Exam 3: Plato Vs the Sophists: Rhetoric on Trial

Plato argues in Gorgias that rhetoric is a sham art. He also discusses a number of true arts. What is the true art to which rhetoric corresponds? What does Plato apparently mean by the comparison?

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Question 1

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Plato labels rhetoric a counterfeit of justice. He sees justice as a means of restoring, or healing ,unjustor immoral souls. Rhetoric pretends to reveal justice in courtrooms, but because the Sophists only create beliefs about justice, and can mislead judges and juries with these beliefs, rhetoric is a sham art. Rhetoric is not used to heal souls, but instead merely to win courtroom cases.

Which of the following is the art that Socrates identifies as restoring health to a soul?

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Question 2

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Provide the term for the following definitions: -Greek term for a belief or opinion. Public opinion.

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Question 3

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_______________ is the text by Plato in which Socrates discusses a form of rhetoric that may achieve the status of a true art, and in which he discusses how souls are divided into three parts.

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Question 4

Plato believed that a useful art of rhetoric would convince the lower parts of the soul to voluntarily submit to the _______________ loving part of the soul in order to produce harmony and justice.

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Question 5

Briefly overview the positions regarding rhetoric advanced by Socrates, Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles in Plato's dialogue Gorgias. How does each speaker characterize rhetoric and its goals?

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Question 6

Which of the following in ancient Greece would be categorized as a poieses or one of the productive arts?

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Question 7

In Gorgias, what sort of rhetoric is under attack by Plato? What, apparently, is Plato's main concern about the personal and social consequences of this kind of rhetoric?

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Question 8

In Gorgias, some scholars have seen Plato's writing as using rhetorical arguments to point out the dangers of practicing rhetoric.

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Question 9

Plato's art of rhetoric requires an orator to be like a psychologist, adapting speeches with different logoi to appeal to different types of souls.

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Question 10

Provide the term for the following definitions: -Greek term for a true art, which Plato contrasts to a sham art or "knack."

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Question 11

Briefly explain Plato's distinction between a true art (techne) and a sham art in Gorgias. Provide an example of a true art and its sham or counterfeit from the dialogue to illustrate your answer.

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Question 12

In Gorgias, Socrates convinces Gorgias and Callicles, but not Polus to give up practicing rhetoric and to seek true justice through philosophy.

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Question 13

As an Athenian, Plato was a strong advocate for democracy, and believed that rhetoric took power away from the demos or people.

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Question 14

Which of the following was the Sophist whose name meant "colt" and in Plato's Gorgias represented the generation of young men that were infatuated with the Sophists, seeing rhetoric as a path to fame and wealth?

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Question 15

Plato believed that for the soul to achieve harmony, the part that loves nobility must rule over the other two parts of the soul.

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Question 16

Provide the term for the following definitions: -Greek term for true knowledge, which Plato felt the Sophists lacked on crucial questions such as justice.

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Question 17

One of Plato's concern's with rhetoric as an art was that it operated using "mere beliefs" or "mere opinions" on justice rather than _______________, the Greek term for "true knowledge."

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Question 18

In Gorgias, _______________ is the "sham art" that Socrates identifies as appearing to maintain one's health rather than actually maintaining physical health.

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Question 19

Respond to Plato's suggestion in Gorgias that the absence of a transforming logos for rhetoric renders the practice a mere knack, not a virtuous techne. Does a systematic explanation of a practice render it morally improved?

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Question 20

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Plato argues in Gorgias that rhetoric is a sham art. He also discusses a number of true arts. What is the true art to which rhetoric corresponds? What does Plato apparently mean by the comparison?

Which of the following is the art that Socrates identifies as restoring health to a soul?

Provide the term for the following definitions: -Greek term for a belief or opinion. Public opinion.

_______________ is the text by Plato in which Socrates discusses a form of rhetoric that may achieve the status of a true art, and in which he discusses how souls are divided into three parts.

Plato believed that a useful art of rhetoric would convince the lower parts of the soul to voluntarily submit to the _______________ loving part of the soul in order to produce harmony and justice.

Briefly overview the positions regarding rhetoric advanced by Socrates, Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles in Plato's dialogue Gorgias. How does each speaker characterize rhetoric and its goals?

Which of the following in ancient Greece would be categorized as a poieses or one of the productive arts?

In Gorgias, what sort of rhetoric is under attack by Plato? What, apparently, is Plato's main concern about the personal and social consequences of this kind of rhetoric?

In Gorgias, some scholars have seen Plato's writing as using rhetorical arguments to point out the dangers of practicing rhetoric.

Plato's art of rhetoric requires an orator to be like a psychologist, adapting speeches with different logoi to appeal to different types of souls.

Provide the term for the following definitions: -Greek term for a true art, which Plato contrasts to a sham art or "knack."

Briefly explain Plato's distinction between a true art (techne) and a sham art in Gorgias. Provide an example of a true art and its sham or counterfeit from the dialogue to illustrate your answer.

In Gorgias, Socrates convinces Gorgias and Callicles, but not Polus to give up practicing rhetoric and to seek true justice through philosophy.

As an Athenian, Plato was a strong advocate for democracy, and believed that rhetoric took power away from the demos or people.

Which of the following was the Sophist whose name meant "colt" and in Plato's Gorgias represented the generation of young men that were infatuated with the Sophists, seeing rhetoric as a path to fame and wealth?

Plato believed that for the soul to achieve harmony, the part that loves nobility must rule over the other two parts of the soul.

Provide the term for the following definitions: -Greek term for true knowledge, which Plato felt the Sophists lacked on crucial questions such as justice.

One of Plato's concern's with rhetoric as an art was that it operated using "mere beliefs" or "mere opinions" on justice rather than _______________, the Greek term for "true knowledge."

In Gorgias, _______________ is the "sham art" that Socrates identifies as appearing to maintain one's health rather than actually maintaining physical health.

Respond to Plato's suggestion in Gorgias that the absence of a transforming logos for rhetoric renders the practice a mere knack, not a virtuous techne. Does a systematic explanation of a practice render it morally improved?

An Overview of Rhetoric

The Origins and Early History of Rhetoric

Aristotle on Rhetoric

Rhetoric at Rome

Rhetoric in Christian Europe

Rhetoric in the Renaissance

Enlightenment Rhetoric

Contemporary Rhetoric I: Arguments, Audiences, Advocates

Contemporary Rhetoric II: Situation, Story, Display

Contemporary Rhetoric III: Texts, Power, Alternatives

Rhetoric and Ancient Greek Philosophy

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