Plato’s Gorgias is the writing written in the form of dialogues between Socrates and sophists. In these dialogues, philosophers argue and share their views on virtue and rhetoric. According to Gorgias, “A rhetorician is capable of speaking effectively against all comers, whatever the issue, and can consequently be more persuasive in front of crowds about… anything he likes” (Dodds, 1990). Hence, in his view, rhetoric is mainly used for compellingly presenting an argument.
Socrates argues that oratory practices that became popular among sophists in Athens pursue convincing and persuading rather than speaking the truth. “And the same will be true of the orator and the oratory in relation to all other arts. The orator need have no knowledge of the truth about thongs; it is enough for him to have discovered a knack of persuading the ignorant that he seems to know more than the experts.” (Dodds, 1990). He despises such practice because oratory rhetoric can be practiced and mastered. Whether it is true or not, any argument, whether the speaker knows the subject or is ignorant.
Consequently, the example of how rhetoric and oratory skills can be abused to persuade people into doing harmful things is seen in “Thank You for Smoking” book The main protagonist of the book Nick Naylor is a lobbyist for a tobacco company. He is able to win any argument with his wit and his speeches. For example, he made a speech in congress where he started with the statement “show of hands who out there thinks that cigarettes aren’t dangerous?” knowing that the cigarettes are indeed dangerous and that nobody interacts with the audience in Congress (Buckley 2010). He mastered three rhetorical appeals as Ethos that appeals to credibility; Logos appeal to reason, and Pathos appeals to emotions. Therefore, regardless of the truth behind his words, the audience is most likely to be convinced by Naylor’s rhetoric at the end of his speech.
References
Buckley, C. (2010). Thank you for smoking: A novel. Random House.
Dodds, E. R. (1990). Gorgias: A Revised Text, with Introduction and Commentary.