Abstract

This paper argues that Alcidamas should be seen as a thinker of the ψυχή instead of the mere psychagogical potential of the λόγος. The development of an interesting and complex reflection on the logical and syntactic organization of the speech on one hand, and on the soul and its functions on the other, leads Alcidamas to reevaluate the relation between the orator and his audience and allows us to establish a subtle redefinition of the art of rhetoric in the On the Sophists.