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Single Idea 116
[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric
]
Full Idea
Rhetoric is a knack, because it lacks rational understanding of its object or what it dispenses (and can't explain the reason anything happens).
Gist of Idea
Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends
Source
Plato (Gorgias [c.387 BCE], 465a)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Gorgias', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP World's Classics 1994], p.32
A Reaction
If there are cunning people who have the wrong sort of intelligence for morality, there must be cunning users of rhetoric who know exactly what they are doing.
The
26 ideas
from 'Gorgias'
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1654
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In "Gorgias" Socrates is confident that his 'elenchus' will decide moral truth
[Vlastos on Plato]
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4320
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The popular view is that health is first, good looks second, and honest wealth third
[Plato]
|
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114
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Rhetoric can produce conviction, but not educate people about right and wrong
[Plato]
|
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4321
|
We should test one another, by asking and answering questions
[Plato]
|
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116
|
Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends
[Plato]
|
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118
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I would rather be a victim of crime than a criminal
[Plato]
|
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119
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A criminal is worse off if he avoids punishment
[Plato]
|
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120
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Should we avoid evil because it will bring us bad consequences?
[Plato]
|
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122
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Moral rules are made by the weak members of humanity
[Plato]
|
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123
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Do most people like equality because they are second-rate?
[Plato]
|
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124
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Does nature imply that it is right for better people to have greater benefits?
[Plato]
|
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125
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Is a gifted philosopher unmanly if he avoids the strife of the communal world?
[Plato]
|
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128
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Is it natural to simply indulge our selfish desires?
[Plato]
|
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129
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Do most people praise self-discipline and justice because they are too timid to gain their own pleasure?
[Plato]
|
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130
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Is the happiest state one of sensual, self-indulgent freedom?
[Plato]
|
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131
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If absence of desire is happiness, then nothing is happier than a stone or a corpse
[Plato]
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4319
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In a fool's mind desire is like a leaky jar, insatiable in its desires, and order and contentment are better
[Plato]
|
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132
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If happiness is the satisfaction of desires, then a life of scratching itches should be happiness
[Plato]
|
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4322
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In slaking our thirst the goodness of the action and the pleasure are clearly separate
[Plato]
|
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134
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Good and bad people seem to experience equal amounts of pleasure and pain
[Plato]
|
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135
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All activity aims at the good
[Plato]
|
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136
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Good should be the aim of pleasant activity, not the other way round
[Plato]
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137
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As with other things, a good state is organised and orderly
[Plato]
|
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139
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A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness
[Plato]
|
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140
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Self-indulgent desire makes friendship impossible, because it makes a person incapable of co-operation
[Plato]
|
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141
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A good citizen won't be passive, but will redirect the needs of the state
[Plato]
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