Gorgias, who lived around 483 to 375 BC, was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher and rhetorician native to Leontinoi in Sicily, reported by several doxographers to have been a pupil of Empedocles, though only a few years younger. The classicist W.K.C. Guthrie described him as an itinerant who practiced in various cities, giving public exhibitions of his skill at the great pan-Hellenic centers of Olympia and Delphi and charging fees for instruction and performances, with a special feature of his displays being impromptu replies to miscellaneous questions from the audience. He has been called "Gorgias the Nihilist," though how well this epithet describes his philosophy is controversial. Prominent among his claims to recognition is that he transplanted rhetoric from his native Sicily to Attica and contributed to the diffusion of the Attic dialect as the language of literary prose.
Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own accountCirca; Wikipedia lead gives c. 483 BC. Defining MomentSourced to the subject's own accountArgued in the lost treatise On Non-Existence that nothing exists, that existence (if real) cannot be known, and that knowledge (if possible) cannot be communicated, later read as an ironic refutation of Parmenides' thesis on Being 1 Notable PublicationSourced to the subject's own accountEncomium of Helen and Defense of Palamedes, his only two works believed to survive in their entirety, alongside fragments of On Non-Existence and the Epitaphios 1 Death YearSourced to the subject's own accountCirca; Wikipedia lead gives c. 375 BC. BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own accountLeontinoi, a Chalcidian colony in eastern Sicily allied with Athens 1 Death PlaceSourced to the subject's own account TraditionSourced to the subject's own accountSophism; itinerant rhetorician and pre-Socratic philosopher, reputedly a pupil of Empedocles of Acragas 1 Classification
NationalitySourced to the subject's own accountAncient Greece (Historical) 1 Connections
Influenced By
Source Gorgias (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Gorgias (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation)Lead section, first sentence (death date)
c. 483 BC - c. 375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily.
Life section, first sentence
Gorgias was born c. 483 BC in Leontinoi, a Chalcidian colony in eastern Sicily that was allied with Athens.
Life section, last sentence
He died at Larissa in Thessaly.
Lead section, second sentence
Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger.
On Non-Existence section
The argument has largely been seen as an ironic refutation of Parmenides' thesis on Being.
Rhetorical works section
Of Gorgias' surviving works, only the Encomium and the Defense are believed to exist in their entirety.
Lead section, first sentence (birth date)
c. 483 BC - c. 375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily.
Influenced By: Empedocles, Lead section, second sentence (teacher)
Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger.
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