Critolaus and Rhetoric

This paper focuses on Critolaus in what concerns rhetoric. In the Scholarly literature we encounter three main positions: 1. Critolaus was part of a general anti-rhetoric movement which was active among all/most philosophers around the middle of the 2nd century BCE, and he was probably one of its leaders. 2. In most cases Critolaus uses Platonic arguments against rhetoric (with slight modifications, though) – mainly those which appear in the Gorgias. In any case Critolaus hardly offered any innovations in his arguments against rhetoric. 3. By taking part in this anti-rhetoric movement Critolaus appears to be an independent Peripatetic thinker. In this paper I shall challenge all these three assumptions.