Socrates' ‘True Rhetoric’ as Pedagogical Tool and Instrument of ‘True Politics’

Reader of Plato's dialogues realize that while Socrates in the Gorgias criticizes rhetoric in strong terms he nevertheless proves to be a brilliant rhetorician. One wonders why Plato's Socrates sometimes combines persuasive as well as argumentative elements in his philosophical conversations. This paper argues that Socrates uses persuasive elements, when he addresses interlocutors who might be talented but often have difficulties to trust rational arguments and might hesitate to accept them and to act accordingly, even if they agree that the arguments seem to them coherent and plausible. Socrates uses traditional persuasive elements, but transforms them into a pedagogical tool for philosophy.