La concezione del potere del λόγος secondo Isocrate e la sua intertestualità

In the praise of λόγος, that Isocrates delivers in Nicocles, 5-8, he acknowledges that it has a chief role in a process of human civilization that, according to the Protagoras of the Platonic dialogue, was played mainly by αἰδώς and δίκη sent by Zeus. According to Isocrates λόγος itself has carried out a process of civilization creating a deep tie among men. Moreover the λόγος praised by Isocrates is ἡγεμών. It looks like the λόγος δυνάστης μέγας which Gorgias speaks about in his Encomion to Helen, but the λόγος praised by Isocrates is a safe guide of values. The influence of the Socratic thought is recognizable in the stress laid on Socrates’ skill to test and confute those who are wrong and turn them to the virtue and justice. This influence also appears in the fact that the gods have awarded men the faculty of judgment and the capacity to find out devices to express their thought for the good of human society. Also the idea of thought as inner talk can be a Socratic heritage.