Falando (o) bem : a concepção de retórica no Górgias de Platão

Abstract

This dissertation examines the extent of the attack made by Plato’s Gorgias on those practices called rhetoric (ῥητορική) within it. Considering not only the explicit arguments offered by its characters, but also the characterization of such characters and the dramatic movements drawn by them throughout the conversations, the investigation presupposes the existence of at least “two rhetorics” in the dialogue. It is understood that the treatment offered by it to each one of them would consider such distinction, but that it wouldn’t necessarily be limited to the polarized vision of one as “beautiful” (καλόν) and the other as “shameful” (αἰσχρὰ) – as the character of Socrates seems to initially want to assert while making the division between the two explicit (503a). Examining such valuation, therefore, not as a final answer from the dialogue to the question at hand, but only as the provisional position of one of its characters, Gorgias’ posture towards the rhetorics is investigated using the criterion reached throughout its varied interlocutions as the criterion for all things, all people and all actions: the good. The investigation concludes that the dialogue’s treatment of the rhetorics is a lot more nuanced than one might initially expect. It is argued how the Gorgias ultimately reaches, explicitly or implicitly, the understanding that the flattering rhetoric, vastly criticized within it, should not only be criticized – and that the true rhetoric, vastly praised within it, should also definitely not be seen as immune to criticism.