School of thought
Sophism
Movement
Classification
- Period
- c. 450-380 BCE
- Regions
- Europe (origin)
- Domains
- Epistemology, Philosophy of Language
Overview
The Sophists were itinerant teachers in classical Athens who taught rhetoric, argumentation, and the art of persuasion for a fee. Far from mere charlatans, thinkers like Protagoras and Gorgias raised profound questions about the nature of truth, the conventionality of morals, and the power of language to shape reality.
Key ideas
- Relativism: Protagoras declared 'man is the measure of all things' — truth and value are relative to the perceiver, not fixed by nature or the gods.
- Nomos vs. Physis: The Sophists debated whether justice, morality, and law (nomos) are natural or merely conventional — a question that remains central to political philosophy.
- Power of Rhetoric: Gorgias called speech 'a powerful lord' that works on the soul as a drug works on the body, persuading independently of what is true — which raises questions about the relationship between persuasion, truth, and power.
Key figures
Protagoras · Gorgias · Hippias · Thrasymachus
Positions held
- Protagorean Relativism
Question scope: The Nature of Truth
- Relativism
Reacts to
- Eleaticism
Gorgias' On Not-Being turned rigorous Eleatic argument against Parmenides' conclusions — that nothing is, that if it is it cannot be known, and that if known it cannot be communicated.
Later connections
- Platonism Reacted to this tradition
Plato's dialogues argue sustainedly against Sophistic relativism and rhetoric, defending objective truth and the good against 'man is the measure'.
References
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Sophists
- Gorgias, Encomium of Helen §8 (speech is a powerful lord, working on the soul as drugs work on the body)
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Sophists, introduction — Formation: the fifth-century profession of itinerant teachers in Greek cities, especially Athens.
- Plato, Theaetetus 152a (the measure doctrine) and 166a–168c (the Defense of Protagoras)
- Plato, Theaetetus 152a (Protagoras' measure doctrine)
- Gorgias, On Not-Being (On Nature); Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Gorgias
- The Older Sophists — Rosamond Kent Sprague (ed.)
- Protagoras and Logos — Edward Schiappa