Quote, Gorgias: "If, /being/ a god, /love has/ the divine power of the gods, how could a lesser being reject and refuse it? But if it is a disease of human origin and a fault of the soul, it should not be blamed as a sin, but regarded as an affliction."
Question: Is Gorgias' employment of the pathetic approach successful at absolving Helen of blame? Do you agree with his notion that humans are helpless when it comes to strong emotions like love and hate?
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ReplyDeleteI think that the strength of Gorgias's defense of Hellen comes from his appeals to logos; he describes the power of language and illustrates how it guides our decisions. Even the pathetic appeal regarding the nature of love takes the form of an enthymeme or rhetorical syllogism, using the implied premise that humans cannot easily resist their nature to assert that they are not at fault when succumbing to it. I disagree with the notion that humans are powerless in the face of our strong emotions, but I do agree with Gorgias's argument that language can guide our emotions in a way that limits our agency. For example, "fighting words" or slurs can often move us to anger, and such anger often leads us to actions that we otherwise would not perform.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with notion. I don't think humans are help when it comes to strong emotions. Emotions do play a big part in our decisions. There is a common saying "blinded by love" but there is a point when someone wakes up from their situation and realize that's not what they needed in life or that wasn't good for them. It depends on the person.Some people might hear something that we would say are "fighting words" but not act on it and you have some who will. So i can't agree that all humans are helpless when it comes to emotions. Its depends on the person and how they deal with their emotions.
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