Brendan’s Reviews > Gorgias > Status Update

“Philosophy is no doubt a delightful thing, Socrates, as long as one is exposed to it in moderation at the appropriate time of life. But if one spends more time with it than he should, it’s the undoing of mankind. For even if one is naturally well favored but engages in philosophy beyond that appropriate time, he can’t help but turn out to be inexperienced in everything [he is] supposed to be experienced in.”

“Tell me, Socrates, are we to take you as being in earnest now, or joking? For if you are in earnest, and these things you’re saying are really true, won’t this human life of ours be turned upside down, and won’t everything we do evidently be the opposite of what we should do?”

“Gorgias, I take it that you, like me, have experienced many discussions and that you’ve observed this sort of thing about them: it’s not easy for the participants to define jointly what they’re undertaking to discuss, and so, having learned from and taught each other, to conclude their session. Instead, if they’re disputing some point and one maintains that the other isn’t right or isn’t clear, they

The discussion that starts this dialogue on the role of technical experts vs. rhetoricians (in modern terms, politicians) is more relevant than ever. Gorgias convincingly argues that skilled orators (ie politicians) can defeat technical experts in any public vote — our own times prove him right.

The tension between these two is an underappreciated, and perhaps unresolvable, pain point in any democratic society…