Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Elements of Gorgianic Rhetoric and the Forensic Genre in Plato's Apology
- 3 The Rhetoric of Socratic Questioning in the Protagoras
- 4 The Competition between Philosophy and Rhetoric in the Gorgias
- 5 The Dialectical Development of the Philosopher and Sophist in the Republic
- 6 Philosophers, Sophists, and Strangers in the Sophist
- 7 Love and Rhetoric in Plato's Phaedrus
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - The Rhetoric of Socratic Questioning in the Protagoras
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Elements of Gorgianic Rhetoric and the Forensic Genre in Plato's Apology
- 3 The Rhetoric of Socratic Questioning in the Protagoras
- 4 The Competition between Philosophy and Rhetoric in the Gorgias
- 5 The Dialectical Development of the Philosopher and Sophist in the Republic
- 6 Philosophers, Sophists, and Strangers in the Sophist
- 7 Love and Rhetoric in Plato's Phaedrus
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Exploring the purpose of Socratic questioning in the dialogues is a crucial part of making sense of Plato's approach to philosophical and sophistical rhetoric. Superficially, Socratic questioning seems to share something in common with sophistic eristic. Socrates often asks questions that seem to lead his opponents toward conclusions that do not necessarily follow from the premises. Perhaps Adeimantus puts it best when he speaks to Socrates about this common perception of philosophers in the Republic:
[H]ere is how those who hear what you now say are affected on each occasion. They believe that because of inexperience at questioning and answering, they are at each question misled a little by the argument; and when the littles are collected at the end of the arguments, the slip turns out to be great and contrary to the first assertions. And just as those who aren't clever at playing draughts are finally checked by those who are and don't know where to move, so they too are finally checked by this other kind of draughts, played not with counters but speeches, and don't know what to say .
(Rep. 487b).Here, Adeimantus suggests that the experience of being questioned by Socrates feels akin to being tricked in a game of checkers. This image of a game particularly emphasizes the possibility that Socrates is interested in being the victor in a competition rather than in seeking the truth.
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- Plato on the Rhetoric of Philosophers and Sophists , pp. 56 - 84Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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