Speaking for the polis

In this reinterpretation of Isocrates' rhetorical achievements, Takis Poulakos evaluates the Greek orator's educational program from the perspective of rhetorical theory and its relation to sociopolitical practices. Illumining Isocrates' effort to reformulate sophistic conceptions of rhetoric on the basis of the intellectual and political debates of his time, Poulakos contends that the father of humanistic studies and rival educator of Plato crafted a version of rhetoric that gave the art an important new role in the ethical and political activities of Athens. Explaining the significance of the term "speaking for the polis," which for Isocrates referred to the rhetorical act of creating and sustaining an illusion of ethicopolitical unity that would make deliberation possible, Poulakos discusses Isocrates' application of sophistical rhetoric to politics. He suggests that Isocrates' rhetoric gained stability through narratives of values and shared commitments, credence through seasoned arguments about plausible solutions to political irresolutions, and weight through the convergence of the speaker's words and quality of character.