The argument of probability (τὸ εἰκός) in Greek rhetorics

Abstract

The discourses of orators such as Isocrates, Gorgias, Antifonte, Lisias as well as the two rhetoric treaties, that date back to the IV century B.C. are not merely literary works created with great skills or manuals with recipes to be applied as source of the concepts that are of interest to philosophy. In this article we will analyze one of these concepts τὸ εἰκός. Usually translated as “probable” or “plausible” the eikóta are argumentative resources used from the origins of the practice of the rhetoric art, especially in judiciary environments and particularly those that were used in litigations where there is a lack of witnesses or testimonies in which would be difficult to convince the judge to be favorable. But the eikóta were also at the center of the platonic criticism which are considered as opposite of the truth (ἀλήθεια)