As fronteiras do lógos: convergências entre o Tratado do não-ser e o Elogio de Helena de Górgias de Leontini

Abstract

The present dissertation aims at reflecting about the On not being and the Encomium of Helen, both works attributed to Gorgias, assessing the possibility of a thread that transpasses them. Regarding the On not being, it was first established what could have been Gorgias’ ideas to which both versions (the one by the Anonymous of M.X.G., and another by Sextus in the Against the logicians) of the text refer. It was concluded that the On not being seems to attempt to determine the limits of the lógos, notably the impossibility of properly translating into words what is external to this lógos. This condition appears to result in an epistemological consequence, since we use the speech in order to express what has been settled so far in the search of knowledge. Well, if the speech is not capable of adequately communicating how the object of research presents itself, it is not possible to genuinely express the considerations elaborated so far; and, if the only path to verify them is through the speech, there is no prospect of certainty about its veracity. The Encomium, postulating the soul as uncertain and, therefore, in search for unstable opinions, appears to resume the consequence of the lógos’ limits established in the On not being. That is because, if the soul is not capable of verifying whether it cognises or not, it will arouse its uncertainty. Furthermore, the Encomium introduces the power of the lógos: it, through a body, is more stable than the soul which, therefore, is persuaded by the lógos into acting accordingly to what it communicates. In addition, similarly to the On not being, the Encomium does not think the lógos in agreement with what is external to it, the lógos persuades the souls in spite of its veracity.