Gorgias, and his pupils Polus, and Callicles gather with Socrates. Gorgias begins the debate with Socrates by arguing that power and influence come with the ability to impress an audience. He is the voice of this world. In dialectic the victor is clear, but often the situation is clouded in rhetoric where several speak. Gorgias replies that justice is a sufficient practical knowledge of men and affairs to know what is conventionally moral in any given case, i.e., audience analysis.
Rhetoric is the art of persuading people to bring about the greatest good.
Socrates replies that it can also bring about the greatest evil. Gorgias says the subject of rhetoric is the substance of speeches. At this point Polus steps in to defend the Sophists' position. He argues that the great good is power. Socrates admires Polus' honesty, but Socrates contends that rhetoric is not much use in the world because it is not an art, it does not rest on universal principles.