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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Socrates think areas of art need to be properly defined?
(a) So they can be properly monitored.
(b) So people understand what they are getting into.
(c) So they cannot be manipulated.
(d) So they do not become confused with others.

2. What subjects does Socrates specify rhetoricians have the ability to speak about?
(a) Politics.
(b) All subjects.
(c) Emotions.
(d) Science.

3. When does Socrates regard pain as useful?
(a) In punishment.
(b) When it is used to protect.
(c) When it instills fear.
(d) Never.

4. Why does Socrates regard Polus' responses as useless?
(a) Because Polus is uneducated.
(b) Because he cannot comprehend him.
(c) Because he uses elevated vocabulary.
(d) Because they are long speeches.

5. What does Socrates believe is worse than being poor or sick?
(a) Prison.
(b) Injustice.
(c) Hunger.
(d) Death.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Socrates regard Gorgias' answers as useful?

2. In Socrates' opinion, why is music useless?

3. What challenge is Gorgias being faced with?

4. How does rhetoric benefit politicians in Gorgias' musings on politics?

5. Why does Socrates regard rhetoric as a dangerous tool?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Socrates question Gorgias about rhetoric?

2. Why does Socrates see all advantages as beneficial? Why does he see some wrong actions as just?

3. How does Gorgias see rhetoric as a bridge between art and science?

4. Is Polus' claim that even unjust people like Archelaus are happy correct or incorrect? Why?

5. In Socrates' opinion, what is the effect of someone with great power who has little common sense?

6. How does Polus embody the negative sides of freedom as Socrates has discussed?

7. Why does Socrates favor Gorgias' answers more than Polus'?

8. How does Gorgias see rhetoric as a means for great power?

9. How does the philosophers' conversation of rhetoric incite discussions of broader subjects such as morality?

10. How have we seen rhetoric successfully executed in the conversation in Chapter 1?

(see the answer keys)

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