The impact of Sophist intervention in Ancient Greece

During this time period of Ancient Greece, there were many prominent people that played a major role in changing the culture and development of rhetoric. Although important public figures would come and go, but each would help develop rhetoric in Athens in a different way. Sophists were the first of many important people to influence rhetoric in Athens. Sophists developed the idea of rhetoric through different theories from different rhetoricians. Gorgias was among the first Sophist to arrive in Athens. Sophists having different theories on rhetoric would draw vast crowds to speeches thereby drawing immense attention to their teachings. The new ideas and theories they introduced to the people through speeches, writings, and debates along with the teachings that were taught as professors improved rhetorics development in ancient Greece. Theories among persuasion, absolute truths, and relativism were spread through the people. Gorgias had the theory of persuasion and persuasion through argument would eat to the absolute truth. Gorgias was a major figure prominent in Athens due to his development of rhetoric, transition to a Sophist, professional attributes to the demos, and also quickly changing Greece through his skills of making the weaker argument appear stronger while having the unique ability to answer questions randomly asked by the crowd randomly.

Gorgias was one of the first Sophists in Athens. Sophists were acknowledged in this time period as being wise professors of the Ancient Greek world. Sophists were seen as masters of language and speech.  They were professors who traveled around the cities of Ancient Greece giving speeches on subjects like rhetoric for money. Gorgias first traveled with Protagoras to Athens to speak as an ambassador to seek military assistance for his hometown of Leontini. Both Gorgias and Protagoras were well know in Ancient Greece eventually being seen by the people as superstars. Both were seen as superstars arguing the fact we can all argue anything. During his time speaking as an ambassador, Gorgias continued to win over many fans with his eloquent speeches and display of knowledge. Plato disagreed with Gorgias and the other Sophists for teaching for pay instead of for the benefits for the people of Athens. The theories of Gorgias and the other Sophist were well established as Plato and his followers gained influence, yet he despised the Sophists and was not in anyway shy of letting people know. He did not agree with many of the Sophist’s ideas that were taught to the demos of Ancient Greece. After Plato, Sophists were seen as superficial, destructive, and at worst deliberate deceivers of the people in vast ways. “Plato, who lived in the generation following the arrival of the first Sophists, encouraged such suspicion with his dialogues Gorgias, Sophist, and Protagoras.” (Herrick pg.35) In Plato’s Gorgias he raised a series of important questions about rhetoric and persuasion. “What is the essential nature of rhetoric? Does rhetoric by its very nature tend to mislead? What happens to a society when law and justice rest on persuasion?” (Herrick pg.52) Throughout this writing Plato criticized the Sophists in multiple ways, including their “taking of money, making exaggerated pedagogical claims, and boastfulness.” (Herrick pg.52) “Plato called them simply “masters of the art of making clever speeches,” and Xenophon reduced them to the level of masters of fraud” (Herrick pg.35) The teachings of the Sophists were in many ways very diverse, as some teachings included speculation on the nature of the universe and others on the art of rhetoric. As for Gorgias, his teachings consisted of great speeches to the people introducing argument for both sides and turning the weakest side of the argument into the strongest side of the argument. Gorgias was strong in using persuasion to make any side of the argument the strongest side. He would also draw immense crowds of fans and as to finish off his speeches Gorgias would have random questions asked from the crowds and be able to answer without any problems or struggle.

Gorgias special technique that went along with his mastering of speeches was his ability to answer random from the audience. “He ushered in rhetorical innovations involving structure and ornamentation throughout his speeches.” (Herrick pg.39) Some of his most well known writings included the Encomium on Helen ,where he fully displayed his argumentative skills. “On Gorgias’ Encomium he was intrigued on experiments with sound, rhyming style that strikes modern readers as overdone.” “As George Kennedy summarizes, Gorgias four possible reasons for Helen’s action: it was the will of the gods: she was taken by force; she was seduced by words; or she was overcome by love. This hypnotic style adapted poetic devices to rhetoric, poetry itself being seen as a means of working magic.”(Herrick pg.39)  This famous speech was intended to demonstrate that the skilled rhetorician can prove any proposition no matter the strength of the proposition. He reveals his skill by arguing the unlikely thesis of Helen. This thesis would be that Helen should not be blamed for deserting Menelaus and following Paris to Troy. Gorgias argues that Helen “could not have resisted the power of logos,’’ (Herrick pg.39) or persuasive words, which constitutes a type of witchcraft or magic. Gorgias would work to great lengths to exhibit his ability of making an absurd argumentative position appear stronger through persuasion. In each of his works, he would try to defend positions, propositions, or arguments that seemed unpopular or of the weaker side. Gorgias saw rhetoric as being equal to persuasion while using ethos, pathos, and logos in his speeches and writings. Another popular format Gorgias would use in his writings would be the argument on the nonexistent and how “things exist”. His argument concluded with the idea of, “in order for something to exist, existence must come from nonexistence. With limit it is eternal and without limit existence is nowhere and therefore can’t exist since everything existing must be somewhere.” (Herrick pg.38) For example in his speeches, Gorgias would write these arguments to show his abilities of how each side of everything can be argued equally. One of the most famous things from Gorgias comes from his three formulations of skeptical philosophy. First, nothing exists. Second, if anything did exist, we could not know it. Third, if we could know that something existed we would not be able to communicate it to anyone else. Just as every other philosopher and speaker of rhetoric, Gorgias had many followers and critics throughout Athens.

