Midterm Essays

Prompt #4 – Medium and Message

During the time of the great Socratics, the written word was just beginning to establish itself in the Greek culture. For Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the alphabet and other literary tools would have a huge effect on the way these thinkers worked.  Socrates was firmly planted in his own concept of gaining knowledge through one on one conversation, and was now faced with a challenge of thoughts and ideas losing some of their purity. The pure form of oral communication would be altered now that ideas could be written down. He would lose some important qualities to his speech, like connecting with the audience and accurately portraying himself.

On the other hand, Plato and Aristotle thrived on the written word. Plato would eventually use writing to describe a conversation between the Sophist, Gorgias and Socrates. Alongside this powerful dialogue, Aristotle was able to record important rhetorical tools that could be taught throughout time. Aristotle created systematic learning, and much of what we understand about rhetoric and it’s tools came from his studies and written works.

Even though there were a few downfalls, the establishment of literacy among the Greek culture was a wonderful unifying tool overall. Different cities could become one as there was spread of ideas and thoughts on paper and stories could finally be written down to be remembered throughout time. Without literacy in those days, I don’t know how much of what Socrates, Plato and Aristotle studied back then would be available to us now.

Prompt #2 - Sophists vs. Socratics 

If you put Socratic and a Sophist in a Rhetorical boxing ring, I truly wonder who would come out victorious. Around 5^th-4^th B.C., a rhetorical debate between Sophists and Socratics began to form. Socrates was against rhetoric being a tool used only for manipulating language to fit the needs of the speaker and eventually persuade the audience to do or think whatever the speaker thought was right. He believed that the only way rhetoric could be pure would be if it was balanced with moral philosophy. Sophists on the other hand thought language was a way to help people get to similar levels of understanding; Even if it didn’t embody the whole truth. They based their belief on the power to get people to think the way that they would, no matter how bad their case might have been. 

Then along came Plato, a Socratic, who wrote a lengthy fictional dialogue between Socrates and the Sophist Gorgias. Gorgias was portrayed as someone pretty submissive and willing to listen to everything Socrates had to say, but in the real world I’m sure Gorgias would’ve put up a little more of a fight. In this dialogue Plato takes advantage of the written word to write his own opinions of Socratic theory through this conversation with Gorgias, basically putting words in his mouth. As a true sophist, I’m sure Gorgias would’ve argued something similar to Isocrates who said that rhetorical speech is responsible for inventions, civility and many more things that benefit our lives.

Socratics and Sophists have a long history of differing opinions and theories, with rhetoric as the dividing line. Yet we are fortunate to have both opposing sides to learn from and give a broader perspective on rhetoric and the different ways it can be used. Both parties have helped us to create our own opinions of what we should and shouldn’t believe about what people say.