Who is Isocrates?
Isocrates was the first teacher of writing of which we have record. Records approximate his birth in Greece in 436 BCE, and his approximate death, in 338. What is clearly known of Isocrates is that he opened a rhetoric school in Athens in around 393. His school predates Plato’s. Once Plato had established his school, Isocrates’ came under intense attack first by Plato, then Aristotle. Unlike most rhetoric schools of the times which were taught by itinerant sophists, Isocrates defined himself against the sophists. His first work is titled Against the Sophists and he later treats the subject again in Antidosis and the Helen. He wanted rhetoric and speech reserved for moral purpose, much like Aristotle. However, Aristotle would accept only those who exhibited talent, and Isocrates felt that even those of less talent could be taught the fundamentals of good writing. Isocrates may have emphasized writing above speaking because he was notably a very poor speaker with a weak voice. He was als
