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class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Major themes</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Major_themes-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Major themes subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Major_themes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Definition_of_rhetoric" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Definition_of_rhetoric"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Definition of rhetoric</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Definition_of_rhetoric-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_question_of_techne:_art_vs._knack" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_question_of_techne:_art_vs._knack"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>The question of <i>techne</i>: art vs. knack</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_question_of_techne:_art_vs._knack-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_morality_of_rhetoric" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_morality_of_rhetoric"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3</span> <span>The morality of rhetoric</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_morality_of_rhetoric-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Truth" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Truth"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4</span> <span>Truth</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Truth-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Summary" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Summary"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Summary</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Summary-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Summary subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Summary-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Introduction_(447a–449c)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Introduction_(447a–449c)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Introduction (447a–449c)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Introduction_(447a–449c)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Physical_and_intellectual_combat_compared_(449d–458c)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Physical_and_intellectual_combat_compared_(449d–458c)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Physical and intellectual combat compared (449d–458c)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Physical_and_intellectual_combat_compared_(449d–458c)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_debate_about_rhetoric_(458d–466c)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_debate_about_rhetoric_(458d–466c)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.3</span> <span>The debate about rhetoric (458d–466c)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_debate_about_rhetoric_(458d–466c)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_pitiful_tyrant_(466d–481b)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_pitiful_tyrant_(466d–481b)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.4</span> <span>The pitiful tyrant (466d–481b)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_pitiful_tyrant_(466d–481b)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Callicles_criticizes_philosophy_(481c–505b)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Callicles_criticizes_philosophy_(481c–505b)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.5</span> <span>Callicles criticizes philosophy (481c–505b)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Callicles_criticizes_philosophy_(481c–505b)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Socrates_debates_with_himself_(505c–509b)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Socrates_debates_with_himself_(505c–509b)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.6</span> <span>Socrates debates with himself (505c–509b)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Socrates_debates_with_himself_(505c–509b)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Philosophy_is_a_bitter_draught" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Philosophy_is_a_bitter_draught"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.7</span> <span>Philosophy is a bitter draught</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Philosophy_is_a_bitter_draught-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-The_Judgement_of_Naked_Souls" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#The_Judgement_of_Naked_Souls"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.8</span> <span>The Judgement of Naked Souls</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-The_Judgement_of_Naked_Souls-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Translations" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Translations"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Translations</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Translations-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Citations" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Citations"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Citations</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Citations-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Sources" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Sources"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Sources</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Sources-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header 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</div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><i>Gorgias</i> (dialogue)</h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 32 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-32" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">32 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%BA%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%BA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3_(%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1)" title="غورغياس (حوار) – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="غورغياس (حوار)" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B2rgias_(di%C3%A0leg)" title="Gòrgias (diàleg) – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Gòrgias (diàleg)" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Plat%C3%B3n)" title="Gorgias (Platón) – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Gorgias (Platón)" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-da mw-list-item"><a href="https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(dialog)" title="Gorgias (dialog) – Danish" lang="da" hreflang="da" data-title="Gorgias (dialog)" data-language-autonym="Dansk" data-language-local-name="Danish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Dansk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle mw-list-item" title="featured article badge"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Platon)" title="Gorgias (Platon) – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Gorgias (Platon)" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Platoni_dialoog)" title="Gorgias (Platoni dialoog) – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Gorgias (Platoni dialoog)" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Eesti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(di%C3%A1logo)" title="Gorgias (diálogo) – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Gorgias (diálogo)" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Platon)" title="Gorgias (Platon) – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Gorgias (Platon)" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Euskara</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%AF%D8%B1%DA%AF%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3_(%DA%AF%D9%81%D8%AA%DA%AF%D9%88)" title="گرگیاس (گفتگو) – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="گرگیاس (گفتگو)" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Platon)" title="Gorgias (Platon) – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Gorgias (Platon)" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gl mw-list-item"><a href="https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorxias_(Plat%C3%B3n)" title="Gorxias (Platón) – Galician" lang="gl" hreflang="gl" data-title="Gorxias (Platón)" data-language-autonym="Galego" data-language-local-name="Galician" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Galego</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hi mw-list-item"><a href="https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%89%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B8_(%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%AF_%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A6)" title="गॉर्गियास (प्लेटोनीय संवाद) – Hindi" lang="hi" hreflang="hi" data-title="गॉर्गियास (प्लेटोनीय संवाद)" data-language-autonym="हिन्दी" data-language-local-name="Hindi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>हिन्दी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hr mw-list-item"><a href="https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgija_(dijalog)" title="Gorgija (dijalog) – Croatian" lang="hr" hreflang="hr" data-title="Gorgija (dijalog)" data-language-autonym="Hrvatski" data-language-local-name="Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Hrvatski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-id mw-list-item"><a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(dialog)" title="Gorgias (dialog) – Indonesian" lang="id" hreflang="id" data-title="Gorgias (dialog)" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Indonesia" data-language-local-name="Indonesian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Indonesia</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-is mw-list-item"><a href="https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorg%C3%ADas_(Platon)" title="Gorgías (Platon) – Icelandic" lang="is" hreflang="is" data-title="Gorgías (Platon)" data-language-autonym="Íslenska" data-language-local-name="Icelandic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Íslenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgia_(dialogo)" title="Gorgia (dialogo) – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Gorgia (dialogo)" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%92%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%92%D7%99%D7%90%D7%A1_(%D7%93%D7%99%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%92_%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%9C%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99)" title="גורגיאס (דיאלוג אפלטוני) – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="גורגיאס (דיאלוג אפלטוני)" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kk mw-list-item"><a href="https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B9_(%D0%9F%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD)" title="Горгий (Платон) – Kazakh" lang="kk" hreflang="kk" data-title="Горгий (Платон)" data-language-autonym="Қазақша" data-language-local-name="Kazakh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Қазақша</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-la mw-list-item"><a href="https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Plato)" title="Gorgias (Plato) – Latin" lang="la" hreflang="la" data-title="Gorgias (Plato)" data-language-autonym="Latina" data-language-local-name="Latin" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgiasz_(dial%C3%B3gus)" title="Gorgiasz (dialógus) – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Gorgiasz (dialógus)" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Plato)" title="Gorgias (Plato) – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Gorgias (Plato)" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B4%E3%83%AB%E3%82%AE%E3%82%A2%E3%82%B9_(%E5%AF%BE%E8%A9%B1%E7%AF%87)" title="ゴルギアス (対話篇) – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="ゴルギアス (対話篇)" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgiasz_(dialog)" title="Gorgiasz (dialog) – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Gorgiasz (dialog)" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B3rgias_(di%C3%A1logo)" title="Górgias (diálogo) – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Górgias (diálogo)" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Platon)" title="Gorgias (Platon) – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Gorgias (Platon)" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B9_(%D0%9F%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD)" title="Горгий (Платон) – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Горгий (Платон)" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(Plato)" title="Gorgias (Plato) – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Gorgias (Plato)" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle mw-list-item" title="featured article badge"><a href="https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgija_(Platon)" title="Gorgija (Platon) – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Gorgija (Platon)" data-language-autonym="Slovenščina" data-language-local-name="Slovenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenščina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(dialogi)" title="Gorgias (dialogi) – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Gorgias (dialogi)" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias_(dialog)" title="Gorgias (dialog) – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Gorgias (dialog)" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B3%D1%96%D0%B9_(%D0%9F%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD)" title="Горгій (Платон) – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Горгій (Платон)" 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.sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks hlist"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle">Part of <a href="/wiki/Category:Platonism" title="Category:Platonism">a series</a> on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/wiki/Platonism" title="Platonism">Platonism</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Platon.