Plato's Critique of Rhetoric

In Phaedrus, Plato (167) wrote that Socrates said at the outset of a conversation with the title character that "I am a lover of knowledge, and the men who dwell in the city are my teachers, and not the trees or the country." This simple and direct statement established the central them of the dialogue that would evolve, in which Socrates affirmed that it is from listening to and responding to other human beings and not in communion with nature that he was able to learn and to achieve some degree of knowledge and wisdom. It sets the stage for the rhetorical exchange which is to follow, in which Socrates will challenge Phaedrus to recognize that rhetoric, however well-organized and eloquently presented, is not a substitute for tru

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