Gorgias' bedrag er en bog om en udskældt person i filosofihistorien – den oldgræske sofist Gorgias, der af Platon blev beskrevet som overfladisk og manipulerende. Ved en grundig analyse af Gorgias' tekst Lovtale over Helena viser Jakob Matthiesen, at Gorgias' talekunst er mere nuanceret end Platon gav udtryk for.

Gorgias' lovtale drejer sig om overtalelseskunst på flere planer. Indholdsmæssigt om, hvordan den skønne Helena blev overtalt til at tage til Troja sammen med prins Paris. Denne hændelse blev startskuddet til den trojanske krig. Ikke kun Helena overtales. Hele talen er i sig selv en overtalelse, der skal overbevise tilhørerne om, at Helena var uskyldig, da hun handlede, som hun gjorde.

Jakob Matthiesen afdækker Gorgias' særlige udtryksform og foreslår betegnelsen "retfærdigt bedrag" om Gorgias' komplekse forførelse af sit publikum. Derved anfægtes et synspunkt, der har rod i Platons kritik af Gorgias. Platon kritiserede først og fremmest Gorgias for at lade indholdet blive overskygget af retorikken og opererer dermed med et skel mellem det retoriske og det filosofiske. Sofisterne selv sondrede imidlertid ikke mellem retorik og filosofi. De mente, de udøvede begge dele. Med en sådan pointe vil Jakob Matthiesen vise, at vores opfattelse af det femte århundredes sofistik er blevet forvrænget af beskrivelser fra det femte århundredes forfattere, i særdeleshed Platon.

Jakob Matthiesen er cand. mag. i litteraturvidenskab og oldtidskundskab og arbejder som seminarielærer i dansk.

English
Gorgias' bedrag (Gorgias' deception) is a book on a severely criticized person in the history of philosophy - the Greek sophist Gorgias who by Plato is described as being superficial and manipulative. Through a thorough analysis of Gorgias' text The Encomium of Helen, the writer shows that Gorgias' rhetoric is more varied than Plato declared.

Gorgias' encomium deals with the art of persuasion at several levels. It deals with how the beautiful Helen was persuaded to go to Troy with Prince Paris. This incident became the starting signal for the Trojan War. Not only Helen is persuaded. The entire oration is a persuasion in itself meant to convince the audience that Helen was innocent when she acted the way she did.

Jakob Matthiesen uncovers Gorgias' particular mode of expression and suggests the term "fair deception" for Gorgias' complex seduction of his audience. A viewpoint that is rooted in Plato's critique of Gorgias is thus questioned. First and foremost, Plato criticized Gorgias for letting the contents be overshadowed by rhetorics, and thus he operated with a distinction between rhetorics and philosophy. The sophists themselves, however, did not distinguish between rhetorics and philosophy. They believed themselves to be practising both. With this, Jakob Matthiesen wants to demonstrate that our perception of fifth century sophism has been distorted by descriptions by writers of the fifth century, in particular by Plato.

Jakob Matthiesen has an MA in Comparative Literature and Classical Studies and teaches Danish at a college of education.