How Did Socrates Stand Against Rhetoric

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Socrates chose to do something unusual in the first part of Gorgias. He tried to show that an entire sphere of rhetoric and persuasive speech is morally invalid if practiced in the wrong way. Many people highly disagreed with Socrates and felt that he was a wild man and the basis of Socrates positions against rhetoric are as follows. Socrates’ position is based off of believing that the art of rhetoric does not require you to know about the subject matter of which you speak or write about. He does not consider Rhetoric as an art in the sense of craft. He believes that having knowledge is a prerequisite for virtue. He claims that rhetoric is just a talent of persuading people and that it’s not a form of arguing from knowledge or truth but instead,
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