Gorgias book club questions

The reading plan

Meeting 1: Parts 1 to 2

1. How much responsibility should a teacher bear when students misuse the skills they teach?
2. When should persuasion require knowledge, and when might persuasion without knowledge be acceptable?
3. What would make Gorgias's teaching worth defending despite the risk of students misusing their skills?
4. How convincing is the idea that committing wrong harms someone more than suffering it?
5. What should count as happiness when judging someone who holds tyrannical power?

Meeting 2: Parts 3 to 4

6. When does correction become a benefit rather than another harm?
7. What would someone need to show before natural superiority could justify a right to rule?
8. How would you defend the value of philosophy against Callicles's challenge?
9. What makes unchecked desire appealing, and what would make you reject it?
10. How would you distinguish getting what feels good from getting what genuinely benefits you?

Meeting 3: Parts 5 to 6

11. Is improving the people they serve a fair test of public leaders?
12. What evidence would persuade you that a public leader had improved the people they serve?
13. How much responsibility should leaders bear for whether the people they serve improve?
14. Where would you draw the line between political persuasion and political flattery?
15. What does Socrates's rejection of political flattery suggest about his standards for public life?

Themes to talk about

Tips for the host

1. Open each meeting with one question everyone can answer, then go deeper.
2. Anyone who fell behind can catch up with the 15-minute summary.