Sophists formed a revolution in thought that even today influences education, politics, and rhetoric would be taught and spread throughout the world. Gorgias who was one of the earliest teachers and practitioners of the art of rhetoric, was originally sent to Athens as a military ambassador. He then had a tremendously successful career as a diplomat, teacher, skeptical philosopher, and speaker for the demos of Athens. Gorgias boasted of being able to persuade anyone of anything, noting that his powers of persuasion were legendary and even magical. Specifically, Gorgias defines rhetoric as “the ability to persuade with words; judges in the courts, senators in the senate, assemblymen in the Assembly, and the men in any other meeting which convenes for the public interest.” (Herrick pg.40) He was very intrigued on the thought of rhetoric as magic and the power of persuasion words and language can have on a humans mind.   “Effective rhetoric had a hypnotic effect on audiences captured by the Orators verbal spell. Rhetoric for Gorgias was verbal magic, One of his greatest critics Plato called it “almost supernatural” influence on audiences. He developed a rhetorical incantation that hypnotizes audiences, not a tight, logical proof.” (Herrick pg.38) Gorgias believed that words worked their magic most powerfully by arousing emotions such as fear, pity, and longing. Gorgias also introduced the idea that truth is a product of the clash of views which is closely related to the concept of kairos. Kairos is the concept of belief that truth is momentary and relative to circumstances. The view also reflects the Sophists’ commitment to Aporia. Aporia is the effort to place a claim in doubt. Once clouded in the doubt, the orator’s goal was to demonstrate that one resolution of the issue was more likely than another.

A Sophist specializing in speechwriting were called logographos. Others were teachers who ran schools in which public speaking was taught along with other subjects. “A third group of Sophists were professional orators who gave speeches for a fee, whether for entertainment, in a court, to a legislature. Of course, many and any Sophist could have provided all three: speechwriter, professor, and professional speaker.” (Barrett) Sophists earned the reputation for “extravagant displays of language.” (Herrick pg.32) “These Sophists also astonished audiences with their brilliant styles, colorful appearances, and flamboyant personalities by drawing audiences and mesmerizing them with their skills.” (Waterfield) As stated above, Sophists were teachers of the art of rhetoric and verbal persuasion. However if you talked to Sophists they would say they taught more than just speech making, but also instructed their students in Arête. Arête suggested that all of the qualities that marked of a “natural leader” included: excellence, virtue, and capacity for success. Some Greeks thought that Arête could not be taught, but was more of the upbringing. Sophistry was more than the study of persuasive speaking, since Sophists taught rhetoric, careful management of one’s resources, and some aspects of leadership, so most young men saw Sophistic education as the key to personal success. Sophists accepted the notion of dissoi logoi, or contradictory arguments. That is because Sophists believed that strong arguments could be produced for or against any claim. “The Sophistic practice of rhetoric acknowledged the roles played both by dissoi logoi and by kairos in establishing the factors of a case or the truth of a claim.” (Herrick pg.35) Many Athenians greeted the Sophists and their art of rhetoric with great suspicion. Their ability to persuade with clever arguments, and their willingness to teach others to do the same, led some to see the Sophists as a dangerous element in Athens. Plato, who lived in the generation just after the arrival of the Sophists in Athens, encouraged such suspicion with his multiple dialogues.

As these prominent people called Sophists transitioned into Athens they changed the perspective of many people and also influenced the thoughts and ideas of many different individuals in good and bad ways. The Sophists sought persuasion to manipulate the public opinion of true justice and knowledge. As these Sophists were brilliant with eloquent speeches, scholarly writings, and fascinating lectures teaching young and old individuals on the importance of the art of rhetoric and also the speculation on the nature of the universe. As stated above theses individuals did not only teach the art of rhetoric, but also how to be a natural leader and verbal persuasion in argumentative form. These important people developed rhetoric throughout Athens by putting it into classrooms, drawing enormous crowds to various speeches, and attracting followers of their theories. Using these writings, these rhetoricians further express their theories as well as criticism of each other, and bring rhetoric into the courtrooms and trials of the day. As Gorgias became well known in Ancient Athens, he achieved what is known today as a rockstar status it was due to various attributes off his rhetorical skills. He had an almost magical touch on audiences with the ability to draw their attention in to his speeches. His argument and persuasive skills that he displayed in every speech, writing, or debate made his argument. HE could argue on either side of the question, displaying his natural ability to make the weakest side the stronger side. Most important was his skill to answer the random questions from the audience after his speeches. Gorgias was a major figure prominent in Athens due to his development of rhetoric, transition to a Sophist, professional attributes to the demos , and also quickly changing Greece through his skills of making the weaker argument appear stronger and the ability to answer questions randomly asked by the crowd. Gorgias talents being evident with the use of persuasion to make any side of the argument the strong side. Therefore he left a rhetorical legacy to Ancient Athens due to his teachings to the demos as well as us today.

Works Cited

Barrett, Harold. The Sophists: Rhetoric, Democracy, and Plato’s Idea of Sophistry. Novato, CA: Chandler & Sharp, 1987. Print.

Herrick, James A. “Chapter 2; The Origins and Early History of Rhetoric.” The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An Introduction. Boston: Allyn and Beacon, 2005. N. pag. Print.

McComiskey, Bruce. Gorgias and the New Sophistic Rhetoric. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2002. Print.

Waterfield, Robin. The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.