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Platon.png/100px-Platon.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="113" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Platon.png/150px-Platon.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Platon.png/200px-Platon.png 2x" data-file-width="314" data-file-height="354" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Life_of_Plato" title="Life of Plato">Life</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theory_of_forms" title="Theory of forms">Theory of forms</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Form_of_the_Good" title="Form of the Good">Form of the Good</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plato%27s_theory_of_soul" title="Plato's theory of soul">Theory of soul</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Platonic_epistemology" title="Platonic epistemology">Epistemology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plato%27s_political_philosophy" title="Plato's political philosophy">Political philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Euthyphro_dilemma" title="Euthyphro dilemma">Euthyphro dilemma</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demiurge" title="Demiurge">Demiurge</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atlantis" title="Atlantis">Atlantis</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <i><a href="/wiki/The_Republic_(Plato)" class="mw-redirect" title="The Republic (Plato)">The Republic</a></i></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave" title="Allegory of the cave">Allegory of the cave</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Analogy_of_the_Sun" title="Analogy of the Sun">Analogy of the Sun</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Analogy_of_the_divided_line" title="Analogy of the divided line">Analogy of the divided line</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philosopher_king" title="Philosopher king">Philosopher king</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ship_of_State" title="Ship of State">Ship of State</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges" title="Ring of Gyges">Ring of Gyges</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Myth_of_Er" title="Myth of Er">Myth of Er</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <a href="/wiki/Category:Dialogues_of_Plato" title="Category:Dialogues of Plato">The works of Plato</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Euthyphro" title="Euthyphro">Euthyphro</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Apology_(Plato)" title="Apology (Plato)">Apology</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Crito" title="Crito">Crito</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Phaedo" title="Phaedo">Phaedo</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Cratylus_(dialogue)" title="Cratylus (dialogue)">Cratylus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Theaetetus_(dialogue)" title="Theaetetus (dialogue)">Theaetetus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sophist_(dialogue)" title="Sophist (dialogue)">Sophist</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Statesman_(dialogue)" title="Statesman (dialogue)">Statesman</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Parmenides_(dialogue)" title="Parmenides (dialogue)">Parmenides</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Philebus" title="Philebus">Philebus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Symposium_(Plato)" title="Symposium (Plato)">Symposium</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue)" title="Phaedrus (dialogue)">Phaedrus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/First_Alcibiades" title="First Alcibiades">First Alcibiades</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Second_Alcibiades" title="Second Alcibiades">Second Alcibiades</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hipparchus_(dialogue)" title="Hipparchus (dialogue)">Hipparchus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Rival_Lovers" title="Rival Lovers">Rival Lovers</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Theages" title="Theages">Theages</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Charmides_(dialogue)" title="Charmides (dialogue)">Charmides</a></i></li> <li><i><a 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Republic (Plato)">Republic</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Timaeus_(dialogue)" title="Timaeus (dialogue)">Timaeus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Critias_(dialogue)" title="Critias (dialogue)">Critias</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Minos_(dialogue)" title="Minos (dialogue)">Minos</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Laws_(dialogue)" title="Laws (dialogue)">Laws</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Epinomis" title="Epinomis">Epinomis</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Epistles_(Plato)" title="Epistles (Plato)">Epistles</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Definitions_(Plato)" title="Definitions (Plato)">Definitions</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/On_Justice" title="On Justice">On Justice</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/On_Virtue" title="On Virtue">On Virtue</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Demodocus_(dialogue)" title="Demodocus (dialogue)">Demodocus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sisyphus_(dialogue)" title="Sisyphus (dialogue)">Sisyphus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Halcyon_(dialogue)" title="Halcyon (dialogue)">Halcyon</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Eryxias_(dialogue)" title="Eryxias (dialogue)">Eryxias</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Axiochus_(dialogue)" title="Axiochus (dialogue)">Axiochus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Epigrams_(Plato)" title="Epigrams (Plato)">Epigrams</a></i></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Related articles</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Commentaries_on_Plato" title="Commentaries on Plato">Commentaries</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Platonic_Academy" title="Platonic Academy">The Academy in Athens</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Middle_Platonism" title="Middle Platonism">Middle Platonism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neoplatonism" title="Neoplatonism">Neoplatonism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Allegorical_interpretations_of_Plato" title="Allegorical interpretations of Plato">Allegorical interpretations of Plato</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plato%27s_unwritten_doctrines" title="Plato's unwritten doctrines">Plato's unwritten doctrines</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pseudo-Platonica" title="Pseudo-Platonica">Pseudo-Platonica</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Related categories</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="CategoryTreeTag" data-ct-options="{"mode":20,"hideprefix":20,"showcount":false,"namespaces":false,"notranslations":false}"><div class="CategoryTreeSection"><div class="CategoryTreeItem"><span class="CategoryTreeBullet"><a class="CategoryTreeToggle" data-ct-title="Plato" aria-expanded="false"></a> </span> <bdi dir="ltr"><a href="/wiki/Category:Plato" title="Category:Plato">Plato</a></bdi></div><div class="CategoryTreeChildren" style="display:none"></div></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below"> <ul><li><span class="nowrap"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Socrates.png/10px-Socrates.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Socrates.png/15px-Socrates.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Socrates.png/21px-Socrates.png 2x" data-file-width="326" data-file-height="500" /></span></span> </span><a href="/wiki/Portal:Philosophy" title="Portal:Philosophy">Philosophy portal</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Platonism" title="Template:Platonism"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Platonism" title="Template talk:Platonism"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Platonism" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Platonism"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p><i><b>Gorgias</b></i> (<span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɡ/: 'g' in 'guy'">ɡ</span><span title="/ɔːr/: 'ar' in 'war'">ɔːr</span><span title="/ɡ/: 'g' in 'guy'">ɡ</span><span title="/i/: 'y' in 'happy'">i</span><span title="/ə/: 'a' in 'about'">ə</span><span title="'s' in 'sigh'">s</span></span>/</a></span></span>;<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language">Greek</a>: <span lang="el">Γοργίας</span> <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="el-Latn-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/Greek" title="Help:IPA/Greek">[ɡorɡíaːs]</a></span>) is a <a href="/wiki/Socratic_dialogue" title="Socratic dialogue">Socratic dialogue</a> written by <a href="/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a> around 380 BC. The dialogue depicts a conversation between Socrates and a small group at a dinner gathering. Socrates debates with self-proclaimed rhetoricians seeking the true definition of <a href="/wiki/Rhetoric" title="Rhetoric">rhetoric</a>, attempting to pinpoint the essence of rhetoric and unveil the flaws of the sophistic <a href="/wiki/Public_speaking" title="Public speaking">oratory</a> popular in Athens at the time. The art of <a href="/wiki/Persuasion" title="Persuasion">persuasion</a> was widely considered necessary for political and legal advantage in classical <a href="/wiki/Athens" title="Athens">Athens</a>, and rhetoricians promoted themselves as teachers of this fundamental skill. Some, like <a href="/wiki/Gorgias" title="Gorgias">Gorgias</a>, were foreigners attracted to Athens because of its reputation for intellectual and cultural sophistication. Socrates suggests that he (Socrates) is one of the few Athenians to practice true politics (521d).<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Dramatis_personae">Dramatis personae</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Dramatis personae"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Dramatis_personae" title="Dramatis personae">dramatis personae</a></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Socrates" title="Socrates">Socrates</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gorgias" title="Gorgias">Gorgias</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Polus" title="Polus">Polus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Callicles" title="Callicles">Callicles</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chaerephon" title="Chaerephon">Chaerephon</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Major_themes">Major themes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Major themes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Definition_of_rhetoric">Definition of rhetoric</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Definition of rhetoric"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Socrates interrogates Gorgias to determine the true definition of rhetoric, framing his argument in the question format, "What is X?" (2).