The philosophy of rhetoric in Plato

In this thesis I start by examining collection and division in Plato???s Phaedrus. I argue that\ud in order to understand the dialogue we, as readers, must conduct our own version of collection and division on the text. To situate the philosophical context of rhetoric, I conduct a brief survey of rhetoric in the Gorgias and show how the idea of rhetoric informs Plato???s depiction in the Phaedrus. After going through the Gorgias and Phaedrus, a common important theme of the soul arises. I show how the soul is a complicated Platonic object because it must be the subject and object of collection and division. Lastly, I appeal to Socratic irony to explain the seemingly positive portrayal of what I call ???mindless??? practices. In fact, by acknowledging the irony in the dialogue, I show the praise to be false, while arguing that the true object of praise is philosophy