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Exam 2: The Origins and Early History of Rhetoric

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Question 1

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The Sophists were controversial for building a view of justice centered around which of the following?

A) Thesmos: law derived from the authority of kings
B) Nomos: social custom or convention; rule by agreement among citizens
C) Physis: the law or rule of nature under which the strong dominate the weak
D) Logos: law that is transcendent and derives from philosophical argumentation

E) A) and C)
F) All of the above

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Question 2

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Why was the Sophist Gorgias so interested in style and the sounds of words?

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Gorgias, a prominent Sophist and rhetori...

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Question 3

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Provide the term for the following definitions: -Social custom or convention; rule by agreement among the citizens.

The Sophists used the dialectic method to teach their students and most believed that through the Greek term______________, or the clashing of contradictory arguments, their students would gain skill in debate as well as a better view of the truth.

The Sophists claimed to be able to instruct their students in ______________ a Greek term meaning virtue, excellence, and a capacity for success.

After reading about the Sophists, do you think they deserve the bad reputation they had with many of their contemporaries?

Plato considered rhetoric a true techne or art, and was one of the first philosophers to support the Sophists.

What claims did the Sophists make about their teaching? What was areté?

Identify and describe two major Greek Sophists discussed in the text. When was each active? What concerns or interests characterized each?

In the dialectic method that Sophists used to teach, speeches and arguments started from statements termed _____________, or premises that were widely believed or taken to be highly probable.

Write an essay describing the rise and influence of the Greek Sophists. What characteristics defined the Sophists? When were they active in Greece? What did they say they would teach, and what were some of their methods of instruction? What events or social conditions contributed to their rise to prominence and their tremendous impact on Athens? Why were the Sophists so controversial?

Why was the concept of a clash of views important to the Sophists?

What was the right of isegoria?

Do you agree with Gorgias about the great potential in language for the control of the minds of others? What, if any, are the risks associated with great eloquence? How should the public be educated so as to have a defense against the great rhetorical skill possessed by some speakers and writers?

What freedom regarding speaking in public did Spartan women enjoy?

The Sophists built a view of justice on conventional agreements or nomos. Other possible sources of law or justice included natural law (physis), and certain truth derived from philosophical argumentation (logos). What, in your opinion, ought to be the basis of a view of justice?

Which Sophist believed that a rhetor was a psychagogos or a leader of souls through a kind of rhetorical magic or incantation?

The text makes the point that the Sophists were not the first people to practice rhetoric. If this is the case, what were the Greek Sophists the first to do with rhetoric?

Rhetoric as a systematic discipline originated in Sicily, in the city of Syracuse.

Briefly describe the interests and influence of the Sophist Gorgias.