of rhetoric. While questioning Gorgias, Socrates invokes a logical appeal towards the audiences. Shunning Gorgias and his knowledge of rhetoric, he is able to logically trap Gorgias through the use a logical questioning: Socrates: Now, isn’t a person who’s come under stand building a builder? Gorgias: Yes.
Socrates: And a person who’s come to understand medicine is a doctor, and so on and so forth. By the same token, anyone who has come to understand a given subject is described in accordance with the particular character his branch of knowledge confers. Do you …show more content…

In the dialogue, Socrates pulls Gorgias in using an emotional appeal. Socrates said “ I thought you were being inconsistent and so I said what I said about how our discussion would be if you were like me and saw proof of being proved wrong, but other we should just forget it…” (Plato 22). Through this quote, Socrates is able to attract Gorgias using a emotional appeal. He mentions how Gorgias is already showing inconsistencies within the argument. This allows Socrates to bring an emotional response within Gorgias because he would have to defend himself in front of the crowd. Appealing to his emotions using the crowd, Socrates drags Gorgias beneath his own emotions. Using his emotions Socrates appeals to the crowd, displaying his knowledge of rhetoric and how easily it is to influence others. He proves how Gorgias is unable to define rhetoric while Socrates uses rhetoric against him to win the

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Another way rhetoric is defined is by George Kennedy as “The energy inherent in emotion and thought, transmitted through a system of signs, including language, to others to influence their decisions or actions.” (pg. 125) Plato’s dialogue Gorgias has one of the earliest and most influential discussions of rhetoric. He became involved in a debate that was on going and he said rhetoric was “foul and “ugly”.

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The Gorgias dialogue begins with Socrates asking if a discussion with Gorgias would be possible. Socrates makes it clear from the beginning of the dialogue that he would prefer no long display speeches to be made if Gorgias is going to participate in discussion, but asks specifically for only short answers to be given to the questions he asks. James Nichols, translator of the two dialogues argues in his Gorgias essay that “the brevity of the answers about what rhetoric is causes the first definitions to be too broad or universal or inclusive; the definition is narrowed down through Socrates' questioning and, in that sense, under his guidance.” Using this method allows Socrates to arrive at the conclusions necessary to convince Gorgias of what rhetoric is and to understand what he is

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In an era, which human civilization maintained no disposition of records, and had to consider the words that spout off from inhabitants of their local community as the honesty of the purest form. The cultivation of rhetoric has led individuals to succeed in finessing through the political ranks, and order sustained in the final periods of the Before Common Era. Rhetoric is an inducement that focuses purely on belief and not reality and truthfulness, and known as the “authentic art of persuasiveness” to the sophists (Gorgias and his underlings), while dialectic is distinguished as the identical to philosophers such as Plato and Socrates. In Plato’s dialogue, Gorgias, Socrates seeks to unearth the true meaning behind rhetoric by engaging in discourse with Gorgias to analyze his views, more so into exposing the inexperience within his pretentious convictions, and immoral justifications that may occur upon the teaching of rhetoric within society. Socrates uses short interrogations on Gorgias to prove his

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He was proving this because throughout his speech, he made it seem like the idea of knowing the truth and having real knowledge about a subject wasn’t needed in order to achieve the goal of persuasion. In Socrates’ speech he stated, “...if I say that the unexamined life is not worth living, you’ll believe me even less... you think I’ve been convicted for lack of arguments that would have persuaded you…” Socrates never specified or went into details about his beliefs that he was presenting to the court which, revealed to them that he did not know anything. He wasn’t able to strengthen his claims by providing evidence meaning his use of logos was faulty. However, Socrates’ goal was not to gather evidence to make it seem as if he was putting all his efforts in saving his life.

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