Sophists

We explain who the sophists were in philosophy and their relationship with Socrates. Furthermore, what is a sophist today.

Who were the sophists?

The sophists were a group of students and teachers of rhetoric (the art of speech) who lived mainly in Athens during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. c.

The sophists were not a homogeneous group: each teacher preached and taught in his own way, without a set of rules or principles to follow. The most famous sophists are Protagoras (485 – 411 BC) and Gorgias of Leontines (483 – 375 BC), who is still known today for his works About Nature or Non-Being and Helena's Commendation.

Both Protagoras and Gorgias had Socrates, Plato and Aristotle as philosophical opponents. Both appear as characters in several of Plato's works and were also accused of persuading audiences and political assemblies for their own benefit.

History and etymology of the term “sophist”

The word “sophist” comes from the Greek sophistesformed by the union ofsophia“wisdom”, and sophós“sage”. They were not considered teachers of wisdom but professionals of knowledge and eloquence.

But since poets and philosophers charged for their services, they were accused of pursuing through debate not the truth, but only argumentative victory, even through fallacious or dishonest methods of thought, a claim made against them by their contemporaries, such as Pindar (c. 518–438 BC) or Socrates (470–399 BC).

From the 5th century BC. C., the term sophist began to be used in the sense of a fraud or charlatan. This applied not only to philosophers but to writers, poets, orators, and teachers of rhetoric alike.

Most important sophists

Some of the main sophists of the Greek tradition were:

• Protagoras of Abdera (c. 485–c. 411 BC). He was a Greek thinker, traveler and teacher of rhetoric. He traveled around the country charging high fees for teaching, for example, the correct use of words. Protagoras was famous for teaching that “Man is the measure of all things, of those that are insofar as they are, of those that are not insofar as they are not.” Plato dedicated one of his dialogues to him, called Protagoras.
• Gorgias of Leontines (483–375 BC). He was a disciple of Empedocles and familiar with the thought of Zeno of Elea and Parmenides. He was respected as a philosopher even by his detractors. Some attribute to him the role of father of oratory and founder of epideictic, which is a form of speech that praises or censures a person. His best-known works are About Nature or Non-Being and the Helena's Commendation.
• Prodicum of Ceos (465–395 BC). He was an early generation sophist and contemporary of Socrates, whose teachings focused on grammar and rhetoric. None of his works survive to this day, but there are numerous references to him in works by other authors. Among his interests were astronomy, language, ethics and religion.
• Hippias of Elis (c. 460–c. 400 BC). He was an outstanding geometer, discoverer of the quadtrix, with which he responded to central problems of Greek geometry. He is also credited with a great memory and the invention of numerous mnemonic rules.
• Thrasymachus of Chalcedon (459–400 BC). Little is known about the life of this sophist, who appears in the Platonic dialogues and in the Republic of Plato, particularly in the reflections regarding the role of justice. There are some references to him in the work of Clement of Alexandria.

Socrates and the sophists

Socrates believed that the sophists were his intellectual enemies. Although he considered Gorgias and Protagoras as true philosophers, the negative meaning of the term “sophist” is due to him and Plato. The main reasons for this enmity can be summarized in the following points:

• The sophists charged for the teaching of their knowledge and access to “the truth,” while Socrates conversed for free with any Athenian who was willing to do so.
• The sophists had encyclopedic knowledge and used debate as a teaching method, while Socrates believed in dialogue and guided questions and answers as a teaching method.
• For the sophists, the primary task was the persuasion of others, through logical arguments or tricks (false arguments) designed to excite their audience, while Socrates was firmly committed to the search for truth.
• In general, the sophists were critics of the Greek religious tradition; while Socrates was devoted to the law and felt strongly linked to Athens and its traditions.

Continue with: Skepticism

Current use of the term “sophist”

The general meaning of the term sophist corresponds to that of charlatan or conceptual juggler. However, some contemporary thinkers, such as Michel Onfray or Giorgio Colli, claim the importance of the sophists in the tradition of Western thought.

The treatises of Protagoras and Gorgias are philosophical antecedents of current conceptions of language and the use of words. Already Nietzsche, in the 19th century BC. C., said that instead of Socrates and Plato, the sophists had been the true first philosophers of Greek antiquity.

References

• Guthrie, W. (1953). The Greek philosophers. From Thales to Aristotle. FCE.
• Guthrie, W. (2012). History of Greek philosophy II. The sophists, Socrates and the first Plato. Gredos.
• Guthrie, W. (1994). History of Greek Philosophy, Vol III. 5th century. Illustration. Gredos.
• “Sophism” at https://www.philosophybasics.com/
• “Sophist (Philosophy)” at https://www.britannica.com/