Abstract
In this article I intend to show how three different aspects of the Gorgias are interconnected: (1) The criticism towards Athenian rhetoric and pleasure versus the defense of a philosophical way of life, expressed through Socrates' theses and discussions with his interlocutors; (2) The dialogue's dramatic background and the refutations of Socrates' greedy interlocutors through shame; (3) Socrates' long discourses at the end of the dialogue, in which he admits the possibility of a good rhetoric and narrates how a punitive system would work in the afterlife. In order to do so, I first highlight Socrates' rebuttal of the relations between rhetoric and knowledge as well as pleasure and good through the inversion of common Athenian values (I). Secondly, I analyze how the dramatic devices of the dialogue function to show Socrates shaming his interlocutors (II and III). Finally, by analyzing the final myth and Socrates' final speeches (IV and V) I propose a new interpretation to the obscure suggestions of a good rhetoric in the final part of the dialogue: in the good rhetoric exhibited by Plato in the Gorgias, pleasure and adulation are substituted by the production of pain and shame.
Highlights
O meu e o teu consentimento, portanto, serão realmente a completude da verdade
In this article I intend to show how three different aspects of the Gorgias are interconnected: (1) The criticism towards Athenian rhetoric and pleasure versus the defense of a philosophical way of life, expressed through Socrates' theses and discussions with his interlocutors; (2) The dialogue's dramatic background and the refutations of Socrates' greedy interlocutors through shame; (3) Socrates' long discourses at the end of the dialogue, in which he admits the possibility of a good rhetoric and narrates how a punitive system would work in the afterlife
By analyzing the final myth and Socrates' final speeches (IV and V) I propose a new interpretation to the obscure suggestions of a good rhetoric in the final part of the dialogue: in the good rhetoric exhibited by Plato in the Gorgias, pleasure and adulation are substituted by the production of pain and shame
Summary
In this article I intend to show how three different aspects of the Gorgias are interconnected: (1) The criticism towards Athenian rhetoric and pleasure versus the defense of a philosophical way of life, expressed through Socrates' theses and discussions with his interlocutors; (2) The dialogue's dramatic background and the refutations of Socrates' greedy interlocutors through shame; (3) Socrates' long discourses at the end of the dialogue, in which he admits the possibility of a good rhetoric and narrates how a punitive system would work in the afterlife. Vou defender não apenas que esses três aspectos do diálogo estão conectados, mas também que a compreensão adequada de cada um depende do esclarecimento do que está implicado nos demais.[8] A parte crítica do diálogo – composta pelos argumentos contra a retórica – só faz sentido dentro do registro discursivo específico do Górgias – a tentativa socrática de refutar seus interlocutores através da vergonha – por motivos que são sugeridos no trecho mais propositivo do texto – o final do diálogo, após a crise com o último interlocutor, em que Sócrates faz a defesa da filosofia e sugere a possibilidade de uma boa retórica. Na seção V, defendo a conexão entre esses diferentes aspectos do Górgias
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