Autor: Plato

Buch: Gorgias

Titel: Gorgias

Stichwort: Position - Gegenposition: weltliche - innere Werte; Freiheit (Gorgias - Sokrates)

Kurzinhalt: two contrasting positions: firm adherence to outer, worldly goals and values, and firm adherence to inner goals and values

Textausschnitt: XIVb In Gorgias, then, Plato faces us with two or three extreme points of view. A major part of the brilliance and fame of the dialogue is due to its vivid (and sometimes amusing) exposition of radical philosophical positions. At bottom, in fact, there are only two contrasting positions: firm adherence to outer, worldly goals and values, and firm adherence to inner goals and values (500c). Some aspects of the contrast between inner and outer life are more or less self-evident to a reader of the dialogue. Plato makes abundant play with it, both in developed argument and in unacknowledged allusions (such as the contrast between Socrates' likely aphasia in a worldly court-486a-b, 521e-522a-and Callicles' in the underworld court of 526e-527a). Gorgias, for instance, thinks that freedom consists in the ability to do what you feel like doing, even at the expense of others' freedom; in this he is followed closely by both Polus and Callicles. Socrates, however, thinks of our freedom primarily in terms of whether we have inner masters set over us. At the very least, we should have no addictions or strong needs; it would be better to have reduced our needs until we are content with whatever is to hand. (Fs) (notabene)