<sup id="cite_ref-Doyle_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Doyle-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He asks, "… why don’t you tell us yourself what the craft you’re an expert in is, and hence what we’re supposed to call you?" (449e). </p><p>Throughout the remainder of the dialogue, Socrates debates about the nature of rhetoric. Although rhetoric has the potential to be used justly, Socrates believes that in practice, rhetoric is flattery; the rhetorician makes the audience feel worthy because they can identify with the rhetorician’s argument. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_question_of_techne:_art_vs._knack">The question of <i>techne</i>: art vs. knack</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: The question of techne: art vs. knack"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Socrates and Polus debate whether rhetoric can be considered an <a href="/wiki/Art" title="Art">art</a>. Polus states that rhetoric is indeed a craft, but Socrates replies, "To tell you the truth, Polus, I don't think it's a craft at all" (462b). The dialogue continues: </p><p>"POLUS: So you think oratory's a knack? </p><p>"SOCRATES: Yes, I do, unless you say it's something else. </p><p>"POLUS: A knack for what? </p><p>"SOCRATES: For producing a certain gratification and pleasure." (462c) </p><p>Socrates continues to argue that rhetoric is not an art, but merely a knack that "guesses at what's pleasant with no consideration for what's best. And I say that it isn't a craft, but a knack, because it has no account of the nature of whatever things it applies by which it applies them, so that it's unable to state the cause of each thing" (465a). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_morality_of_rhetoric">The morality of rhetoric</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: The morality of rhetoric"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Socrates discusses the morality of rhetoric with Gorgias, asking him if rhetoric was just. Socrates catches the incongruity in Gorgias' statements: "well, at the time you said that, I took it that oratory would never be an unjust thing, since it always makes its speeches about justice. But when a little later you were saying that the orator could also use oratory unjustly, I was surprised and thought that your statements weren't consistent" (461a). To this argument, Gorgias "… is left wishing he could respond, knowing he cannot, and feeling frustrated and competitive. The effect of the 'proof' is not to persuade, but to disorient him".<sup id="cite_ref-White_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-White-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Socrates believes that rhetoric alone is not a moral endeavour. Gorgias is criticised because, "he would teach anyone who came to him wanting to learn oratory but without expertise in what's just …" (482d). Socrates believes that people need philosophy to teach them what is right, and that oratory cannot be righteous without philosophy. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Truth">Truth</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Truth"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Socrates continually claims that his methods of questioning are aimed at discovering the truth. He sarcastically compliments Callicles on his frankness because it helps expose the truth about oratory: "I well know that if you concur with what my soul believes, then that is the very truth. I realize that the person who intends to put a soul to an adequate test to see whether it lives rightly or not must have three qualities, all of which you have: knowledge, goodwill, and frankness." (487a). Truth can be found through deliberation with others, relaying to one another the knowledge in one's soul to come to a conclusion about each other's beliefs. </p><p>At the same time, truth is not based upon commonly accepted beliefs. Socrates outlines a problem about truth when it is misaligned from public opinion: "you don't compel me; instead you produce many false witnesses against me and try to banish me from my property, the truth. For my part, if I don't produce you as a single witness to agree with what I'm saying, then I suppose I've achieved nothing worth mentioning concerning the things we’ve been discussing" (472c). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Summary">Summary</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Summary"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1246091330"><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle">Part of <a href="/wiki/Category:Rhetoric" title="Category:Rhetoric">a series</a> on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric" title="Rhetoric">Rhetoric</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Cicero_Denounces_Catiline_in_the_Roman_Senate_by_Cesare_Maccari_-_3.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Cicero_Denounces_Catiline_in_the_Roman_Senate_by_Cesare_Maccari_-_3.jpg/150px-Cicero_Denounces_Catiline_in_the_Roman_Senate_by_Cesare_Maccari_-_3.jpg" decoding="async" width="150" height="94" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Cicero_Denounces_Catiline_in_the_Roman_Senate_by_Cesare_Maccari_-_3.jpg/225px-Cicero_Denounces_Catiline_in_the_Roman_Senate_by_Cesare_Maccari_-_3.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Cicero_Denounces_Catiline_in_the_Roman_Senate_by_Cesare_Maccari_-_3.jpg/300px-Cicero_Denounces_Catiline_in_the_Roman_Senate_by_Cesare_Maccari_-_3.jpg 2x" data-file-width="962" data-file-height="600" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c"><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric#History_and_development" title="Rhetoric">History</a></div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric#Ancient_Greece" title="Rhetoric">Ancient Greece</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Asiatic_style" title="Asiatic style">Asianism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atticism" title="Atticism">Atticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Attic_orators" title="Attic orators">Attic orators</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Calliope" title="Calliope">Calliope</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sophist" title="Sophist">Sophists</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Indian_rhetoric" title="Ancient Indian rhetoric">Ancient India</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric#Rome" title="Rhetoric">Ancient Rome</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Latin_literature#The_age_of_Cicero" title="Latin literature">The age of Cicero</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Second_Sophistic" title="Second Sophistic">Second Sophistic</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric#Medieval_to_Enlightenment" title="Rhetoric">Middle Ages</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Byzantine_rhetoric" title="Byzantine rhetoric">Byzantine rhetoric</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trivium" title="Trivium">Trivium</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric#Sixteenth_century" title="Rhetoric">Renaissance</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Studia_humanitatis" class="mw-redirect" title="Studia humanitatis">Studia humanitatis</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modern_rhetoric" title="Modern rhetoric">Modern period</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c">Concepts</div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Captatio_benevolentiae" title="Captatio benevolentiae">Captatio benevolentiae</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chironomia" title="Chironomia">Chironomia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Decorum" title="Decorum">Decorum</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Delectare" class="mw-redirect" title="Delectare">Delectare</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Docere" class="mw-redirect" title="Docere">Docere</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetorical_device" title="Rhetorical device">Device</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eloquence" title="Eloquence">Eloquence</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Eloquentia_perfecta" title="Eloquentia perfecta">Eloquentia perfecta</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Eunoia" title="Eunoia">Eunoia</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Enthymeme" title="Enthymeme">Enthymeme</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Facilitas" title="Facilitas">Facilitas</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fallacy" title="Fallacy">Fallacy</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Informal_fallacy" title="Informal fallacy">Informal</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Figure_of_speech" title="Figure of speech">Figure of speech</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Scheme_(rhetoric)" title="Scheme (rhetoric)">Scheme</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trope_(literature)" title="Trope (literature)">Trope</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Five_Canons_of_Rhetoric" class="mw-redirect" title="Five Canons of Rhetoric">Five canons</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Inventio" title="Inventio">Inventio</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Dispositio" title="Dispositio">Dispositio</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Elocutio" title="Elocutio">Elocutio</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Memoria" title="Memoria">Memoria</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Pronuntiatio" title="Pronuntiatio">Pronuntiatio</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hypsos" title="Hypsos">Hypsos</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Dionysian_imitatio" title="Dionysian imitatio">Imitatio</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Kairos" title="Kairos">Kairos</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Method_of_loci" title="Method of loci">Method of loci</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetorical_modes" title="Rhetorical modes">Modes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetorical_operations" title="Rhetorical operations">Operations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modes_of_persuasion" title="Modes of persuasion">Persuasion</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Ethos" title="Ethos">Ethos</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Pathos" title="Pathos">Pathos</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Logos" title="Logos">Logos</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetorical_situation" title="Rhetorical situation">Situation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Style_(sociolinguistics)" title="Style (sociolinguistics)">Style</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Grand_style_(rhetoric)" title="Grand style (rhetoric)">Grand</a></li></ul></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sotto_voce" title="Sotto voce">Sotto voce</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Literary_topos" title="Literary topos">Topos</a></i></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c">Genres</div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Apologetics" title="Apologetics">Apologetics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Debate" title="Debate">Debate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Declamation" title="Declamation">Declamation</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Controversia" title="Controversia">Controversia</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deliberative_rhetoric" title="Deliberative rhetoric">Deliberative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demagogue" title="Demagogue">Demagogy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dialectic" title="Dialectic">Dialectic</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Socratic_method" title="Socratic method">Socratic method</a></li></ul></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Dissoi_logoi" title="Dissoi logoi">Dissoi logoi</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Elocution" title="Elocution">Elocution</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Epideictic" title="Epideictic">Epideictic</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Encomium" title="Encomium">Encomium</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Panegyric" title="Panegyric">Panegyric</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eulogy" title="Eulogy">Eulogy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Farewell_speech" title="Farewell