Greece & Rome · c. 483–375 BCE
Gorgias
Sicilian master of rhetoric and envoy to Athens
Argued, perhaps as a parody of Eleatic reasoning, that nothing exists, that if it did it could not be known, and that if known it could not be told. He compared speech to a powerful drug that works on the soul.
Life and thought
Gorgias of Leontini in Sicily lived, by ancient accounts, to well over a hundred. In 427 BCE he came to Athens as an envoy seeking help against Syracuse, and his dazzling speeches, full of rhythm and balanced antitheses, made him the most famous teacher of rhetoric of his day. A late report makes him a pupil of Empedocles.
His Encomium of Helen survives whole, and On Non-Being is known from two later summaries. On Non-Being argues in three steps that nothing exists; that if anything existed it could not be known; and that if it could be known it could not be communicated. Whether he meant this seriously or as a parody of Eleatic logic is disputed. The Encomium defends Helen of Troy: if speech persuaded her, she is blameless, because speech is “a powerful lord” that works on the soul as drugs work on the body. Plato’s Gorgias answers him: rhetoric that aims at persuasion rather than truth is flattery.
Works
Teachers
c. 494–434 BCEEmpedoclesDiogenes Laertius, citing the biographer Satyrus, says Gorgias was Empedocles’ pupil; the report is late and unconfirmed.Argued against
c. 515 – after 450 BCEParmenidesGorgias’ On Non-Being parodies Parmenides’ arguments about being.Criticised by
c. 428–348 BCEPlatoPlato’s Gorgias contrasts rhetoric that flatters with philosophy that seeks the good.Meanwhile, in other traditions
traditionally 6th c. BCELaoziLegendary sage credited with the Daodejingfl. 6th–5th c. BCEAjita KesakambalīMaterialist teacher of the Buddha’s time, named for his hair blanket551–479 BCE (traditional)ConfuciusTeacher from Lu who sought to revive the Zhou wayc. 480–400 BCE (debated; an older dating is c. 563–483 BCE)The Buddha (Siddhārtha Gautama)Founder of Buddhism, who taught a middle way out of sufferingc. 470–391 BCEMoziFounder of Mohism and critic of Confucian partialityc. 390–338 BCEShang YangQin minister whose reforms built Qin’s powerOn the record
According to ancient report, Gorgias studied with Empedocles.
The report goes back to the Hellenistic biographer Satyrus, quoted by Diogenes Laertius (8.58), and is repeated by later writers. The two were near contemporaries, and modern reference works range from accepting it to calling it a biographer’s tale; the atlas keeps the tie but marks it as a report.
Sources: Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers 8.58 (trans. R. D. Hicks, LacusCurtius) · Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Gorgias”