Visual Enthymemes

While writing Gorgias, Plato employed enthymemes countless times. An enthymeme is a combination of statements that explicitly makes an argument while implicitly evoking the worldview within which that argument makes sense. This inherently must be a verbal rhetorical tool, but is not nearly as effective when taken to the visual aspect. To meet the rhetorical needs for a visual work of art, one must look elsewhere.

The assignment here was to comprise a work of art from any form of media that interprets the significance of the writings of Plato for a modern audience. Such a contemporary audience will likely demand the art form be more than merely verbal and therefore the visual aspect becomes the most important part of the composition, and forms of visual persuasion become necessary.

To this end one can look to the charming acronym CRAP. These letters stand for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. Employing the individual elements of the acronym should result in an outcome quite opposite the combination.

Specific to this cartoon, CRAP is utilized in many aspects of the picture. Contrast is shown between Socrates (the man with the scissors) and the hands across the top. The dominant thing with Socrates is his head. Typically a head symbolizes the pursuit of truth, or philosophy, which Plato supports over rhetoric. Hands often denote manipulation, and for that reason they are the only representation of Gorgias, Callicles, and Polus across the top. Contrasted directly with these are the small hands of Socrates, which depict his pursuit of knowledge and truth over manipulation. Repetition is illustrated in the three hands across the top. They are almost identical and are holding similar things. This displays the corresponding intentions of those three men and that they use closely linked ideas to sway their audience. The picture as a whole is aligned as an “X” that meets at the point of the scissor cut. This is the focal point of the picture and the idea is to draw the eye into that point. Socrates is positioned closely to Greece, which is entwined by the manipulation of the three men across the top. This proximity is supposed to represent the motives of Socrates as being pure and seeking the best for Greece and that the opposite is true of Gorgias, Callicles, and Polus. These men are seeking to present high propositions in order to look intelligent and as if they know the most of anyone. While not destined to cause a sensation in the art world, the cartoon displays “visual enthymemes” in a number of ways.

So Plato taught us how to argue and persuade verbally, in such a way that is seeking out knowledge, not just presenting a facade of intelligence. This can be represented for modern communication that is not only verbal, but also visual through the use of contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. So when seeking to persuade, remember that an effective presentation never forgets CRAP.