speech">Farewell speech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Forensic_rhetoric" title="Forensic rhetoric">Forensic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Funeral_oration_(ancient_Greece)" title="Funeral oration (ancient Greece)">Funeral oration</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Homiletics" title="Homiletics">Homiletics‎</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Sermon" title="Sermon">Sermon</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Invitational_rhetoric" title="Invitational rhetoric">Invitational</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lecture" title="Lecture">Lecture</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Public_lecture" title="Public lecture">Public</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lightning_talk" title="Lightning talk">Lightning talk</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Maiden_speech" title="Maiden speech">Maiden speech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public_speaking" title="Public speaking">Oratory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Polemic" title="Polemic">Polemic</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Diatribe" title="Diatribe">Diatribe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eristic" title="Eristic">Eristic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philippic" title="Philippic">Philippic</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Progymnasmata" title="Progymnasmata">Progymnasmata</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Suasoria" title="Suasoria">Suasoria</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Propaganda" title="Propaganda">Propaganda</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Spin_(propaganda)" title="Spin (propaganda)">Spin</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Resignation_speech" title="Resignation speech">Resignation speech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stump_speech" title="Stump speech">Stump speech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pro-war_rhetoric" title="Pro-war rhetoric">War-mongering</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c"><a href="/wiki/Rhetorical_criticism" title="Rhetorical criticism">Criticism</a></div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Cluster_criticism" title="Cluster criticism">Cluster</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dramatism" title="Dramatism">Dramatic</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Dramatistic_pentad" title="Dramatistic pentad">Pentadic</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Frame_analysis" title="Frame analysis">Frame</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Genre_criticism" title="Genre criticism">Genre</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ideological_criticism" title="Ideological criticism">Ideological</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Metaphoric_criticism" title="Metaphoric criticism">Metaphoric</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mimesis_criticism" title="Mimesis criticism">Mimesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narrative_criticism" title="Narrative criticism">Narrative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neo-Aristotelianism_(literature)" title="Neo-Aristotelianism (literature)">Neo-Aristotelian</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c">Rhetoricians</div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aspasia" title="Aspasia">Aspasia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo" title="Augustine of Hippo">Augustine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mikhail_Bakhtin" title="Mikhail Bakhtin">Bakhtin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wayne_C._Booth" title="Wayne C. Booth">Booth</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Walter_Brueggemann" title="Walter Brueggemann">Brueggemann</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kenneth_Burke" title="Kenneth Burke">Burke</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cicero" title="Cicero">Cicero</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_de_Man" title="Paul de Man">de Man</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demosthenes" title="Demosthenes">Demosthenes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jacques_Derrida" title="Jacques Derrida">Derrida</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erasmus" title="Erasmus">Erasmus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gorgias" title="Gorgias">Gorgias</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes" title="Thomas Hobbes">Hobbes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Isocrates" title="Isocrates">Isocrates</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lucian" title="Lucian">Lucian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lysias" title="Lysias">Lysias</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan" title="Marshall McLuhan">McLuhan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Walter_J._Ong" title="Walter J. Ong">Ong</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cha%C3%AFm_Perelman" title="Chaïm Perelman">Perelman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christine_de_Pizan" title="Christine de Pizan">Pizan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Protagoras" title="Protagoras">Protagoras</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quintilian" title="Quintilian">Quintilian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Petrus_Ramus" title="Petrus Ramus">Ramus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/I._A._Richards" title="I. A. Richards">Richards</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Adam_Smith" title="Adam Smith">Smith</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tacitus" title="Tacitus">Tacitus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stephen_Toulmin" title="Stephen Toulmin">Toulmin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Giambattista_Vico" title="Giambattista Vico">Vico</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Richard_M._Weaver" title="Richard M. Weaver">Weaver</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c">Works</div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><i><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Gorgias</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(380 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue)#Discussion_of_rhetoric_and_writing_(257c–279c)" title="Phaedrus (dialogue)">Phaedrus</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(c. 370 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric_(Aristotle)" title="Rhetoric (Aristotle)">Rhetoric</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(c. 350 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric_to_Alexander" title="Rhetoric to Alexander">Rhetoric to Alexander</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(c. 350 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sophistical_Refutations" title="Sophistical Refutations">De Sophisticis Elenchis</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(c. 350 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Topics_(Aristotle)" title="Topics (Aristotle)">Topics</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(c. 350 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/De_Inventione" title="De Inventione">De Inventione</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(84 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Rhetorica_ad_Herennium" title="Rhetorica ad Herennium">Rhetorica ad Herennium</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(80 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/De_Oratore" title="De Oratore">De Oratore</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(55 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/A_Dialogue_Concerning_Oratorical_Partitions" title="A Dialogue Concerning Oratorical Partitions">A Dialogue Concerning Oratorical Partitions</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(c. 50 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/De_Optimo_Genere_Oratorum" title="De Optimo Genere Oratorum">De Optimo Genere Oratorum</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(46 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Orator_(Cicero)" title="Orator (Cicero)">Orator</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(46 BC)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/On_the_Sublime" title="On the Sublime">On the Sublime</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(c. 50)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Institutio_Oratoria" title="Institutio Oratoria">Institutio Oratoria</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(95)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Panegyrici_Latini" title="Panegyrici Latini">Panegyrici Latini</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(100–400)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Dialogus_de_oratoribus" title="Dialogus de oratoribus">Dialogus de oratoribus</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(102)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/De_doctrina_Christiana" title="De doctrina Christiana">De doctrina Christiana</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(426)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/De_vulgari_eloquentia" title="De vulgari eloquentia">De vulgari eloquentia</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1305)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Copia:_Foundations_of_the_Abundant_Style" title="Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style">Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1521)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Language_as_Symbolic_Action" title="Language as Symbolic Action">Language as Symbolic Action</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1966)</span></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/A_General_Rhetoric" title="A General Rhetoric">A General Rhetoric</a></i> <span style="font-size:85%;">(1970)</span></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c">Subfields</div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Argumentation_theory" title="Argumentation theory">Argumentation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cognitive_rhetoric" title="Cognitive rhetoric">Cognitive</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Contrastive_rhetoric" title="Contrastive rhetoric">Contrastive</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Constitutive_rhetoric" title="Constitutive rhetoric">Constitutive</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Digital_rhetoric" title="Digital rhetoric">Digital</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Feminist_rhetoric" title="Feminist rhetoric">Feminist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Native_American_rhetoric" title="Native American rhetoric">Native American</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/New_rhetorics" class="mw-redirect" title="New rhetorics">New</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric_of_health_and_medicine" title="Rhetoric of health and medicine">Health and medicine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theories_of_rhetoric_and_composition_pedagogy" title="Theories of rhetoric and composition pedagogy">Pedagogy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Procedural_rhetoric" title="Procedural rhetoric">Procedural</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric_of_science" title="Rhetoric of science">Science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric_of_technology" title="Rhetoric of technology">Technology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric_of_therapy" title="Rhetoric of therapy">Therapy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Visual_rhetoric" title="Visual rhetoric">Visual</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Visual_rhetoric_and_composition" title="Visual rhetoric and composition">Composition</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)"><div class="sidebar-list-title-c">Related</div></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Ars_dictaminis" title="Ars dictaminis">Ars dictaminis</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Communication_studies" title="Communication studies">Communication studies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Composition_studies" title="Composition studies">Composition