Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 3Grote, George
Philosophy
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 3
Grote, George
Philosophy, Ancient; Plato; Socrates, 470 BC-399 BC
[Footnote 115: What Longinus says about critical skill is
applicable here also--[Greek: pollê=s e)/sti pei/ras teleutai=on
e)pige/nnêma.] Isokrates (De Permut. Or. xv. sect. 290-312-316)
has some good remarks about the impossibility of [Greek:
e)pistê/mê] respecting particulars. Plato, in the Gorgias, puts
[Greek: te/chnê], which he states to depend upon reason and
foreknowledge, in opposition to [Greek: e)mpeiri/a] and [Greek:
tribê/], which he considers as dependant on the [Greek: phu/sis
stochastikê/]. But in applying the knowledge or skill called Art to
particular cases, the [Greek: phu/sis stochastikê\] is the best
that can be had (p. 463 A-B). The conception of [Greek: te/chnê]
given in the Gorgias is open to the same remark as that which we
find in the Phædrus. Plato, in another passage of the Phædrus,
speaks of the necessity that [Greek: phu/sis, e)pistê/mê], and
[Greek: mele/tê], shall concur to make an accomplished orator.
This is very true; and Lysias, Isokrates, and all the other
rhetors whom Plato satirises, would have concurred in it. In his
description of [Greek: te/chnê] and [Greek: e)pistê/mê], and in
the estimate which he gives of all that it comprises, he leaves no
outlying ground for [Greek: mele/tê]. Compare Xenophon, Memor.
iii. 1, 11; also Isokrates contra Sophistas, a. 16; and a good
passage of Dionysius Halik. De Compos. Verborum, in which that
rhetor remarks that [Greek: kairo\s] or opportunity neither has
been nor can be reduced to art and rule.]
[Footnote 116: Plato, Gorgias, pp. 464-465.]
[Side-note: Plato's charge against the Rhetorical teachers is not
made out.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account