Quote: "Sophistic discourse for Plato is synthetic, emotional, and rhetorical in a pejorative sense. It seeks to induce belief without regard for whether the belief is transcendently true. Plato envisioned another kind of rhetoric: discourse that is more analytic, objective and dialectal. He believed that such discourse can delineate the truth behind appearances."
Question: What form of discourse do you find yourself acting upon, and is the Sophistic definition of discourse or Plato's definition of discourse more accurate within our society?
Personally, I try to use Plato's definition of rhetoric in my day-to-day life. I communicate not only to persuade, but to gain something from the interaction - whether that be knowledge, or something far greater. I communicate to help my audience gain knowledge, not to only enhance my ability as a rhetor. Unfortunately in today's society, there are many public and political figures who use false rhetoric, or the Sophist's view on rhetoric to persuade their audiences with negative intentions. These public figures usually want what is best for themselves, thus they will manipulate and persuade in order to get what they want.
ReplyDelete