Plato on Truth, Lies and Power

Rhetoric’s emergence in ancient Greece both animated and threatened public life, above all in Athens. A democracy that depended on frank speech had to confront new means of manipulation and deception.

Plato tackled this threat throughout his writings, especially in the Gorgias: a dialogue interrogating the new breed of professional rhetoricians and their political offspring. This lecture engages with Plato’s reflections on how lies can foment power; how power can exploit lies; and how speaking truth to power might nevertheless be possible.