Isocrates (436-338 B.C.), like Plato, was a student of the philosopher Socrates; unlike Plato, he was also a student of the rhetorician Gorgias (Bizzell and Herzberg 43). As a consequence, Isocrates considered rhetoric of equal, if not greater, value than philosophy. This put him in regular conflict with Plato's school of thought. Both were educators as well, founders of their own academies for the purpose of training the future leaders of democratic Athens. In this Isocrates was the more successful, for his students became important leaders, his ideals of teaching strongly influencing Western education up to the modern day (Bizzell and Herzberg 43). But Plato repeatedly attacked the "Sophist" approach to rhetoric of which Isocrates was the leading proponent. Plato's attacks upon the theoretical underpinnings of Isocrates' lifework threatened both the integrity of his endeavor and his peace of mind. In rhetorical essays such as "Against the Sophists" and "Antidosis," Isocrates sought to justify what he stood for - and clarify what he stood against.
There has been a longstanding controversy in education: should the teacher be judged by his ideals he teaches - or by the results of his teaching. To Plato, of course, the absolute is always the final arbiter of Truth; hence the ideals are most important. Given that approach, Isocrates could easily have felt confident, since his personal ideals were never questioned by Plato. Indeed, in Isocrates' definition of rhetoric:
... those who desire to follow the true precepts of this discipline may, if they will, be helped more speedily towards honesty of character than towards facility in oratory ("Against" 49).
Isocrates, however, was a practical teacher. He did not believe in Platonic absolutes or ideals, finding them "repulsive" to ordinary common sense (Jaeger 118). Kairos - "fitness for the occasion" - was the relativist approach Isocrates advocated (Bizzell and Herzb...