Syllabus
1. Introduction
2. Plato: Gorgias (Gorgias: 447a-461b)
3. Plato: Gorgias (Polus: 461b-481b)
4. Plato: Gorgias (Callicles: 481b-497c)
5. Plato: Phaedrus (two speeches: 227a-241d)
6. Plato: Phaedrus (Palinode: 241d-257c)
7. Plato: Phaedrus (on writing: 257c-279c)
8. Aristotle: Topica I 1-5
9. Aristotle: Rhetoric I 1
10. Aristotle: Rhetoric I 2
11. Aristotle: Rhetoric I 3-4
12. Aristotle: Rhetoric II 1-6
13. Aristotle: Rhetoric III 1-2
Annotation
Reading and commentary of selected texts of Plato and Aristotle.
An introductory course about rhetoric in ancient Greece from the points of view of Plato and Aristotle. After presenting the historical and political context, that led to emergence of orators and sophists in ancient Greece, and introducing some key orators of the 5th century Athens, we will move on to Plato's depiction of oratory in
Gorgias and Protagoras. Then we will compare these views with passages from Aristotle's Rhetoric.