Gorgias

Elenchus comes from the Greek word meaning “to question” or “to examine.” It is Socrates’s method of using a question-and-answer format to arrive at philosophical conclusions. In Plato’s Gorgias, as in many of his other dialogues, Socrates’s use of this method often annoys or angers his interlocutors. This is because Socrates’s elenchus uses questions to draw assertions from his interlocutors that often lead them to propositions that contradict their earlier assertions. There is, however, a flaw in the elenchus that becomes clear in the Gorgias: Exposing inconsistencies in the beliefs of one’s interlocutors does not necessarily mean that one’s own beliefs are true.

The concept of justice (dike or dikaiosyne in Greek) assumes an important role in the Gorgias from early on. Socrates pushes his interlocutors to recognize and elaborate upon the social responsibility of orators and politicians—that is, the responsibility of such public figures to behave justly. Socrates argues that one needs to have true knowledge (episteme) about right and wrong to be just or “righteous,” and further argues that somebody who does have such knowledge will not want to behave unjustly: Nobody willingly does wrong. For Socrates, justice is good for the soul, the most important element of any individual’s existence, while injustice is ruinous to the soul. Thus, the greatest evil that can befall somebody is to do wrong.

Socrates has much to say about the opposition of knowledge (Greek episteme) and opinion (Greek doxa) in Plato’s Gorgias. For Socrates, “knowledge” is by definition true, as one cannot have false knowledge, while an “opinion” can be either true or false. One must always question whether the knowledge they claim to have is true knowledge or mere opinion: This is why Socrates places such a high premium on the elenchus, his method of question-and-answer, which he regards as the best way to reach valid conclusions. By contrast, Socrates does not regard oratory as a true art because its practitioners use persuasion (peitho in Greek) to engender belief rather than knowledge—a practice that, in Socrates’s estimation, seriously undermines the value of oratory.

At least initially, Socrates’s goal in the dialogue is to arrive at a precise definition of oratory or rhetoric (rhetorike), the skill of public speaking. For Gorgias and Polus, oratory is the most valuable art (techne) because a skilled orator is able to produce conviction on the subject of right and wrong through a process that relies on belief rather than knowledge. Orators are powerful in that they have sway over their fellow citizens and can convince them to follow any policy they choose, regardless of their own knowledge or expertise on the subject. Socrates, on the other hand, views oratory not as a true art but as a “knack” based on experience (empeiria) because it is not based on a rational theory. Moreover, Socrates claims that oratory panders to the desires of the masses and thus does not push others to pursue virtue and the good.