Reading for 2/1 (Gorgias and Plato)

I’m a little unclear on how many blog posts we are supposed to have, but I’m assuming if I cover each week’s reading I should be fine.  This being said, I’ll start on Gorgias’s Econium of Helen and Plato’s Republic Books II, III, and X.

                Gorgias is concerned with persuasion, not universal truth, which I think is interesting and really goes to show how there is never really one reality, as there can be multiple truths depending upon how one is persuaded and what facts are illuminated.  The book says that the way he thought could be stated as such:  “language as not simply representing reality but in effect producing reality by shaping the beliefs of an audience.”   Okay, now that’s a cool concept; language can create and mold reality.  It really shows how influential language is and reminds me of why I’m an English major, because language really is amazing and has such awesome capabilities.

In his Econium, Gorgias tries to prove that Helen’s “detractors” are lying and works to improve his overall ethos by attempting to show he purely is searching for truth. He says that either the gods willed her to act the ways she did, she was in love, or persuaded by speech.  All of these options leave her blameless.  I think it’s interesting how within his attempt to display the powers of rhetoric by changing people’s minds, he also additionally proves how rhetoric may have been powerful enough to change Helen’s mind and cause her to act the way she did. By implanting ideas, invisible matters may become apparent.

                I, personally, couldn’t relate to Plato’s thoughts as well as I could to Gorgias.  Plato favored strong censorship and thought that young people couldn’t distinguish allegory from truth, which I find absurd.  He manipulates logic in order to prove his point and guide those who he speaks with arrive at the same conclusions he has.  Because of his skillful manipulations of words, I admire him.  It is understandable that his need for absolute truth would follow people like Gorgias, who didn’t care much for truth and only wanted good arguments.   

                When you look at these two figures together, you can see the progression of ideas in Classical Antiquity.  There’s a series of actions and reactions, in which Gorgias and Plato come up with their opinions of what should be of value in society.