Tag: persuasion

Jusepe de Ribera, The Philosopher

3,592 words

Part 3 of 14 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 4 here)

Gorgias’ Art (449a–c)

When Socrates finally speaks directly to Gorgias, he asks a simple, straightforward question: “What should we call you based on the art (techne) that you know?”[1] To which Gorgias gives a simple, straightforward answer: he knows “rhetoric” (rhetorike). Socrates continues: “Then is it best to call you a rhetorician [rhetor]?” Gorgias agrees and amplifies: “Yes, Socrates, and a good one too, if you want to call me what, as Homer puts it, ‘I boast myself to be.’” (more…)

Gorgias of Leontini

4,213 words

Part 1 of 14 (Part 2 here)

An ancient commentator on Aristotle tells a story about a farmer who got ahold of Plato’s Gorgias and was so stunned that he gave up the life of farming, trudged to Athens, looked up Plato, and put his soul in Plato’s care.[1]

Like the Alcibiades I, the Gorgias offers a wonderful argument for pursuing the philosophical life. But there are differences. The Gorgias is twice as long as the Alcibiades I. Instead of speaking to a naïve young man, Socrates faces three formidable opponents, including one of the greatest of all sophists, Gorgias of Leontini, for whom the dialogue is named. But in the end, philosophy wins. Sorry for giving away the ending, but did you imagine it would turn out any other way given that Plato is our author? (more…)

Raphael, The School of Athens (1511)

1,668 words

It is important to realize that “true” and “false,” like “free” and “unfree,” do not stand for anything simple at all; but only for a general dimension of being a right and proper thing to say as opposed to a wrong thing. — J. L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words (1962) (more…)

William Blake, Mrs. Q, ca. 1815

7,128 words

“The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it.” — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

The last article of mine that our editors at Counter–Currents kindly published was about the masculine topic of military history. To complement a foray into the Napoleonic Wars, I included a clip from the 1970 film Waterloo.^[1] In the comments, a reader shared an observation about one of the few Waterloo scenes that did not take place on a battlefield. Instead, this particular scene immersed audiences in a Brussels high-society fête, where the Duchess of Richmond hosted the Duke of Wellington’s officers at her famous summer Ball of 1815. (more…)

1,427 words

My 4-part series on the recent Kevin MacDonald-Nathan Cofnas debate garnered quite a few comments at Counter-Currents and on social media. This was one of the most challenging and rewarding piece I have ever worked on at Counter-Currents, (more…)

1,788 words

Now that the Alt-Right has reached a critical mass and increasingly moving to the real world from the confines of the internet, there emerged the debate about how to present and comport ourselves in this new phase of our growth. After all, the real world is a completely different realm, and holding rallies and public speeches is a drastically different endeavor from posting on the internet, and hence it is important to decide which approach is to be taken. (more…)