Reflective Blog post 1

When I think of rhetoric the Gorgas/Sophist point of view is the one I most align my definition with. My definition of rhetoric is using ones own knowledge on a subject to persuade an audience into changing their minds on a topic. I like rhetoric as an idea of persuasion because that is how it is mostly used in the real world. I consider the use of rhetoric a skill so why shouldn't the sophists and Gorgas show their skills by using their rhetoric to persuade. My definition of Rhetoric will always include some form of persuasion so this means by default I have to side with the Sophist/Gorgias' views on rhetoric.

Another reason I consider the Gorgias/Sophists view on rhetoric to be correct is because I like to think of how rhetoric could be used in the modern world and their views on rhetoric translate better to modern society than those of Plato and Aristotle. When I read Gorgas I instantly think of how he sounds like a modern day lawyer. He uses his knowledge to persuade his audience into believing what he wants them to believe. He poses rhetorical questions and then provides answers to those rhetorical questions in his speeches. In the Encomium of Helen he literally acts like a defense attorney for Helen of Troy defending her actions and trying to prove her innocence.

Also the idea that there is no absolute truth is one that I side with. Plato made it seem as though truth was divine and that only the gods could define what was true and what wasn't. That idea of truth did not sit well with me maybe because its the scientist in me but I like the idea of people creating there own truth through the use of knowledge, facts, and tests. "The sophists believed that human knowlede relies solely on t=sense perception and is therefore necessarily flawed. Certainty or Absolute truth is not available to humans,... but probable knowledge can be refined by pitting opposing positions against one another and examining the arguments thus brought forward" (Pg 22). It is very much like an ancient form of the scientific method. This idea of finding knowledge through research is one I very much agree with and is a big reason why I use Gorgias/Sophists as the basis for my definition of rhetoric.