Gorgias Reading Part Two

Rather than type the whole passage, as it is terribly long, I will refer any reader who wishes to look up the quotation to page 64, the middle of passage 482.

In this passage, Callicles voices his opinion of the events that took place when Socrates was addressing both Polus and Gorgias. Callicles points out what he believes to have been Polus’s mistake, just as Polus had done with Gorgias. In pointing out Polus’s fault, however, Callicles brings up another point that I find very similar to my own view of the matter. Callicles states “you pretend that truth is your goal, Socrates, but in actual fact you steer discussions towards this kind of ethical idea-ideas which are unsophisticated enough to have popular appeal, and which depend entirely on convention, not on nature.” He goes on to express how there is naturally going to be a contradiction between nature and convention, stating that Socrates has devised a scheme to use this contradiction to trick his opponent in argument. I find this to be one of the more compelling arguments to this point as it is both formulated and orated well. Callicles is neither attacking Socrates nor admiring him, instead he is pointing out what he believes to be the case. I cannot say the same for some parts of Callicles’s argument as he does make a personal attack against Socrates, insinuating that he is out of touch with reality (page 67).

In the same long speech as before, Callicles also brings up what is to become one of his main points in the section. Here he addresses the fact that those who can achieve power are right and not immoral as Socrates tried to prove earlier. He discusses that through a balance of philosophy and community, a person can attain this sort of power. He also explains how society often takes the powerful and trains them as youth to become equal to those around them Callicles finds this contemptible and shows how doing this can cause a powerful person to break the ties that bind him. I think that Callicles is better grounded than the other orators that have been discussed to this point. His arguments combine rhetoric with personal views to achieve a high level of thought.

There are two sections I would like to point out that I found troublesome in regards to Socrates arguments. These take place on page 85 and page 92. On page 85, Socrates resorts to word manipulation, just as he was accused of doing by Callicles earlier in the book. On page 92, Callicles points out how he has been saying “yes on cue” to Socrates. Socrates combats this argument by again chasing Callicles into a forced assertion that Socrates’s point is correct.