studies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Doxa" title="Doxa">Doxa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Glossary_of_rhetorical_terms" title="Glossary of rhetorical terms">Glossary of rhetorical terms</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Glossophobia" title="Glossophobia">Glossophobia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_feminist_rhetoricians" title="List of feminist rhetoricians">List of feminist rhetoricians</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_speeches" title="List of speeches">List of speeches</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Oral_skills" title="Oral skills">Oral skills</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Orator" title="Orator">Orator</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pistis" title="Pistis">Pistis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public_rhetoric" title="Public rhetoric">Public rhetoric</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric_of_social_intervention_model" title="Rhetoric of social intervention model">Rhetoric of social intervention model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetrickery" title="Rhetrickery">Rhetrickery</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rogerian_argument" title="Rogerian argument">Rogerian argument</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Seduction" title="Seduction">Seduction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Speechwriter" title="Speechwriter">Speechwriting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Talking_point" title="Talking point">Talking point</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/TED_(conference)" title="TED (conference)">TED</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Terministic_screen" title="Terministic screen">Terministic screen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Toulmin_model" class="mw-redirect" title="Toulmin model">Toulmin model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wooden_iron" title="Wooden iron">Wooden iron</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Rhetoric" title="Template:Rhetoric"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Rhetoric" title="Template talk:Rhetoric"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Rhetoric" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Rhetoric"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Introduction_(447a–449c)"><span id="Introduction_.28447a.E2.80.93449c.29"></span>Introduction (447a–449c)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Introduction (447a–449c)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The dialogue begins just after Gorgias has given a speech. Callicles says that Gorgias is a guest in his home, and has agreed to a private audience with Socrates and his friend Chaerephon. Socrates gets Gorgias to agree to his cross-examination style of conversation. Gorgias identifies his craft as rhetoric, and affirms that he should be called a rhetorician. As Socrates asks him questions, he praises him for the brevity of his replies. Gorgias remarks that no one has asked him a new question in a long time, and when Socrates asks, he assures him that he is just as capable of brevity as of long-windedness (449c). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Physical_and_intellectual_combat_compared_(449d–458c)"><span id="Physical_and_intellectual_combat_compared_.28449d.E2.80.93458c.29"></span>Physical and intellectual combat compared (449d–458c)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Physical and intellectual combat compared (449d–458c)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Gorgias admits under Socrates' cross-examination that while rhetoricians give people the power of words, they are not instructors of morality. Gorgias does not deny that his students might use their skills for immoral purposes (such as persuading the assembly to make an unwise decision, or to let a guilty man go free), but he says the teacher cannot be held responsible for this. He makes an argument from analogy: Gorgias says that if a man who went to wrestling school took to thrashing his parents or friends, you would not send his drill instructor into exile (456d–457c). He says that just as the trainer teaches his craft (<i><a href="/wiki/Techne" title="Techne">techne</a></i>) in good faith, and hopes that his student will use his physical powers wisely, the rhetorician has the same trust, that his students will not abuse their power. </p><p>Socrates says that he is one of those people who is actually happy to be refuted if he is wrong. He says that he would rather be refuted than to refute someone else because it is better to be delivered from harm oneself than to deliver someone else from harm. Gorgias, whose profession is persuasion, readily agrees that he is also this sort of man, who would rather be refuted than refute another. Gorgias has only one misgiving: he fears that the present company may have something better to do than listen to two men try to outdo each other in being wrong (458b–c). The company protests and proclaims that they are anxious to witness this new version of intellectual combat. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_debate_about_rhetoric_(458d–466c)"><span id="The_debate_about_rhetoric_.28458d.E2.80.93466c.29"></span>The debate about rhetoric (458d–466c)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: The debate about rhetoric (458d–466c)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Socrates gets Gorgias to agree that the rhetorician is actually more convincing in front of an ignorant audience than an expert, because mastery of the tools of persuasion gives a man more conviction than mere facts. Gorgias accepts this criticism and asserts that it is an advantage of his profession that a man can be considered above specialists without having to learn anything of substance (459c). Socrates calls rhetoric a form of flattery, or pandering, and compares it to pastry baking and self-adorning (<i>kommōtikōn</i>). He says that rhetoric is to politics what pastry baking is to medicine, and what cosmetics are to gymnastics. All of these activities are aimed at surface adornment, an impersonation of what is really good (464c–465d). </p><p>Bruce McComiskey has argued that Gorgias may have been uncharacteristically portrayed by Plato, because "… Plato's Gorgias agrees to the binary opposition knowledge vs. opinion" (82).<sup id="cite_ref-McComiskey_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-McComiskey-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This is inaccurate because, "for Gorgias the sophist, all 'knowledge' is opinion. There can be no rational or irrational arguments because all human beliefs and communicative situations are relative to a kairotic moment" (83).<sup id="cite_ref-McComiskey_5-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-McComiskey-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_pitiful_tyrant_(466d–481b)"><span id="The_pitiful_tyrant_.28466d.E2.80.93481b.29"></span>The pitiful tyrant (466d–481b)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: The pitiful tyrant (466d–481b)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Socrates then advances that "orators and tyrants have the very least power of any in our cities" (466d). Lumping tyrants and rhetoricians into a single category, Socrates says that both of them, when they kill people or banish them or confiscate their property, think they are doing what is in their own best interest, but are actually pitiable. Socrates maintains that the wicked man is unhappy, but that the unhappiest man of all is the wicked one who does not meet with justice, rebuke, and punishment (472e). Polus, who has stepped into the conversation at this point, laughs at Socrates. Socrates asks him if he thinks laughing is a legitimate form of refutation (473e). Polus then asks Socrates if putting forth views that no one would accept is not a refutation in itself. Socrates replies that if Polus cannot see how to refute him, he will show Polus how. </p><p>Socrates states that it is far worse to inflict evil than to be the innocent victim of it (475e). He gives the example of tyrants being the most wretched people on earth. He adds that poverty is to financial condition as disease is to the body as injustice is to the soul (477b–c). This analogy is used to define the states of corruption in each instance. Money-making, medicine, and justice are the respective cures (478a,b). Socrates argues that just penalties discipline people, make them more just, and cure them of their evil ways (478d). Wrongdoing is second among evils, but wrongdoing and getting away with it is the first and greatest of evils (479d). It follows from this, that if a man does not want to have a festering and incurable tumour growing in his soul, he needs to hurry himself to a judge upon realising that he has done something wrong. Socrates posits that the rhetorician should accuse himself first, and then do his family and friends the favour of accusing them, so great is the curative power of justice (480c–e). </p><p>Socrates maintains that, assuming the converse of the previous argument, if your enemy has done something awful, you should contrive every means to see that he does not come before the judicial system.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Polus and Callicles are both astounded at Socrates' position and wonder if he is just kidding (481b). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Callicles_criticizes_philosophy_(481c–505b)"><span id="Callicles_criticizes_philosophy_.28481c.E2.80.93505b.29"></span>Callicles criticizes philosophy (481c–505b)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Callicles criticizes philosophy (481c–505b)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Callicles observes that if Socrates is correct, people have life upside down, and are everywhere doing the opposite of what they should be doing. Socrates says that he and Callicles share similar conditions in that he is in love with <a href="/wiki/Alcibiades" title="Alcibiades">Alcibiades</a> and philosophy, while Callicles is in love with the son of Cleinias and the Athenian Demus, and that neither can stop their beloveds from saying what is on their minds. While the statements of certain people often differ from one time to the next, Socrates claims that what philosophy says always stays the same (482b). </p><p>Callicles accuses Socrates of carrying on like a <a href="/wiki/Demagogue" title="Demagogue">demagogue</a>. He argues that suffering wrong is worse than doing it, that there is nothing good about being a victim. He further argues (as <a href="/wiki/Glaucon" title="Glaucon">Glaucon</a> does in the <a href="/wiki/Gyges_of_Lydia" title="Gyges of Lydia">Gyges</a> story in the <i><a href="/wiki/Republic_(Plato)" title="Republic (Plato)">Republic</a></i>) that wrongdoing is only by convention shameful, and it is not wrong by nature. Then, he berates Socrates for wasting time in frivolous philosophy, saying there is no harm in young people engaging in useless banter, but that it is unattractive in older men. He tells Socrates that he is disgraceful, and that if anyone should seize him and carry him off to prison, he would be helpless to defend himself, saying that Socrates would reel and gape in front of a jury, and end up being put to death (486a,b). Socrates is not offended by this, and tells Callicles that his extraordinary frankness proves that he is well-disposed towards him (487d). </p><p>Callicles then returns to his defence of nature's own justice, where the strong exercise their advantages over the weak. He states that the natural man has large appetites and the means to satisfy them, and that only a weakling praises <a href="/wiki/Temperance_(virtue)" title="Temperance (virtue)">temperance</a> and justice based on artificial law not <a href="/wiki/Natural_law" title="Natural law">natural</a>. (483b, 492a–c). </p><p>Socrates calls Callicles a "desired <a href="/wiki/Touchstone_(metaphor)" title="Touchstone (metaphor)">touchstone</a>" (486) and counters that not only "<i><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nomos" class="extiw" title="wikt:nomos">nomos</a></i>" (custom or law) but also nature affirms that to do injustice is more disgraceful than to suffer it, that <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/equality" class="extiw" title="wikt:equality">equality</a> is justice (489a–b), and that a man such as Callicles' ideal is like a leaky jar, insatiable and unhappy (494a). Socrates returns to his previous position, that an undisciplined man is unhappy and should be restrained and subjected to justice (505b). