Gorgias, Protagoras and the MIT Professor

Plato examined the issues of presenting arguments to Governments by the Sophists and in turn examines their tool, rhetoric. Gorgias is a short but compelling tale of Socrates examining the rhetorician Gorgias on just what rhetoric was. Socrates summarizes it as:

A rhetorician is not concerned to educate the people assembled in law courts and so on about right and wrong; all he wants to do is persuade them, I means. I shouldn’t think it’s possible for him to get so many people to understand such important matters in such a short time.

We have our MIT Professor of Economics who in today’s world in my opinion is a hybrid of Gorgias and Protagoras. A Rhetorician and Sophist, one who twists the words in public to not to educate but to persuade, not to enlighten, but to obfuscate those elements which may negate the value of the proposal.

Perhaps it is worth reading Plato again and to understand that those who distrust the people’s acumen and seek to promote a plan by the use of words of little value should be adjudged accordingly. We all now view a sophist and a twister of words and abuser of truth.

In the Academy perhaps we should return to understanding the truths from Socrates and Plato, not those of the speakers of fine words.