La réaction de Gorgias au Poème de Parménide : élaboration d'une rhétorique comme fuite de l'ontologie
The main objective of this master’s thesis is to closely examine the arguments that Gorgias develops in his Discourse on the not-being, in which he defends the impossibility of knowledge. There are three arguments in this discourse: a) nothing exists; b) even if something exists, nothing can be known about it; c) even if something can be known about it, knowledge about it can't be communicated to others. These arguments do not only attack the parmenidean’s thesis of correspondence (between mind and being); they also present themselves as a justification of the art of rhetoric. As a matter of fact, without knowledge, we are unable to establish a strong difference between truth and falsehood, and therefore we are left alone with our desires and interests. It is in such a context that rhetoric becomes, literally, the only legitimate art (or technique).
Gorgias Rhetoric Philosophy Ontology