Two Treatises on Government and Truth

Prompt #5

            Although rhetoric touched a wide variety of Greek activity, it had a uniquely powerful influence on government because of the advent of democracy.  Unlike many governments that bare the title today, all eligible males in Athens could vote on every issue.  Because of this, rhetoric was a necessity, not a convenience.  Without the ability to persuade the civilians of one course of action over another, it would have been impossible for anything important to be accomplished. 

            However, as critical as rhetoric became for everyday functions of government, it also began to  play a role in the framework of the system  itself.  Because of the democracy, citizens had  legitimate power to act on the opinions they were persuaded to believe.  Therefore, there was a justifiable reason to convince them that one type of government was better than another.  This implicit realization must have been an underlying motive of Plato's work "The Republic."  In elaborating on his concept of an ideal state, Plato implied that a better government was something worthy of persuading others about.  He also unconsciously laid the groundwork for deliberative oratory to be expanded to include not only decisions about the future, but also the way that decisions are made about the future.  In  another sense, Plato was attempting to set up scaffolding for the way he thought deliberative oratory should unfold in the ideal state.   He was trying to form a structure of kairos that rhetoric directed at specific problems could fit themselves inside.  Not only did rhetoric influence the day-to-day politics of ancient Greece, their politics also began to shape the way that rhetoric was expressed.

            The bidirectional relationship between rhetoric and politics were the beginnings of the modern-day worldview of government.   While still in its infancy in terms of  development, the importance of convincing large groups people about political decisions and that the rules of how and in what setting that persuasion took place was a segue to modern forms of deliberation of both policy and procedure. 

Prompt #2

           

            Much of Socrates' work was intended to be a critique of sophist ideas.  It wasn't just that he believed that absolute existed, though he indeed did that.  It wasn't just that he had a problem with written communication, although that was true as well.  No, the most fundamental difference between Socrates and the Sophists was how they both handled the uncertainty of life.

            Socrates was known for saying "The unexamined life is not worth living."  But he also stated, "True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing."  Surprisingly, like the Sophists, Socrates believed that humans did not have a perfect knowledge of truth.  However, in contrast to Protagoras, who, upon understanding the limits of his understanding, threw up his hands in defeat and concluded that since we can't fully know anything about anything, we shouldn't even try, Socrates believed that by "remembering" the echoes of truth in our minds, we could come closer to true knowledge.  Not all the way there, but closer. 

            Upon hearing Socrates' critique of rhetoric, Gorgias may have commented on the irony of the philosopher using a rhetorical principle, logos, to incriminate rhetoric as a whole.  But I don't think he would have understood that seeking the dissemination of truth is an entirely different animal than trying to manipulate the opinions of others, even when both objectives use tools that are superficially similar.  It is a classic error of man to believe that truth can exist independently in the mind without a heart to go along with it.  For all his logic, it was Socrates' heart that made him reach for the stars instead of drowning beneath the bubbling froth of relativity and pragmatics.  Though he may not have realized it, Socrates' real problem with the Sophists was their commitment to wallow in their own uncertainty rather than, to paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, beat on, boats against the current, borne forward ceaselessly toward light, knowledge, and the future.  Isn't that exactly how it is today?