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Gorgias and Rhetoric

What Is Rhetoric & What Is Its Power?


Reading Gorgias was rather like participating in a wrestling match, an internal one. The match, rather than focusing on the physical prowess of combatants, focused on the question, “What is rhetoric, and what is its power?” and the true combatants were not people but the arguments stemming and surrounding this question. It would often seem that whenever one statement had been pinned down, a counterstatement by Socrates or one of his opponents would mess things up, and so the argument would continue. I would also add that Gorgias seemed like a very long wrestling match.
However, before I describe the match concluded in my mind, let me explain exactly how I have structured this essay. The essay makes an honest attempt to answer the two-part question, “What is rhetoric, and what is its power?” I have divided the essay into three parts. First, I am going to present how the different arguments played out in my head, or more simp...

Posted by: Adriana Alvarez

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