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Single Idea 9866

[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 1. Rhetoric ]

Full Idea

Gorgias insists that the art of persuasion is superior to all others because it enslaves all the rest, with their own consent, not by force, and is therefore by far the best of all the arts.

Gist of Idea

Gorgias says rhetoric is the best of arts, because it enslaves without using force

Source

report of Gorgias (fragments/reports [c.443 BCE]) by Plato - Philebus 58a

Book Ref

Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.447

A Reaction

A nice point, and it is not unreasonable to rank the arts in order of their power. To enchant, without achieving agreement, and to speak truth without persuading, are both very fine, but there is something about success that cannot be gainsaid.

The 24 ideas with the same theme [use of language for emotional influence]:

6331 Truth is not beautiful; beautiful speech is not truthful [Laozi (Lao Tzu)]
7357 People who control others with fluent language often end up being hated [Kongzi (Confucius)]
5864 Destroy seriousness with laughter, and laughter with seriousness [Gorgias]
9866 Gorgias says rhetoric is the best of arts, because it enslaves without using force [Gorgias, by Plato]
114 Rhetoric can produce conviction, but not educate people about right and wrong [Plato]
116 Rhetoric is irrational about its means and its ends [Plato]
158 An excellent speech seems to imply a knowledge of the truth in the mind of the speaker [Plato]
159 Only a good philosopher can be a good speaker [Plato]
5946 'Phaedrus' pioneers the notion of philosophical rhetoric [Lawson-Tancred on Plato]
5945 The 'Republic' is a great work of rhetorical theory [Lawson-Tancred on Plato]
283 The question of whether or not to persuade comes before the science of persuasion [Plato]
3324 Plato's whole philosophy may be based on being duped by reification - a figure of speech [Benardete,JA on Plato]
22570 Rhetoric now enables good speakers to become popular leaders [Aristotle]
5849 Rhetoric is a political offshoot of dialectic and ethics [Aristotle]
20777 Rhetoric has three types, four modes, and four sections [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
21667 Oratory and philosophy are closely allied; orators borrow from philosophy, and ornament it [Cicero]
20814 Eloquence educates, exhorts, comforts, distracts and unites us, and raises us from savagery [Cicero]
6681 We only want to know things so that we can talk about them [Pascal]
20266 It is essential that wise people learn to express their wisdom, possibly even as foolishness [Nietzsche]
24120 Great orators lead their arguments, rather than following them [Nietzsche]
1596 Reasoning aims not at the understanding of objects, but at the desire to give beautiful speeches [Roochnik]
1578 If relativism is the correct account of human values, then rhetoric is more important than reasoning [Roochnik]
10358 Often socialising people is the only way to persuade them [Kusch]
20946 Rhetoric is built into language, so it cannot be stripped from philosophy [Bowie]