Seeking Justice in Plato's Gorgias

Abstract

In this paper I argue that Socrates’ description of a rhetorician capable of using rhetoric in the service of justice in Plato’s Gorgias should be read as a reference to Socrates himself. A critical examination of the passage in which Socrates argues that rhetoric should be applied to legally protecting one’s enemies (480e–481a) reveals Socrates’ willingness to use rhetorical tactics, even the ones he criticizes, such as making misleading statements and manipulating his audience’s emotions, in order to persuade his audience of the benefit of correction and that it is better to be done wrong than to wrong another.