First Response

Gorgias' Encomium to Helen is more of a defense than a tribute; however, in defending Helen's actions from her accusers, Gorgias also presents a compelling argument in support of the power of words, emotions, and arguments as suasive devices. In the fictionalized encounter between Socrates and Gorgias in Plato's Gorgias, this suasive power of rhetoric is pitted against philosophy and the search for truth. Taken together these writings pose some serious questions about the nature of truth and the uses and abuses of persuasion. In the space below, respond to these tensions in the assigned writings (in addition feel free to reply to other's responses as well - these writings will structure our class discussion on Tuesday).

Responses should be a minimum of 250 words. Paste your response into the wiki comment box below. Your best bet is to compose the response in a word processing file (Microsoft Word, etc.) and then paste it into the comment box when you're done. Be sure to be logged in to the wiki (using your username and password) when making a comment so we know whose comment it is. Posts must be added before 9 AM on Thursday, January 13.