So Callicles is hosting a party and Socrates and Chaerephon show up late. Gorgias is the guest of honor and he’s brought along his fanboy Polus. The deal with Socrates is that he asks people questions to the point that they are caught in some sort of contradiction (like Columbo does). In this case, he is trying to figure out what the hell Gorias does for a living. Gorias says he is a "rhetorician" and his medium is i discussion in the same way your medium is craft supplies. It goes like this:
S: But don’t you have to talk in most of the arts?
G: Yeah but mine works only through language. Special Language.
S: ?
G: Persuasion. I can get people to do what I say.
S: Isn’t that a dangerous thing to teach to others?
G: Nah. A rhetorician always does the right thing. And in any case, if one of my students didn’t do the right thing, I just taught him the skills.
S: I’m calling b.s. on that doublespeak.
At this point Polus starts getting touchy on Gee’s behalf and wants Socrates to answer the questions. Socrates is pretty sassy about it. He uses this great analogy; rhetoric is related to justice in the same way cooking is related to medicine, in that rhetoric and cooking are what you might prefer because they sound/taste good but justice and medicine are the actual good. Rhetoric is a highfalutin name for flattery.
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