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Socrates_debates_with_himself_(505c–509b)"><span id="Socrates_debates_with_himself_.28505c.E2.80.93509b.29"></span>Socrates debates with himself (505c–509b)</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Socrates debates with himself (505c–509b)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Callicles becomes exasperated at the intellectual stalemate, and invites Socrates to carry on by himself, asking and answering his own questions (505d). Socrates requests that his audience, including Callicles, listen to what he says and kindly break in on him if he says something that sounds false. If his opponent (whom he will be speaking for himself) makes a point, he agrees to concede to it (506a–c). Socrates proceeds with a monologue, and reiterates that he was not kidding about the best use of rhetoric, that it is best used against one's own self. A man who has done something wrong is wretched, but a man who gets away with it is even worse off (509b). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Philosophy_is_a_bitter_draught">Philosophy is a bitter draught</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Philosophy is a bitter draught"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Socrates argues that he aims at what is best, not at what is pleasant, and that he alone understands the technique of politics. He says that he enjoins people to take the bitter draughts, and compels them to hunger and thirst, while most politicians flatter the people with sweetmeats. He also says that "the body is our tomb of soul" (493a) citing the words of <a href="/wiki/Euripides" title="Euripides">Euripides</a>, "who knows if life be not death and death life". (492e) He says of his trial that, "I shall be judged like a doctor brought before a jury of children with a cook as prosecutor" (521e). He says that such a pandering prosecutor will no doubt succeed in getting him sentenced to death, and he will be helpless to stop it. Socrates says that all that matters is his own purity of soul; he has maintained this, and it is the only thing that is really within his power (522d). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_Judgement_of_Naked_Souls">The Judgement of Naked Souls</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: The Judgement of Naked Souls"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Socrates ends the dialogue by telling Callicles, Polus, and Gorgias a story that they regard as a myth, but he regards as true (523a). He recounts that in the old days, <a href="/wiki/Cronus" title="Cronus">Cronos</a> judged men just before they died, and divided them into two categories. He sent good and righteous men to the Isles of the Blessed, and godless, unrighteous men to the prison of vengeance and punishment called <a href="/wiki/Tartarus" title="Tartarus">Tartarus</a>. These cases were judged badly because the men were judged while they were alive and with their clothes on, and the judges were fooled by appearances. Zeus fixed the problem by arranging for people to be dead, and stripped naked of body and made his sons judges, <a href="/wiki/Minos" title="Minos">Minos</a> and <a href="/wiki/Rhadamanthus" title="Rhadamanthus">Rhadamanthus</a> from <a href="/wiki/Europa_(mythology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Europa (mythology)">Europa</a> and <a href="/wiki/Aeacus" title="Aeacus">Aeacus</a> from <a href="/wiki/Aegina" title="Aegina">Aegina</a>. (523d–524a) The judges had to be naked too, so they could scan the souls of men without distractions. </p><p>Socrates adds that he has heard this myth, believes it, and infers from it that death is the separation of body and soul. He says that each retains after death the qualities it had in life, so that a fat, long-haired man will have a fat, long-haired corpse. If he was a scoundrel, he will bear the scars of his beatings. When the judge lays hold of some potentate, he will find that his soul bears the scars of his perjuries and crimes, because these will be branded on his soul (524b–525a). </p><p>Socrates remarks that some people are benefited by the pain and agony of their own punishments (525b) and by watching others suffer excruciating torture; but others have misdeeds that cannot be cured. He says that the <a href="/wiki/Odyssey" title="Odyssey">Odyssey</a> by <a href="/wiki/Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a> pictures kings suffering eternally in Hades, but not the ordinary scoundrel, like <a href="/wiki/Thersites" title="Thersites">Thersites</a>. Socrates warns Callicles that when he is up before the judge on his own judgement day, he will reel and gape no less there than Socrates does here. He says that the story might sound like nonsense to him, like an old folk tale, and agrees there would be no wonder in despising it if a better and truer one could be found, but observes that none in the group have proved that one should live a different kind of life. Finally he exhorts them to follow him in justice and virtue. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Translations">Translations</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Translations"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Taylor_(neoplatonist)" title="Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)">Thomas Taylor</a>, 1804</li> <li><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFPlato1871" class="citation cs1">Plato (1871). <span class="cs1-ws-icon" title="s:Gorgias"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gorgias"><i>Gorgias</i> </a></span>. Translated by <a href="/wiki/Benjamin_Jowett" title="Benjamin Jowett">Benjamin Jowett</a> – via <a href="/wiki/Wikisource" title="Wikisource">Wikisource</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Gorgias&rft.date=1871&rft.au=Plato&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AGorgias+%28dialogue%29" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFPlato1987" class="citation book cs1">Plato (1987). <i>Gorgias</i>. Donald J. Zeyl translation. Indianapolis: Hackett.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Gorgias&rft.place=Indianapolis&rft.pub=Hackett&rft.date=1987&rft.au=Plato&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AGorgias+%28dialogue%29" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li>James H. Nichols Jr., 1998</li> <li><i>Plato: Lysis, Symposium, Gorgias.</i> Greek with translation by W. R. M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library 166. Harvard Univ. Press (originally published 1925). <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0674991842" title="Special:BookSources/978-0674991842">978-0674991842</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674991842">HUP listing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Walter_Rangeley_Maitland_Lamb" class="mw-redirect" title="Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb">Walter Rangeley Maitland Lamb</a>, 1925: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0178%3Atext%3DGorg.">Perseus</a></li> <li><a href="/w/index.php?title=W._C._Helmbold&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="W. C. Helmbold (page does not exist)">W. C. Helmbold</a>, 1952: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001223264">Read online at HathiTrust</a>.</li> <li>A revised text with introduction and commentary by Professor E.R. Dodds. Oxford University Press, London, 1959.</li> <li>Translation and introduction by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, London, 1994.</li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSachs,_Joe_(trans.)2008" class="citation book cs1">Sachs, Joe (trans.) (2008). <i>Plato: Gorgias and Aristotle: Rhetoric</i>. Focus Philosophical Library. Focus. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1585102990" title="Special:BookSources/978-1585102990"><bdi>978-1585102990</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Plato%3A+Gorgias+and+Aristotle%3A+Rhetoric&rft.series=Focus+Philosophical+Library&rft.pub=Focus&rft.date=2008&rft.isbn=978-1585102990&rft.au=Sachs%2C+Joe+%28trans.%29&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AGorgias+%28dialogue%29" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFSchofield,_Malcolm_(edt)translations_by_Tom_Griffith2009" class="citation book cs1">Schofield, Malcolm (edt); translations by Tom Griffith (2009). <i>Plato: Gorgias, Menexenus, Protagoras</i>. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-83729-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-83729-3"><bdi>978-0-521-83729-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Plato%3A+Gorgias%2C+Menexenus%2C+Protagoras&rft.series=Cambridge+Texts+in+the+History+of+Political+Thought&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2009&rft.isbn=978-0-521-83729-3&rft.au=Schofield%2C+Malcolm+%28edt%29&rft.au=translations+by+Tom+Griffith&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AGorgias+%28dialogue%29" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAdaptation_and_introduction_by_Julian_Ahlquist2023" class="citation book cs1">Adaptation and introduction by Julian Ahlquist (2023). <i>Plato's Gorgias</i>. ACS Books. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-7359966-5-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-7359966-5-3"><bdi>978-1-7359966-5-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Plato%27s+Gorgias&rft.pub=ACS+Books&rft.date=2023&rft.isbn=978-1-7359966-5-3&rft.au=Adaptation+and+introduction+by+Julian+Ahlquist&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AGorgias+%28dialogue%29" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Citations">Citations</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Citations"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"> Robichaud, Denis. <i>Plato's Persona: Marsilio Ficino, Renaissance Humanism, and Platonic Traditions</i>, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018, p. 32, quote = "Gorgias's art is sonorous, reverberating the oral pronunciation of <i>gorgos</i>."</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=anthos_archives">"Formal Analysis of Plato's Gorgias"</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Formal+Analysis+of+Plato%27s+Gorgias&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fpdxscholar.library.pdx.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1047%26context%3Danthos_archives&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AGorgias+%28dialogue%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Doyle-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Doyle_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDoyle2010" class="citation journal cs1">Doyle, James (2010). "Socrates and Gorgias". <i>Phronesis</i>. <b>55</b>: 1–25. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1163%2F003188610x12589452898769">10.1163/003188610x12589452898769</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Phronesis&rft.atitle=Socrates+and+Gorgias&rft.volume=55&rft.pages=1-25&rft.date=2010&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1163%2F003188610x12589452898769&rft.aulast=Doyle&rft.aufirst=James&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AGorgias+%28dialogue%29" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-White-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-White_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">White, James B. "The Ethics of Argument: Plato's <i>Gorgias</i> and the Modern Lawyer." The University of Chicago Law Review 50.2 (1983): 849–895, at 865. 27 Apr. 2011.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-McComiskey-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-McComiskey_5-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-McComiskey_5-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">McComiskey, Bruce. "Disassembling Plato's Critique of Rhetoric in the Gorgias." Rhetoric Review 11.1 (1992): 79–90. 27 Apr. 2011.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"... supposing it is our duty to injure somebody, whether an enemy or anyone else—provided only that it is not against oneself that wrong has been done by such enemy, for this we must take care to avoid—but supposing our enemy has wronged some one else, we must make every exertion of act and word to prevent him from being punished or coming to trial" (480e–481a).</span> </li> </ol></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sources">Sources</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Sources"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Seth_Benardete" title="Seth Benardete">Seth Benardete</a>, <i>The Rhetoric of Morality and Philosophy: Plato's Gorgias and Phaedrus</i> (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).