Reading Pg. 51-60 Question # 2:

 

In this reading Plato explains, what he thinks is the 3 issues with rhetoric: Its association with power, potential for manipulation, and rhetoric’s relationship to truth. Plato’s views of rhetoric and rhetoricians are very expected and bias considering his background. He is of the upper class and believes when it comes to the possession of leadership it should belong to only those who are philosopher kings. I think through rhetoric and its power that he may be worried about losing his power so someone skilled in the art possibly someone of lower class. He was also a firm believer in the manipulation power that rhetoric had. He said “What happens to a society when law and justice rest on persuasion?” I think that he feels that the law and the court systems were a place of true knowledge (episteme). He thinks that belief and true knowledge can be confused and this confusion can lead to danger. A true sophist can easily convince one that they have true knowledge on a subject when they are just expressing their beliefs on their audience. He thinks that this could be dangerous because those who don’t have true knowledge may never have it. He also believes that sophist have no form of justice but persuasion instead. He goes on to say that “true justice is founded on knowledge.”

 

Reflective Tag:

In this reading I learned a lot of definitions and how Plato applies them through his theory. Episteme, which is knowledge, is the base for true justice. Justice is a topic in which Plato feels really strongly about and says sophists try and seek this through persuasion by manipulation of public opinion, doxa which I agree with giving the information in the reading. I feel that this is important so there is not a contamination of fields that require you to have knowledge rather just persuasive skills. As an audience of rhetoric and as individuals we need to take steps towards gaining more knowledge in prevention of being an ignorant audience.

Constructive Reflection:

As I look back at my previous reading responses and reflective tags I can say that I agree with all of them. I do not really read my responses differently but I can say that I have developed a more broad knowledge on rhetoric. I remember the first day of class when you asked what the definition of rhetoric was and I didn’t really have an answer. Now I can easily tell you all about rhetoric. I can apply my experiences and create a more in depth response to the readings. This has helped me better understand the theories of the different Sophist and those who analyze them.