Demos: This term is literally the people in a certain area. It seems to relate to the polis. Plato discussed this term with some negative thoughts. He was a well off man and he believed that people like himself were to be in charge, not just any average joe. He did not like how people were so influenceable he thought by rhetoric and how the Sophists he say were taking advantage of that. He did claim that the good of justice good be used upon the people but that rhetoric left this idea hazy and he did not agree in rhetoric’s way of going about justice. He believed the Sophists just changed opinion which is doxa to get to justice while real justice is come about with facts or episteme and is good for the whole. Plato claims that a real, wholesome sense of right and wrong cannot be bestowed in the little time Sophists are in court. This term is critical because it gives a layer of Plato’s distrust and why.

 

Techne: It is a real discipline. It is something which Plato claims takes a while to grasp. It must be reinstated constantly, or empeiria kai tribe. He argues that every technae utilizes words, so how is rhetoric a separate technae? Technaes also has a result or ergon. This definition plays into why Plato said Sophists were not utilizing justice properly because it is a technae that require work and duration. To sum up Plato’s point he utilizes the idea of wellness because that is what technae supplied. There are separate parts. They are maintain for body and soul as well as restoring of those two aspects. He says that physical activity maintains the body as legislation does the soul. Then medicine restores the body as justice does the soul. Teachers of all these pieces must be well learned in their respective fields. He gives the negative sides of each or fakes that wrongly move the people. They are makeup and sophistic for maintaining and cookery and rhetoric for restoring in the same order. While this is how technae is shown in Gorgias, it is represented as how it can be a technae in Phaedrus. To be an art justice must be learned and other morals with the help of philosophy. Rhetoric involve the knowledge of the different pieces of the soul and how to make them in agreement with you. This is techne psychagogia. It also utilizes logoi. The education of truth and soul play into rhetoric as a discipline. This is important because it shows the way definitions so often have multiple interpretations.

 

Rhetores: Those that utilize persuasive language. Plato cannot stand them. Some like Demosthenes disliked other rhetores such as Aeschines. This term shows the group of people that Plato is directing his negativity towards. They are the people that tie the rest of the terms together. They are the people that use techne or logos. They influence the people or the polis and according to Plato in a very negative way. The group including political figures as well. I believe the term would also be linked back to the way Sophists were logographos. The term rhetores seems like one of the overarching terms that covers the rest of the specific terms. We must learn the title of the users of the littler terms that we come across. The parts of the whole. It was not just a Plato term, even persuasive users would utilize this term to describe others of their type such as Demosthenes.

 

Logos: In this part it means rational description. Plato argues that if logos is missing then an activity is not of high morals. Socrates attempts to get where he ustilizes logos out of Gorgias, but Gorgias can not produce it. This aids Plato’s argument. Plato believes that truth is found for the soul with language and arguments, so logoi. This plays into Plato’s thought that one must have awareness of all the different ways a soul is constructed. This definition is important because it brings to light want Plato believes rhetoric should have and what he feels is missing in the way the Sophists teach or say they can make happen. Without this term we would not know all of Plato’s stand on rhetoric and how he feels it should be executed. We must know what he excepts to understand what he sees as lacking from the Sophists. It interlaces another key factor in Plato’s criticism.

 

Psyche: This is what Plato calls the soul. He believes it is made of three major pieces. To be a good orator one will need to have the knowledge of all three pieces because each piece needs a different persuasive approach. Plato give the carriage horse example. The first piece is a piece that loves wisdom. This relates to a philosopher type. The next piece is infatuated with honor and nobility. Those of the armed service have this soul. The last is obsessed with desire. Out of control, fun lookers are of this brand. Socrates could be piece one, Polus piece two, and Callicles piece three. Plato’s world of rhetoric utilizes this and all the different ways to make these different pieces tick. One cannot simply persuade a wisdom obsessed human the way they would an honor lover. It is not a one shoe fits all. This is important because most of these terms in their different contexts are also not a one size fits all.

 

 

 

HR: Word and its system aids, ePortfolio, Herrick, Assignment, Canvas, Example

Cecelia E. Ivey