Knowing Your Audience

Both the reader and Phaedrus are set up for easy manipulation in this in depth exchange between Socrates and Phaedrus.  Socrates intellectually mystifies Phaedrus by shaking the basis of his beliefs, calling them “foolish” and “impious” (p.147 left) while simultaneously offering a new foundation for fresh, atoned knowledge.  The format of this dialogue has an effective balance of ethos implored by Socrates to convince Phaedrus of his rhetoric credibility, as well as pathos implored by Socrates to inspire Phaedrus to consider alternative methods for gaining truth and knowledge.  Phaedrus is an eager pupil of rhetorical discourse, and Socrates senses his hunger for knowledge and uses it to his advantage.  Rather than attacking Lysias’ speech outright, Socrates makes an equal speech and instead attacks his own words.  Although it is essentially the ideas of Lysias that Socrates attacks, using himself as a veil makes him appear noble to Phaedrus and begins paving the way for persuasion.

This is a valuable tool in rhetoric, which I like to think of as warming up the audience.  Self-deprecation instills a sense of trust in an audience, because it makes them think that you are not too close-minded to see even your own faults.  Additionally, the act of conversationally working out problems in front of the audience (Phaedrus in this case) gives off a sense of divine improvisation, which could not possibly leave room for a hidden agenda of malicious persuasion.  Within this clever framework that Socrates has set up, Phaedrus is more susceptible to suggestions that may not have originally fit in with his beliefs.