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person485–380 BCE

Gorgias

Disciplines:
philosophy
rhetoric
philosophy/sophism
ancient greece

Summary

Ancient Greek sophist and rhetorician from Leontini, Sicily — who argued that nothing exists, that even if it did it could not be known, and that even if it could be known it could not be communicated — and who developed rhetoric as the supreme art of persuasion.

Core Contribution

Creates the nihilistic argument and the science of rhetoric — Gorgias's On Nature or the Non-Existent is the most radical skeptical argument in ancient philosophy; his development of rhetoric as a teachable art with specific techniques established the study of persuasion as a distinct discipline.

Notable Works & Achievements

Encomium of Helen

Defense of Palamedes

On Nature or the Non-Existent

Historical Influences

Empedocles Sophistic movement

Intellectual Lineage

Leontini, SicilyAthens Sophistic tradition

Contemporaries & Peers

Protagoras Socrates Isocrates

Minds Influenced

Rhetoric as disciplinePlato

Intellectual Posterity

Gorgias Ancient rhetoricNihilistic argumentSophistic rhetoric

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Gorgias

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