Primary Sources
Plato, “Gorgias”. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Australia. University of Adelaide Library. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Plato, “Gorgias.” Trans. W. C. Helmbold. Hathi Trust Library. 1952. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Secondary Sources
Kastely, James L. “In Defense Of Plato’s Gorgias.” PMLA: Publications Of The Modern Language Association Of America 106.1 (1991): 96-109. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Found via a search on the MLA Database for ‘Gorgias’ and ‘rhetoric’ as keywords.
James L. Kastely in his scholarly journal article “In Defense of Plato’s Gorgias” (1991) suggests that the majority of rhetorical scholars have misread Plato’s ‘Gorgias’ in seeing it as Plato’s dismissal of rhetoric, and that instead Plato is actually recommending that people engage in rhetoric as a means of refutation within Athenian society.
Kastely supports his claims through several close readings of Plato’s Gorgias, analyzing the arguments of the Sophists (Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles) as well as that of Socrates, and also citing the works of several other rhetoricians who have made claims similar to his before concluding his argument with a summation of how he feels scholars should instead try to read “Gorgias,” and Plato’s other works.
Kastely’s purpose in this article is to show that the dialogue’s Socrates’ dismissal of rhetoric is not the opinion of Plato in order to show that Plato is in fact very concerned with the study of rhetoric, and finding out how it can be implemented for the community’s benefit.
Kastely’s main audience is rhetoric scholars, especially those concerned with Classical Rhetoric, which we know because he engages in the discourse in a manner that assumes the reader’s familiarity with both “Gorgias” and common perceptions held by rhetorical scholars of both the text and its author.
Liebersohn, Yosef Z. “The Problem Of Rhetoric’s Materia In Plato’s Gorgias (449C9-D9).” Rhetorica: A Journal Of The History Of Rhetoric 29.1 (2011): 1-22. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Found via a search on the MLA Database for ‘Gorgias’ and ‘rhetoric’ as keywords.
Yosef Libersohn in his scholarly journal article “The Problem Of Rhetoric’s Materia In Plato’s Gorgias (449C9-D9)” (2011) asserts that rhetoric as understood today in terms of an art of persuasion was not thought of in those terms by Gorgias and his contemporaries, those whom rhetoric scholars consider among rhetoric’s earliest formal practitioners and educators.
Libersohn supports his argument through a close reading of ten lines from the original Greek text in which Socrates questions Gorgias in two different ways about the materia of rhetoric, explaining the importance of Socrates’ attention to diction in this section, and describing why Gorgias and his contemporaries would not have viewed rhetoric outside of a political realm.
3Libersohn’s purpose is to show that Socrates’ motive in his discussion with Gorgias is not to dismiss rhetoric in its entirety, but to expose to Gorgias, and consequently the reader, that rhetoric has not yet been well-defined in order to show that rhetoric in Gorgias’ time is not yet considered an art, but is still in its early stage of development.
Libersohn establishes a formal discourse with rhetorical scholars whom he assumes to have familiarity with the original Greek text of Plato’s works.
Murray, James Stuart. “Plato On Power, Moral Responsibility And The Alleged Neutrality Of Gorgias’ Art Of Rhetoric (Gorgias 456C-457B).” Philosophy And Rhetoric 34.4 (2001): 355-363. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Found via a search on the MLA Database for ‘Gorgias’ and ‘rhetoric’ as keywords.
1James Stuart Murray in his scholarly journal article “Plato on Power, Moral Responsibility And The Alleged Nuetrality of Gorgias’ Art of Rhetoric (2001) argues that Gorgias’ assertion that corrupt students are wholly to blame for those instances when they misuse the art of rhetoric is built on the faulty analogy which compares the teachings of boxing and rhetoric, stating that rhetoric is inherently about achieving personal power in the Gorgian view.
Murray makes this argument by examining the teaching of boxing and rhetoric in ancient Athens to reveal the flaws in Gorgias’ analogy, showing that while boxing has a specific domain and rules of conduct Gorgian rhetoric is about asserting one’s will over another, even those who are not trained in the field.
Murray’s purpose is to show that the common perception of Plato’s Gorgias as someone who sees rhetoric as solely an end in and of itself is a misreading of the text in order for other scholars to consider reexamining standard beliefs about Gorgian rhetoric.
4. Murray makes a scholarly, but personal connection with both rhetorical scholars and other educators interested in classical rhetoric through the use of his casual and humorous opening anecdote, and a proceeding accessible argument.
Svoboda, Michael. “Athens, The Unjust Student Of Rhetoric: A Dramatic Historical Interpretation Of Plato’s Gorgias.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 37.3 (2007): 275-305. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Search on MLA Database using the keyword ‘Gorgias’ and ‘Plato’
Whedbee, Karen E. “An English Plato: J. S. Mill’s Gorgias.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 37.1 (2007): 19-41. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Search on MLA Database using the keyword ‘Gorgias’ and ‘Plato’
