Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Mythology None Provided20 None Provided20 In Gorgias we have a conversation between Socrates, Gorgias, and Polus, Gorgias' young assistant. They speak on the matters of rhetoric, knowledge, and whether injustice and suffering is better to do or have done onto you. While conventional wisdom tells us that it is better to inflict suffering than to receive it, Socrates argues that it is completely the opposite. Part of Socrates view is that moral goodness is connected with knowledge, and that morally it is better to receive suffering than inflict it. The argument begins with Polus telling Socrates that rhetoric and oratory can give you great power and high regard. He likens their position to tyrants who do what they see fit. To this Socrates says, " I say, Polus, that both orators and tyrants have the least power in their cities…" Though this may seem absurd there are points to this argument that fall into place. Socrates position on oratory is that it is not a craft but a knack or a part of flattery, and that it can be used for both good and evil persuasion. You can persuade others to se your point of view, but without intelligence it can be unjust. He believes that, "…doing what one sees fit without intelligence is bad." Socrates argument is that moral virtue is s form of intelligence, and convinces Polus that in order to have great power, you must use it for what you believe to be the better. Polus believes that those who have the power do what they see fit, and at the same time are doing what it is they want to do. Socrates refutes this and says that though the tyrant may do what he sees fit, it is not really what he wants to do. His argument to support this is found in moral intelligence and the want to do the best good for you. Socrates says that, "If a person does anything for the sake of something, he doesn't want this thing that he's doing, but the thing for the sake of which he's doing it." That sake is the greater good for the person doing something. We do what we see fit to pursue the good or the better for ourselves. If we put someone to death we do so because we believe it is beneficial. Now if having great power and doing what you see fit are means to get to the ends which is the ultimate good, than by killing someone and inflicting more suffering on them than yourself it is actually an abuse of power by using it without intelligence. If intelligent use of power is always for the good and by putting someone to death it is actually worse, aren't we really doing something that we do not want to do because it is not the better? At the same time we are doing something that we see fit, we are actually not doing what we want to do because the outcome is not the good but the bad. Socrates says that, "Can such a man possibly have great power in that city, if in fact having great power is, as you agree, something good?" Polus can't believe this claim and asks Socrates why it is that he would rather suffer injustice than inflict it. Socrates says that he believes that, "…doing what's unjust is actually the greatest of evils." If we are going too morally suffer for deeds that we saw fit, it is actually worse than suffering at the hands of someone else. By inflicting injustice on others we do not use our power intelligently and morally hurt ourselves, and therefore are not really doing what we want anyway because it is not for the greater good of anyone, especially yourself. The man who is unjust and wicked is miserable at his own hands. Socrates refutes that to do what we see fit is actually doing what we want when the outcome is wicked. Moral goodness is a form of knowledge to him, and that knowledge is necessary in order to do well. It is the good that we strive to achieve by doing what we see fit, but if we do what we see fit and actually create a wicked outcome we are not truly doing what we want. In order to do what we want we must have the knowledge of moral goodness to do what is right, and not to inflict suffering on someone else. In order to be morally sound it is better to receive the suffering at the hands of another than inflict injustice on us and become miserable. Though Polus does not want to accept this Socrates, in the end, brings him to his side. So though there are many questions that are left hanging in the balance from this argument, Socrates point is clear that it is better morally to receive injustice than to inflict it. Bibliography: Word Count: 820
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