erg 44). He derided the absolutes of the "Socratic" school, of which Plato was the leading proponent, for "applying the analogy of an art with hard and fast rules to a creative process" ("Against" 48).
Plato, in Gorgias, would attack the teacher of rhetoric for producing students who turn out bad, who use rhetorical skill to advance themselves at the expense of others. In response, in "Against the Sophists," Isocrates points out the flaws in Plato's thinking on that point. (Although he fails to point out the greatest inconsistency: Plato believes in ideals and absolutes, but holds rhetoricians like Gorgias to the standard of practical example - something he does not require of himself.)
Isocrates agrees with Plato that the high road is the best. Where he parts company is in his analysis of how effective an education can - or cannot - be in bettering a student's moral character. Ever the realist, Isocrates' observations on the intercourse of education and human nature leads him to conclude that "there does not exist an art of the kind which can implant sobriety and justice in depraved natures" ("Against" 49).
In fact, one observes, Isocrates is more insistent upon the "true" form of an individual's nature than Plato. In Isocrates' view, a person is born with certain core personality traits. An education can only help to bring out those traits and help individuals to reach their full potential, for good or bad. Since the teacher cannot change the c
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