Moral and Immoral

Socrates verse Gorgias and Polus

During a conversion between Socrates and Gorgias, Socrates begins question about Gorgias’ area of expertise. Gorgias strong believes that his ability to rhetoric is the best area of expertise needed to be successful in our society. “I’m talking about the ability to use the spoken word to persuade… to win over any and every form of public meeting of the citizen body. Armed with this ability, in fact, the doctor would be your slave, the trainer would be yours to command, and the businessman would turn out to be making money not for himself, but someone else – for you with your ability to speak and to persuade the masses.” (Plato: Gorgias, 13). Gorgias’ theory explains the facts that rhetoric can persuade anyone to anything, therefore controlling the masses into anything you want to believe. This is his strong point in his conversion with Socrates.

Yet, Socrates questions Gorgias’ method, arguing when is rhetoric it be considered moral or immortal to society. “Is the rhetorician’s situation actually the same with respect to right and wrong, morality and immorality, and good and bad…despite lacking expect knowledge of good or bad, morality or immorality, or right or wrong has he equipped himself with a persuasive ploy which enables him to make non-experts think that he’s more of an expert than an expert.” (Plato: Gorgias, 24). Thus, Socrates points out that making people convinced that a fact is true, but really isn’t, is a false belief that is considered immoral. Therefore, Socrates stands firm about the ideals of what is moral and immoral.

Polus, Gorgias’ pupil, joins in the conversion between Socrates and Gorgias. However, Polus asked a question of what is the worst thing to do, harming others or being harmed? Clearly, Polus chooses the being harmed is the worst thing to be done. “Imagine some who’s been caught in a criminal conspiracy against a dictatorship…he watches his wife and children being tortured as well; finally he’s crucified or covered with boiling pitch. Is this a happier state for him to be in than if he’d avoided being caught, had become dictator, and spend the rest of his life ruling over his community and doing whatever he wanted…” (Plato: Gorgias, 47). Polus uses an example of a crime to example his theory that being harmed is the worst thing to happen to a person. That it is a good thing not to get caught and being punished (harmed) for a crime. No one likes to suffer for any action done for the greater good or bad of the cause.

Yet again, Socrates counters Polus’ claim, that it is the act of doing harming that is the worst thing for a person to do. “People who evade punishment…can see that punishment is painful, but they have a blind spot about how beneficial it is and they fail to appreciate that life with an unhealthy mind—a mind which is unsound, immoral, and unjust—is infinitely more wretched than life with an unhealthy body.” (Plato: Gorgias, 59). In other words, Socrates talks about how people understand that being punished is bad, however fail to understand that eventually people will feel guilty about doing harm to others. Thus, they will understand the immoral and unjust act that they have committed to another. He also accepts the idea that being punish is a cure for the wrongful acts done to others. Once again, Socrates stands behind the belief of what’s moral and immoral.