The Insufficiency of Reason in Plato's Gorgias
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10872989 |
|---|---|
| Authors | George Klosko (0000-0002-7792-7344, University of Virginia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 579-595 |
| Publication date | 1983-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Western Political Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0043-4078 • E-ISSN: 2325-8675 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591298303600410 |
| OpenAlex | W1992570704 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 10 |
rT _HE GORGIAS is unquestionably most important of Plato's political dialogues prior to Republic. In this confrontation between Socrates and three rhetoricians two of whom, Gorgias and Polus, teach rhetoric, and a third, Callicles, who wishes to employ it toward advancement of his political career Plato rails at length against Sophists and their teaching, while political implications of this are drawn in full. The connections between oratory and democracy are probed in depth, culminating in Plato's denunciation of Athenian democracy and well-known political figures who had made it what it was: Pericles, Themistocles, Miltiades, and Cimon (esp. Gorg 515c if.). Moreover, and more significant for our purposes, in climactic confrontation of work between Socrates and Callicles, not only does Plato supply Callicles with a series of powerful arguments which have been described as the most eloquent statement of immoralist's case in western literature (Shorey 1933: 154) but he allows Socrates to counter with strong arguments of his own, which clearly anticipate main political teaching of Republic. What interests me in this paper is relationship between Gorgias and political teaching of Republic. In many respects connections are both clear and familiar to students of Classical Political Theory. It is hard to deny similarity between critical attitude taken toward democracy in Republic next to tyranny worst form of state and direct criticisms of democracy found in Gorgias. Similarly, immoralism of Callicles is closely related to view espoused by Thrasymachos in Republic I (esp. Rep 343b-44c). As Friedlander especially has pointed out, even basic structure of Gorgias, three debates in order of ascending seriousness and depth, anticipates makeup of Republic I (1958-69; II, 244-45). In addition, Socrates' eventual description of true political art as a molding of soulsl contains in germ political theory of Republic. These and other connections have been pointed out many times.2 It seems, however, that not all ways in which Gorgias anticipates theRepublic have been recognized. The purpose of this paper is to develop one which has been overlooked. This will be seen to be important, not only
Aesthetics · Art · Democracy · Denunciation · Epistemology · Literature · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · SOCRATES · State (computer science) · The Republic · Theology · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Law · Mathematics · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
| Citations per year | 0.26 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2007 - 2026 (20) |
| Highly cited | No |