Plato Versus the Sophists

1. Plato Versus the Sophists

2. Three sections • Gorgias • Polus • Callicles

3. Plato’s versus Sophist’s rhetoric • Sophist--Aimed only a persuasion through manipulation of public opinion (doxa) • Plato-An adequate view of justice must be grounded in true knowledge (episteme) • Plato-Must aim at the well-being of the individual and the city-state

4. Plato attacks three thesis of Sophists • Value is relative: if something seems right/good to you, it is right/good for you. No gap between reality and appearance. • Virtue is a second-best option. Valuable only as a means to greater social reward. The very best option: prosperous immorality.. • Moral norms are social constructs, purely conventional.

5. Plato’s alternative theory • Analogy between physical health and health of the soul/mind. • Both are anchored in facts about human nature. • Both can be studied scientifically, objectively. • Both are valued for their own sake

6. Gorgias • Criticism of all rhetoricians-Kennedy • Questions raised: • Nature of rhetoric • Does it tend to mislead • Impact on society

7. Distinction between appearance and reality • Appearing healthy vs. really being healthy. • Pleasure is the appearance of health, not the underlying reality. • The distinction between appearance and reality leads to a second distinction: • Doing what one pleases • Doing what one wills • We will the ultimate object of our acts. • When we take medicine, we will to be healthy. • When we enter business, we will to make profit. • We can make mistakes. Then we do what we please, but not what we will. • Taking a quack cure. • Investing in Russian stock options. • Living an immoral life. • Ultimately, we all will to be happy, to lead a good life, to live well ("eudaemonia“)

8. Socrates versus Polus • There is a human soul that can be cared for by intelligent judges who mete out justice in the form of punishment. • Through a certain manner of dialogue, one can pursue the truth.

9. Socrates versus Callicles • Callicles equivocates (changes definitions already agreed to so that he won’t have to concede defeat) • He assaults his interlocutor, not addressing truth but rather side-tracking us into issues of character • He eventually just refuses to accept that he might be mistaken

10. Sophist rhetoric is • “knack for creating persuasive speeces lacking any foundation in justice” • Plato

11. Plato fair? • The Sophists were the first professors of the humanities, and they created an education designed for the first great democracy. • They were the precursors to modern day politicians and lawyers. • They were the grandfathers of our modern-day higher education system.

12. Plato fair? • The Sophists always encouraged their students to question every received idea, to subject age-old concepts of the relationship between man and god, man and society, to the criterion of reasoned, organized discussion.

13. Was Plato a Sophist in disguise? • One of the major offenses Socrates was charged with in the "Apology" was that he was prone to make the weaker argument the stronger, which implied that he was a Sophist. • Both Socrates and the Sophists instilled in their students the art of argument. • They both stressed the importance of mastery of language and rhetoric and the ability to be crystal clear in one’s stances and objections on certain topics and arguments.

14. Major differences • The Sophists were paid professionals while Socrates was a “traveling preacher.” • The Sophists were very practical, and kept their feet firmly planted on the ground in the "real world." The ultimate reason to learn the art of persuasion was to gain power.

15. The Sophists view that reality, morality and esthetics are only matters of opinion since there are no transcendent points of reference. • Socrates, on the other hand, was incessantly trying to prove that there are and must be transcendent points of reference. Socrates believed in perfect ideals, like uniform circular motion, truth, beauty, the soul, and justice.

16. Both Socrates and the Sophists taught the art of persuasion as a way to gain more knowledge and become more aware. • The difference lies in their views of knowledge and awareness.

17. Phaedrus • The soulless speeches : Lysias' speech and Socrates' 1st speech • The speech on the soul : Socrates’ 2nd speech • The soul of speeches : Socrates’ dialogue (3rd speech) on “true rhetoric”

18. Plato & human psychology • Complexity of the soul • Loves wisdom • Loves nobility & honor • Lovers of appetites & lust • Myth of the Charioteer • Two parts of soul are the horses and third part is the charioteer

19. Components of techne of rhetoric • Art of influencing the soul through words • Rhetorician must “discover the kind of speech that matches each type of nature” • A rhetor must “arrange and adorn each speech in such a way as to present complicated and unstable souls with complex speeches, speeches exactly attuned to every changing mood of the complicated soul-while the simple soul must be presented with simple speech” (Socrates)

20. Goal of Rhetoric-Plato • Establish order • Voluntary submission of the lower parts to the wisdom lover • Discernment • Order our lives (virtue)

21. Study of rhetoric • A psychological study of the human soul, focused on its three different types or parts and the loves of each • Logical study of arguments directed to each type of soul

22. We live in a Sophist world • Logic-discuss reasons for college • Skeptics are sophists in disguise