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Socrates A Good Statesman Analysis

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In Plato's Gorgias, it is apparent that Socrates has no desire to be a good statesman as it is defined in the eyes of the Athenians. His calculation is that Athenian rhetoricians place no reliance on facts or truth, nor are these their aim. Instead, they rely on the illusion of knowledge, and this morally weakens both themselves and their audiences. It is clear however, that if he wishes, Socrates is able to match most or all of the other statesmen in Athens, as is clearly indicated by his very eloquent speech which ends the dialogue. Additionally, under his own definition of a good statesman, it is evident that Socrates is more than qualified. Through discussion, he is able to conclude that a statesman should be concerned solely with truth …show more content…

The following statement by Gorgias, for instance, is maintained throughout the dialogue: "The rhetorician is capable of speaking against everyone else and on any subject you please in such a way that he can win over vast multitudes to anything, in a word, that he may desire." Plato, p. 16 Socrates addresses this in the discussion with Polus about happiness and proves again the injustice of rhetoricians. The men conclude together that the happiest man is without vice, "the greatest of evils," Plato p. 45, and the "…second happiest… is he who gets rid of it… And he… is the man who is rebuked and admonished and brought to justice." Plato, p. 46 The argument then leads to the understanding that men with vice realize this painful aspect of justice and are blind to its good impact on the soul. They cannot therefore, be happy. In fact, states Socrates: "…a man who is not brought to justice is more wretched than one who is." Plato, p. 47 Therefore, rhetoricians use persuasive speaking to avoid being brought to justice for their vices. Their "power" then, really lies in their ability to dodge pain with flashy persuasions which mask their vices. Since power is later defined as "…something good to the man who yields it," Plato, p. 27 it follows that rhetoricians cannot be truly powerful because they hide from justice and use falsehoods to do

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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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Rhetoric is the building block of all things said, written, or conveyed, people use it every day – look at any piece of written text whether it be from the last century or the modern day, you’ll find rhetoric featured in at least in one way, shape, or form. To properly understand this, it is useful to look back on popular pieces of media or speeches, for example, the legendary “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”, a speech given by Patrick Henry on March 23rd, 1775 to form a volunteer cavalry to fight in the revolutionary war, which was effective in completing that task. Patrick Henry made his speech so effective through the use of his formal diction, ethics questioning pathos, and his use of ethos to express the exigency of forming the cavalry

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Comparing Socrates words in the Republic for the philosopher to rule to the words of the Apology where philosophy is viewed as something that is punishable by death, this is where the defense or importance of philosophy is realized. For if the philosophers were the ones to rule, nobody would question whether or not what they were doing was right or wrong because the philosopher-kings make the rules through wisdom and knowledge. Plato wants to paint a portrait of the philosopher as not only something the city should want to have, but also as someone who would be fit to rule above all others. This contrasts, again, to the points made by the jurors to Socrates in the Apology for they saw Socrates as someone who brings the city

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Throughout the course of history the written word has been very influential to the thought process of mankind. Through this time we have seen an innumerable amount of authors that have had large impacts on the thought process of society as a whole. Three authors that have impacted the thought process of mankind during their time have been Socrates and his thoughts on humanism, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger with their idea of gender roles, and lastly, Martin Luther King Jr. with his ideas on “the other” and racial equality. Each of these authors used methods in order to support the point that they wanted to convey. Although each author discusses different topics, they can all be tied together in one distinct way, which is the methods that they used to convince others of their beliefs.

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In the discourse of Socrates and Euthyphro, I find the exchange quite daunting because Socrates does most of the talking and therefore he is inclined to be leading. This brings me to question how a discourse should really be done. It has been disheartening to follow the train of thought of a well-known and highly respected philosopher because although it may have seemed that Socrates encouraged Euthyphro to speak his mind, he actually seems not to have given him the same space and time to explain and expound in his own words what he tried to communicate with the initial claims he made. In fact, it seems that Socrates has developed a unique, rhetorically powerful strategy to

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