This page intentionally left blank P1:KNP 9780521878630pre CUFX155/McCoy 0521878632 July25,2007 3:1 PlatoontheRhetoricofPhilosophersandSophists Inthisbook,MarinaMcCoyexploresPlato’streatmentoftherhetoric of philosophers and sophists through a thematic treatment of six different Platonic dialogues, including Apology, Protagoras, Gorgias, Republic, Sophist, and Phaedrus. She argues that Plato presents the philosophers and the sophists as difficult to distinguish insofar as bothuserhetoricaspartoftheirarguments.Platodoesnotpresent philosophyasrhetoric-freebutrathershowsthatrhetoricisaninte- gralpartofthepracticeofphilosophy.However,thephilosopherand thesophistaredistinguishedbythephilosopher’sloveoftheforms astheultimateobjectsofdesire.Itisthisloveoftheformsthatinforms thephilosopher’srhetoric,whichheusestoleadhispartnertobetter understandhisdeepestdesires.McCoy’sworkisofinteresttophiloso- phers, classicists, and communications specialists alike in its careful yet comprehensive treatment of philosophy, sophistry, and rhetoric asportrayedthroughthedramaofthedialogues. MarinaMcCoyisassistantprofessorofphilosophyatBostonCollege. A former National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, she has publishedarticlesinseveraljournals,includingAncientPhilosophyand PhilosophyandRhetoric. i P1:KNP 9780521878630pre CUFX155/McCoy 0521878632 July25,2007 3:1 ii P1:KNP 9780521878630pre CUFX155/McCoy 0521878632 July25,2007 3:1 Plato on the Rhetoric of Philosophers and Sophists MARINA McCOY BostonCollege iii CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521878630 © Marina McCoy 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2007 ISBN-13 978-0-511-36790-8 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-10 0-511-36790-2 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-87863-0 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-87863-2 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. P1:KNP 9780521878630pre CUFX155/McCoy 0521878632 July25,2007 3:1 Contents Acknowledgments page vii 1 1 Introduction 2 ElementsofGorgianicRhetoricandtheForensicGenre 23 inPlato’sApology 3 56 TheRhetoricofSocraticQuestioningintheProtagoras 4 TheCompetitionbetweenPhilosophyandRhetoric 85 intheGorgias 5 TheDialecticalDevelopmentofthePhilosopherand 111 SophistintheRepublic 6 138 Philosophers,Sophists,andStrangersintheSophist 7 167 LoveandRhetoricinPlato’sPhaedrus 197 Bibliography 209 Index v P1:KNP 9780521878630pre CUFX155/McCoy 0521878632 July25,2007 3:1 vi P1:KNP 9780521878630pre CUFX155/McCoy 0521878632 July25,2007 3:1 Acknowledgments Somanypeoplehavecontributedtothisbook’sdevelopmentthatitwould be impossible to name them all. Still, I will make an effort and ask for pardon from anyone that I inadvertently overlook. I am indebted to all ofmyteachersfromBostonUniversitybutespeciallytoCharlesGriswold andDavidRoochnik.Iamalwaysinspirednotonlybythequalityoftheir writingbutalsotheirpassionforphilosophy.Ihavelearnedagreatdeal fromthemthroughconversationsbothinwordandinprint.Mostofall, Iamthankfulfortheirphilosophicalfriendship,andIdedicatethisbook tothem. MycolleaguesatBostonCollegehavebeenmostsupportiveandhelp- ful. I thank the College of Arts and Sciences for a Research Incentive GrantthatmadewritingthisbookpossibleandJohnCarforaforhisassis- tance in developing the project for the grant. The support and friend- ship of colleagues such as Eileen Sweeney, Patrick Byrne, Mary Troxell, Kerry Cronin, Brian Braman, and Paul McNellis, SJ, was invaluable. My graduate research assistants over the past years, Matt Robinson, Phillip Braunstein,andespeciallyJeffWitt,workedtirelessly,andIthankthem fortheiraid.Alsoimportanthavebeengraduatestudentsinmyseminars who helped me to think through these issues with their many insight- ful comments and questions. In particular, I thank Joshua Shmikler for helpfulconversationsandcommentsontheSophist. Iamgratefultomanyfriends,colleagues,andscholarswhosethoughts in various ways contributed to the development of this book. Again, I thank David Roochnik and Charles Griswold but also Colin Anderson, JohnCleary,GregoryFried,JillGordon,GaryGurtler,SJ,KatyaHaskins, EnriqueHu¨lsz,MichaelKelly,ThorntonLockwood,ArthurMadigan,SJ, vii P1:KNP 9780521878630pre CUFX155/McCoy 0521878632 July25,2007 3:1 viii Acknowledgments Joe McCoy, Matthew Ostrow, Nick Pappas, Nick Smith, and Ronald Tacelli, SJ, for helpful comments on chapters or related talks or arti- cles.Twoanonymousrefereesalsogavewonderfulcommentsthatgreatly improved the book. Special thanks are due to my editor at Cambridge UniversityPress,BeatriceRehl,forallherworkandamazingefficiencyin workingwiththebook.ThanksalsotoMaryCadette,myprojectmanager, andherstaff.Anyerrorsthatremainaremyown. I thank my whole family but especially my parents and my husband, John,andchildren,KatherineandJames,fortheirunderstanding,sup- port, and love while I was writing the book. They inspire me both as a scholarbutmoreimportantlyasahumanbeing,andIamalwaysgrateful fortheirlovingpresence. Portions of this book formerly appeared in print and are reprinted in part herein with permission of Ancient Philosophy and Polis: “Protago- ras on Human Nature, Wisdom, and the Good: The Great Speech and 18 1998 21 39 theHedonismofPlato’sProtagoras,”AncientPhilosophy ( ): – ; 22 2 2005 and “Sophistry and Philosophy in Plato’s Republic,” Polis ( ) ( ): 265 286 – .