</li> <li>Michael Vickers, "Alcibiades and Critias in the Gorgias: Plato's 'fine satire'," <i>Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne,</i> 20,2 (1994), 85–112.</li> <li>Harold Tarrant, "The Gorgias and the Demiurge," in Idem, <i>From the Old Academy to Later Neo-Platonism: Studies in the History of Platonic Thought</i> (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2010), (Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS964).</li> <li>Christina H. Tarnopolsky, <i>Prudes, Perverts, and Tyrants: Plato's Gorgias and the Politics of Shame</i> (Princeton, PUP, 2010).</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Gorgias_(dialogue)&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 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title="wikisource:Gorgias"><i>Gorgias</i></a></b></div></div></div> </div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/plato/dialogues/benjamin-jowett"><i>Gorgias</i>, in a collection of Plato's Dialogues</a> at <a href="/wiki/Standard_Ebooks" title="Standard Ebooks">Standard Ebooks</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100509060207/http://campus.belmont.edu/philosophy/book.pdf">Approaching Plato: A Guide to the Early and Middle Dialogues</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/gorgias.html">Full text of Plato's <i>Gorgias</i> (Translated by Benjamin Jowett) – The Internet Classics Archive</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1672">Full text of Plato's <i>Gorgias</i> at Project Gutenberg</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.charlesumlauf.com/Gorgias.htm">Is <i>Gorgias</i> an early draft of an unfinished dialogue?</a></li> <li><span class="skin-invert-image" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg/15px-Speaker_Icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="15" height="15" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg/23px-Speaker_Icon.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg/30px-Speaker_Icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="500" data-file-height="500" /></span></span> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://librivox.org/search?title=Gorgias&author=(Πλάτων)&reader=&keywords=&genre_id=0&status=all&project_type=either&recorded_language=&sort_order=catalog_date&search_page=1&search_form=advanced"><i>Gorgias</i></a> public domain audiobook at <a href="/wiki/LibriVox" title="LibriVox">LibriVox</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0178%3Atext%3DGorg.">Full text of Plato's <i>Gorgias</i> (Translated by W.R.M. Lamb) – Perseus Digital Library</a></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output 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Socrates</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Socratic_problem" title="Socratic problem">Socratic problem</a></li></ul> </div></td><td class="noviewer navbox-image" rowspan="6" style="width:1px;padding:0 0 0 2px;background:#f8f8f8"><div><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Socrates_Pio-Clementino_Inv314.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Socrates_Pio-Clementino_Inv314.jpg/100px-Socrates_Pio-Clementino_Inv314.jpg" decoding="async" width="100" height="134" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Socrates_Pio-Clementino_Inv314.jpg/150px-Socrates_Pio-Clementino_Inv314.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Socrates_Pio-Clementino_Inv314.jpg/200px-Socrates_Pio-Clementino_Inv314.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1300" data-file-height="1740" /></a></span></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Gadfly_(philosophy_and_social_science)" title="Gadfly (philosophy and social science)">Social gadfly</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Socratic_dialogue" title="Socratic dialogue">Socratic dialogue</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moral_intellectualism" title="Moral intellectualism">Socratic intellectualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Irony" title="Irony">Socratic irony</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Socratic_method" title="Socratic method">Socratic method</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing" title="I know that I know nothing">Socratic paradox</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Socratic_questioning" title="Socratic questioning">Socratic questioning</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Phrases</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li>"<a href="/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing" title="I know that I know nothing">I know that I know nothing</a>"</li> <li>"<a href="/wiki/The_unexamined_life_is_not_worth_living" title="The unexamined life is not worth living">The unexamined life is not worth living</a>"</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Family</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Sophroniscus" title="Sophroniscus">Sophroniscus</a> (father)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phaenarete" title="Phaenarete">Phaenarete</a> (mother)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Xanthippe" title="Xanthippe">Xanthippe</a> (wife)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lamprocles" title="Lamprocles">Lamprocles</a> (son)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Menexenus" title="Menexenus">Menexenus</a> (son)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Myrto" title="Myrto">Myrto</a> (wife)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Works<br />that<br />include<br />Socrates</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Art</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Double_Herm_of_Socrates_and_Seneca" title="Double Herm of Socrates and Seneca">Double Herm of Socrates and Seneca</a></i> (3rd-century sculpture)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Death_of_Socrates" title="The Death of Socrates">The Death of Socrates</a></i> (1787 painting)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Socrates_(sculpture)" title="Socrates (sculpture)">Socrates</a></i> (1950 sculpture)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Stage</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Clouds" title="The Clouds">The Clouds</a></i> (423 BC play)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Der_geduldige_Socrates" title="Der geduldige Socrates">Der geduldige Socrates</a></i> (1721 opera)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Socrates_(Voltaire)" title="Socrates (Voltaire)">Socrates</a></i> (1759 play)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Socrate" title="Socrate">Socrate</a></i> (1919 oratorio)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Socrates_on_Trial" title="Socrates on Trial">Socrates on Trial</a></i> (2007 play)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Literature</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/De_genio_Socratis" title="De genio Socratis">De genio Socratis</a></i> (1st-century essay)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/On_the_Concept_of_Irony_with_Continual_Reference_to_Socrates" title="On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates">On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates</a></i> (1841 thesis)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Plot_to_Save_Socrates" title="The Plot to Save Socrates">The Plot to Save Socrates</a></i> (2006 novel)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Other</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Serenade_after_Plato%27s_%22Symposium%22" title="Serenade after Plato's "Symposium"">Serenade after Plato's "Symposium"</a></i> (1954 serenade)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Barefoot_in_Athens" title="Barefoot in Athens">Barefoot in Athens</a></i> (1966 film)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Socrates_(film)" class="mw-redirect" title="Socrates (film)">Socrates</a></i> (1971 film)</li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/List_of_speakers_in_Plato%27s_dialogues" title="List of speakers in Plato's dialogues">Dialogues</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Plato</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Apology_(Plato)" title="Apology (Plato)">Apology</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Axiochus_(dialogue)" title="Axiochus (dialogue)">Axiochus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Charmides_(dialogue)" title="Charmides (dialogue)">Charmides</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Clitophon_(dialogue)" title="Clitophon (dialogue)">Clitophon</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Cratylus_(dialogue)" title="Cratylus (dialogue)">Cratylus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Critias_(dialogue)" title="Critias (dialogue)">Critias</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Crito" title="Crito">Crito</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Demodocus_(dialogue)" title="Demodocus (dialogue)">Demodocus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Epinomis" title="Epinomis">Epinomis</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Eryxias_(dialogue)" title="Eryxias (dialogue)">Eryxias</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Euthydemus_(dialogue)" title="Euthydemus (dialogue)">Euthydemus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Euthyphro" title="Euthyphro">Euthyphro</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/First_Alcibiades" title="First Alcibiades">First Alcibiades</a></i></li> <li><i><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Gorgias</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hipparchus_(dialogue)" title="Hipparchus (dialogue)">Hipparchus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hippias_Major" title="Hippias Major">Hippias Major</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hippias_Minor" title="Hippias Minor">Hippias Minor</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Ion_(dialogue)" title="Ion (dialogue)">Ion</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Laches_(dialogue)" title="Laches (dialogue)">Laches</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Lysis_(dialogue)" title="Lysis (dialogue)">Lysis</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Menexenus_(dialogue)" title="Menexenus (dialogue)">Menexenus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Meno" title="Meno">Meno</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Minos_(dialogue)" title="Minos (dialogue)">Minos</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/On_Justice" title="On Justice">On Justice</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/On_Virtue" title="On Virtue">On Virtue</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Parmenides_(dialogue)" title="Parmenides (dialogue)">Parmenides</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Phaedo" title="Phaedo">Phaedo</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue)" title="Phaedrus (dialogue)">Phaedrus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Philebus" title="Philebus">Philebus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Protagoras_(dialogue)" title="Protagoras (dialogue)">Protagoras</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Republic_(Plato)" title="Republic (Plato)">Republic</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Rival_Lovers" title="Rival Lovers">Rival Lovers</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Second_Alcibiades" title="Second Alcibiades">Second Alcibiades</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sisyphus_(dialogue)" title="Sisyphus (dialogue)">Sisyphus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sophist_(dialogue)" title="Sophist (dialogue)">Sophist</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Statesman_(dialogue)" title="Statesman (dialogue)">Statesman</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Symposium_(Plato)" title="Symposium (Plato)">Symposium</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Theaetetus_(dialogue)" title="Theaetetus (dialogue)">Theaetetus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Theages" title="Theages">Theages</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Timaeus_(dialogue)" title="Timaeus (dialogue)">Timaeus</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Xenophon</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Apology_(Xenophon)" title="Apology (Xenophon)">Apology</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Memorabilia_(Xenophon)" title="Memorabilia (Xenophon)">Memorabilia</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Oeconomicus" title="Oeconomicus">Oeconomicus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Symposium_(Xenophon)" title="Symposium (Xenophon)">Symposium</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Other</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Halcyon_(dialogue)" title="Halcyon (dialogue)">Halcyon</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Codex_Vaticanus_Graecus_64" title="Codex Vaticanus Graecus 64">Socratic Letters</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Euthyphro_dilemma" title="Euthyphro dilemma">Euthyphro dilemma</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Form_of_the_Good" title="Form of the Good">Form of the Good</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Peritrope" title="Peritrope">Peritrope</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Religious_skepticism" title="Religious skepticism">Religious skepticism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="3"><div><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span title="Category"><img alt="" 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style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="3"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Plato_navbox" title="Template:Plato navbox"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Plato_navbox" title="Template talk:Plato navbox"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Plato_navbox" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Plato navbox"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Plato" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Works</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Apology_(Plato)" title="Apology (Plato)">Apology</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Charmides_(dialogue)" title="Charmides (dialogue)">Charmides</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Clitophon_(dialogue)" title="Clitophon (dialogue)">Clitophon</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Cratylus_(dialogue)" title="Cratylus (dialogue)">Cratylus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Critias_(dialogue)" title="Critias (dialogue)">Critias</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Crito" title="Crito">Crito</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Euthydemus_(dialogue)" title="Euthydemus (dialogue)">Euthydemus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Euthyphro" title="Euthyphro">Euthyphro</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/First_Alcibiades" title="First Alcibiades">First Alcibiades</a></i></li> <li><i><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Gorgias</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hippias_Major" title="Hippias Major">Hippias Major</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hippias_Minor" title="Hippias Minor">Hippias Minor</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Ion_(dialogue)" title="Ion (dialogue)">Ion</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Laches_(dialogue)" title="Laches (dialogue)">Laches</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Laws_(dialogue)" title="Laws (dialogue)">Laws</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Lysis_(dialogue)" title="Lysis (dialogue)">Lysis</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Menexenus_(dialogue)" title="Menexenus (dialogue)">Menexenus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Meno" title="Meno">Meno</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Parmenides_(dialogue)" title="Parmenides (dialogue)">Parmenides</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Phaedo" title="Phaedo">Phaedo</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue)" title="Phaedrus (dialogue)">Phaedrus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Philebus" title="Philebus">Philebus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Protagoras_(dialogue)" title="Protagoras (dialogue)">Protagoras</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Republic_(Plato)" title="Republic (Plato)">Republic</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sophist_(dialogue)" title="Sophist (dialogue)">Sophist</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Statesman_(dialogue)" title="Statesman (dialogue)">Statesman</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Symposium_(Plato)" title="Symposium (Plato)">Symposium</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Theaetetus_(dialogue)" title="Theaetetus (dialogue)">Theaetetus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Timaeus_(dialogue)" title="Timaeus (dialogue)">Timaeus</a></i></li></ul> </div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th id="Of_doubtfulauthenticity" scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Of doubtful<br />authenticity</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Axiochus_(dialogue)" title="Axiochus (dialogue)">Axiochus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Definitions_(Plato)" title="Definitions (Plato)">Definitions</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Demodocus_(dialogue)" title="Demodocus (dialogue)">Demodocus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Epigrams_(Plato)" title="Epigrams (Plato)">Epigrams</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Epinomis" title="Epinomis">Epinomis</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Epistles_(Plato)" title="Epistles (Plato)">Epistles</a></i> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Seventh_Letter" title="Seventh Letter">Seventh Letter</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Eryxias_(dialogue)" title="Eryxias (dialogue)">Eryxias</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Halcyon_(dialogue)" title="Halcyon (dialogue)">Halcyon</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hipparchus_(dialogue)" title="Hipparchus (dialogue)">Hipparchus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Minos_(dialogue)" title="Minos (dialogue)">Minos</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/On_Justice" title="On Justice">On Justice</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/On_Virtue" title="On Virtue">On Virtue</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Rival_Lovers" title="Rival Lovers">Rival Lovers</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Second_Alcibiades" title="Second Alcibiades">Second Alcibiades</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Sisyphus_(dialogue)" title="Sisyphus (dialogue)">Sisyphus</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Theages" title="Theages">Theages</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div> </div></td><td class="noviewer navbox-image" rowspan="5" style="width:1px;padding:0 0 0 2px"><div><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg/100px-Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg" decoding="async" width="100" height="150" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg/150px-Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg/200px-Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2400" data-file-height="3600" /></a></span></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Platonism" title="Platonism">Philosophy</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Euthyphro_dilemma" title="Euthyphro dilemma">Euthyphro dilemma</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Platonic_love" title="Platonic love">Platonic love</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cardinal_virtues" title="Cardinal virtues">Cardinal virtues</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Sophrosyne" title="Sophrosyne">Sophrosyne</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Platonic_epistemology" title="Platonic epistemology">Platonic epistemology</a> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Anamnesis_(philosophy)" title="Anamnesis (philosophy)">Amanesis</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Peritrope" title="Peritrope">Peritrope</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Divine_madness" title="Divine madness">Theia mania</a></i></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theory_of_forms" title="Theory of forms">Theory of Forms</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Form_of_the_Good" title="Form of the Good">Form of the Good</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plato%27s_theory_of_soul" title="Plato's theory of soul">Theory of soul</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plato%27s_political_philosophy" title="Plato's political philosophy">Plato's political philosophy</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Philosopher_king" title="Philosopher king">Philosopher king</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Platonic_solid" title="Platonic solid">Platonic solid</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Anima_mundi" title="Anima mundi">Anima mundi</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demiurge" title="Demiurge">Demiurge</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hyperuranion" title="Hyperuranion">Hyperuranion</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Allegorical_interpretations_of_Plato" title="Allegorical interpretations of Plato">Allegories<br />and metaphors</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Atlantis" title="Atlantis">Atlantis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges" title="Ring of Gyges">Ring of Gyges</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave" title="Allegory of the cave">The Cave</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Analogy_of_the_divided_line" title="Analogy of the divided line">The Divided Line</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Analogy_of_the_Sun" title="Analogy of the Sun">The Sun</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ship_of_State" title="Ship of State">Ship of State</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Myth_of_Er" title="Myth of Er">Myth of Er</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Life_of_Plato" title="Life of Plato">Life</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Platonic_Academy" title="Platonic Academy">The Academy in Athens</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Socratic_problem" title="Socratic problem">Socratic problem</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_speakers_in_Plato%27s_dialogues" title="List of speakers in Plato's dialogues">List of speakers in Plato's dialogues</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Legacy</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Plato%27s_unwritten_doctrines" title="Plato's unwritten doctrines">Unwritten doctrines</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_manuscripts_of_Plato%27s_dialogues" title="List of manuscripts of Plato's dialogues">List of manuscripts of Plato's dialogues</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cultural_influence_of_Plato%27s_Republic" class="mw-redirect" title="Cultural influence of Plato's Republic">Cultural influence of Plato's <i>Republic</i></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neoplatonism_and_Gnosticism" title="Neoplatonism and Gnosticism">Neoplatonism and Gnosticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Platonism_in_the_Renaissance" title="Platonism in the Renaissance">Platonism in the Renaissance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Middle_Platonism" title="Middle Platonism">Middle Platonism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Commentaries_on_Plato" title="Commentaries on Plato">Commentaries</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neoplatonism" title="Neoplatonism">Neoplatonism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Neoplatonism_and_Christianity" title="Neoplatonism and Christianity">and Christianity</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Oxyrhynchus_Papyri#Greek" title="Oxyrhynchus Papyri">Oxyrhynchus Papyri</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Papyrus_Oxyrhynchus_23" title="Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 23">23</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Papyrus_Oxyrhynchus_24" title="Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 24">24</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Papyrus_Oxyrhynchus_228" title="Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 228">228</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Papyrus_Oxyrhynchus_229" title="Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 229">229</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plato%27s_Dream" title="Plato's Dream">Plato's Dream</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Poitier_Meets_Plato" title="Poitier Meets Plato">Poitier Meets Plato</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox authority-control" 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