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PlatoGorgias
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Themes
The Nature and Social Function of Oratory
Plato’s Gorgias begins as an interrogation of the nature of oratory. Socrates presses the famous orator Gorgias, his first interlocutor, to tell him “what sort of man he is” (447c), hoping to reach an agreed-upon definition of oratory. Gorgias initially classifies oratory as an “art” (techne), identifying it as the art of producing conviction on the subject of right and wrong. However, Socrates is soon able to expose deficiencies in Gorgias’s definition of oratory. Throughout the dialogue, Socrates suggests that oratory is based on opinion, not true knowledge, and is therefore not so sure a guide to right and wrong as philosophy.
One major theme in the dialogue is the distinction Socrates draws between knowledge and belief: Knowledge (episteme) must be true, while belief (doxa) may be true or false. Gorgias, apparently agreeing with Socrates’s distinction, makes the mistake of defining oratory as the “art” of producing conviction based on belief rather than imparting true knowledge. Gorgias, and later Polus, are indeed more interested in the orator’s ability to hold power and influence over the masses, with Gorgias at one point launching into an encomium of oratory and proclaiming that “oratory embraces and controls almost all other spheres of human activity” (456a). For Gorgias and Polus, the orator is powerful because he is able to win over the masses even on matters of expertise (such as military matters) on which he is not an expert.
Socrates, however, in not impressed. His view is that the orator’s power over the masses represents nothing more than the principle that “an ignorant person is more convincing than the expert before an equally ignorant audience” (459b). He consequently classifies oratory not as an art—which he claims must be based on knowledge and a rational theory—but rather as a “knack” (empeiria) based on experience and a system of beliefs. Knacks such as oratory, says Socrates, are dangerous because their aim is to produce pleasure and pander to the masses. Even Gorgias’s assertion that the orator must not use his abilities to do wrong is meaningless to Socrates, as in his view, somebody who has knowledge of right will not want to do wrong—meaning that if the orator really had knowledge of right and wrong rather than mere belief, it would be impossible for the orator to do wrong in the first place.
The question of the nature of oratory leads Socrates to politics. The ideal politician, Socrates argues, should not practice oratory, as was common in ancient Athens. Instead, Socrates’s politician is an expert on the subject of right and wrong—that is, unlike the orator, the politician should possess knowledge, not just belief.
This thesis emerges from Socrates’s premise that the social function of the politician is not to pander to the masses but rather to make them better, even when that means telling them what they do not want to hear. Moreover, because Socrates asserts that true power lies in doing what is good, Socrates argues that the orator who does not have knowledge of right and wrong cannot even be said to have power, for they do not know what is good and thus cannot pursue what is good for them, or for the citizens who hang on their words.
The Meaning of Right and Wrong
The theme of right and wrong, of justice (dike or dikaiosyne in Greek), also occupies an important place in the dialogue. Already in the first section of the dialogue, Socrates introduces the idea that right and wrong behavior is based on knowledge: Somebody who possesses true knowledge on the subject of right and wrong (rather than mere belief) would be a righteous man, and “the righteous man will never want to do wrong” (460c). Socrates goes on to develop an idea of right and wrong throughout the dialogue that is based on the knowledge of related virtues, such as moderation and courage.
The rather counterintuitive idea that somebody with knowledge of right and wrong will never want to do wrong is an important Socratic tenet, and one that has important implications. This tenet leads Socrates, for example, to the proposition that it is better to suffer than to do wrong—a proposition that Socrates must defend in particular against Polus in the second part of the dialogue. Wrongdoing, Socrates argues, is “the greatest of all misfortunes” (469b) because it harms the soul, while doing and experiencing justice—including just punishment for one’s wrongdoing—is beneficial for the soul, and therefore good.
Socrates maintains throughout the dialogue that only those who behave rightly can have true happiness (eudaimonia). In so doing he must finally oppose Callicles’s contention that values such as justice and honor are based on convention (nomos) rather than nature (physis), and that in nature it is right for the stronger to rule the weaker. Socrates exposes the weaknesses in Callicles’s reasoning to outline his idea of how a person should live their life in a way oriented toward achieving happiness.
Exploring the relationship between happiness and the pursuit of pleasure (hedone), Socrates comes to the conclusion that those who live their lives trying to indulge their desires become slaves to pleasures, and that the only way to escape this is to live a life of ordered self-control or moderation (sophrosyne). One who has self-control will also have the concomitant virtues of justice, reverence, and courage: This is the idea of the “unity of the virtues,” wherein all the virtues amount to the same thing. A person who has these necessary virtues can be said to possess “excellence” (arete), and only such a person can be happy.
The purpose of philosophy, as Socrates sees it, is to search for the meaning of right and wrong. The socially responsible politician (or orator) should be performing the same search—for only the politician who has knowledge of right and wrong can advise their fellow citizens on what is best for their souls. Since politicians are not philosophers, Socrates muses that he is the only true politician in Athens because he urges the Athenians to better themselves, even when doing so makes him unpopular. Socrates ends the dialogue by exhorting his interlocutors to join him “in the pursuit of what, as our argument shows, will secure your happiness both in life and after death” (527c).
The Purpose of Art
The concept of “art” (techne) is central to Plato’s Gorgias from the very beginning, when Socrates inaugurates the discussion by prompting Gorgias to clearly define the art of oratory. In the dialogue, “art” refers to the knowledge and skills involved in the pursuit of different professions, and throughout his conversations with Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles, Socrates develops his definition of art and the purpose of art through analogy and comparison with arts such as medicine and physical training. In doing so, he argues that oratory is not a true art at all.
One of the key distinctions made in the dialogue is the distinction between knowledge (episteme), which must be true, and belief (doxa), which can be either true or false. Socrates argues that a true art must be based on knowledge rather than mere belief, with a rational theory grounding it. Medicine, legislation, and physical training are examples of such arts. On the other hand, professions that are based on belief derived from experience rather than knowledge are not arts but “knacks.” Every art has as its counterpart a pseudo-art or knack: The counterpart of medicine is cookery, the counterpart of legislation is sophistry, and the counterpart of physical training is beauty culture. Oratory, in Socrates’s view, is a knack rather than an art because its object is to produce conviction on the basis of belief rather than knowledge.
Having defined what he means by “art,” Socrates spends much of the remainder of the dialogue delving into the purpose of art. Arts such as medicine and legislation, when properly used, aim at producing good, even at improving the soul. Knacks such as oratory, on the other hand, aim at producing delight, and thus pander to the masses. Knacks can be easily misused by those who use their skills to manipulate people and acquire power. Philosophy, for Socrates, thus becomes the truest art, because the purpose of philosophy is to achieve knowledge of right and wrong and disseminate this knowledge in order to improve the souls of others. Philosophy, unlike oratory, can lead people to knowledge of the truth, and for this reason, politicians should practice philosophy.
The “craft analogy” Socrates uses to build his ideas—that is, Socrates’s use of crafts such as medicine and physical training to flesh out his definitions of philosophy and oratory—soon begins to grate on his interlocutors, who do not readily accept his analogies or conclusions. Ultimately, however, Socrates’s emphasis in Gorgias is on the primary importance of knowledge and morality—something which he believes the noblest of arts should contribute to, and in which areas he finds oratory sorely lacking.
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