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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do the men in "Gorgias" meet to discuss rhetoric?

2. What does Socrates believe rhetoricians and Sophists are confused with?

3. What does Socrates believe people with too much freedom become?

4. What does Gorgias claim is the basis for all arts and sciences?

5. Why does Socrates hold rhetoricians in low esteem?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does Socrates believe that it is important for a wrongdoer's soul be brought to justice?

3. When an unjust act is committed, Socrates asks whether the wrongdoer or the sufferer is more wretched. Why?

4. What are the similarities and differences between learning and acquiring a belief?

5. What is Socrates' differentiation between pleasures and gratifications in different skills?

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

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

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

9. Why does Socrates like to argue?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss philosophy in "Gorgias," including how it is used, what it aids, and how it defines the conversation.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the nature of good and bad as discussed by the philosophers in Gorgias.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Gorgias' fixation on the prevalence of language in all things.

(see the answer keys)

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