Who is afraid of the rhētōr? : An analysis and exegesis of Socrates and Gorgias' conversation in Plato's Gorgias

This book concentrates on the conversation between Socrates and Gorgias which takes place in the first part of Plato's Gorgias. Scholars have tended to concentrate on the following two conversations held by Socrates with Polus and, especially, with Callicles. This first, relatively short, conversation is usually taken to be a kind of preface coming before Plato's 'real' philosophy. The present study challenges this assumption, arguing that the conversation between Socrates and Gorgias actually anticipates the message of the whole dialogue, which concerns the essence of rhetoric and its implications. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PREFACE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. SOCRATES' FIRST MOVE (447A1-449B3): ANALYSIS 3. SOCRATES' FIRST MOVE: INTERPRETATION 4. RHĒTŌR AND DERIVATIVES: MEANINGS AND USAGES 5. THE RHĒTORES IN GORGIAS' WORLDVIEW 6. THE RHĒTŌR IN GORGIAS' WORLDVIEW 7. GORGIAS' PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEM: THE VACILLATION OF THE ARTIST 8. SOCRATES' SECOND MOVE 449B4-461B2: ANALYSIS 9. SOCRATES' SECOND MOVE: INTERPRETATION 10. SOCRATES' PHILOSOPHICAL CRITICISM: THE VACILLATION OF THE ART 11. POSSIBLE OBJECTIONS 12. WITH A VIEW TO THE REST OF THE GORGIAS 13. SUMMARY 14. APPENDICES BIBLIOGRAPHY