Isocrates’ praise of the power of language

Critical remarks on a core text shaping Western higher education

Isocrates: statue at the Parc de Versailles. Image: wikimedi

If we ask about where Western ideas of higher education came from, scholars (egs: Marrou, Kimball, Muir) now agree that the orator-teacher Isocrates — a contemporary of Plato — was every bit as important, if not more important, than the better-known philosopher.