Read Plato’s dialogue entitled “Phaedrus”. Then POST your reaction to the dialogue. Focus on one of the following, write about something from the assignment guidelines, or choose your own topic of reflection:
1. How can a speaker know whether a speech meets Socrates’ definition of good rhetoric? Please quote and describe as much of The Phaedrus as you can as it relates to the good art of rhetoric. (Hint: Most of this discussion is at the end of the dialogue.)
2. After reading the Phaedrus, how can we avoid being merely a Sophist? (A Sophist was a person, not very wise, who gave speeches that were expedient but NOT necessarily true. A Sophist would lie, cheat, pretend, make up stuff, just to achieve a desired end, mostly to have people admire him. The trick in being a Sophist was NOT to appear to be one, but to appear to be speaking the truth.) Why is it important in U.S.A. today to NOT be a sophist? Can you think of anyone in the U.S.A. today who might be defined as a sophist?
3. Is it possible to know truth with a capital T, that is the one irrefutable truth? When Socrates says we can only see the Truth as through a glass dimly, what does he mean? If it’s difficult to know the truth, why should we have to speak about it? How does the dialectic process work in achieving a knowledge of the truth? How much of Socrates truth precedes life on this earth: How much of Socrates truth is spiritual, beyond the boundaries of this earth and the physical nature of this world? Platonic forms are the perfect spiritual representations of everything on earth, and Socrates may have believed that the perfect forms, even imagining perfect music of the spheres, were to be preferred over anything on earth, including actually listening to music with human ears. Where else in literature do we see the term “through the glass darkly”?
4. How do the discussions of love fit into this dialogue? Is it to show the baseness of physical love and how anti-truth it is, or is there any room for Socrates to believe that love holds keys to truth at any level? The key here is that Socrates may make a distinction between physical love that is jealous and altruistic love that is self sacrificing. How would this altruistic love fit into the types of things Socrates expects of public speakers?
5. What is wrong with Lysias’ speech? Why does Socrates censure (condemn) him. Is it only because Lysias speech is disorganized? Or are there other problems with Lysias’ speech? Be specific and explain each problem with Lysias’ speech, if there are any additional problems besides arrangement (organization). Hint: You have to read the entire dialogue to find out all the bad points of Lysias’ speech.
6. In what ways is Socrates’ reorganization of Lysias’ speech better. Please quote the actual speech, such as transitions, to show how much better organized it is. Cite : Phaedrus by Plato – here is the direct link http://www.classicallibrary.org/plato/dialogues/7_phaedrus.htm
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