What Ancient Greeks and Experts Had to Say About Sophists (2024)

Professional teachers of rhetoric (as well as other subjects) inancient Greece are known as Sophists. Major figures included Gorgias, Hippias, Protagoras, and Antiphon. This term comes from the Greek, "to become wise."

Examples

  • Recent scholarship (for example, Edward Schiappa's The Beginnings of Rhetorical Theory in Classical Greece, 1999) has challenged conventional views that rhetoric was born with the democratization of Syracuse, developed by the Sophists in a somewhat shallow way, criticized by Plato in a somewhat impractical way, and rescued by Aristotle, whose Rhetoric found the mean between Sophistic relativism and Platonic idealism. The Sophists were, in fact, a rather disparate group of teachers, some of whom may have been opportunistic hucksters while others (such as Isocrates) were closer in spirit and method to Aristotle and other philosophers.
  • The development of rhetoric in 5th-century B.C. certainly corresponded to the rise of the new legal system that accompanied the "democratic" government (that is, the several hundred men who were defined as Athenian citizens) in parts of ancient Greece. (Keep in mind that before the invention of lawyers, citizens represented themselves in the Assembly--usually in front of sizable juries.) It is believed that the Sophists generally taught by example rather than precept; that is, they prepared and delivered specimen speeches for their students to imitate.
    In any case, as Thomas Cole has noted, it's difficult to identify anything like a common set of Sophistic rhetorical principles (The Origins of Rhetoric in Ancient Greece, 1991). We do know a couple of things for certain: (1) that in the 4th century B.C. Aristotle assembled the rhetorical handbooks that were then available into a collection called the Synagoge Techne (now, unfortunately, lost); and (2) that his Rhetoric (which is actually a set of lecture notes) is the earliest extant example of a complete theory, or art, of rhetoric.

Plato's Criticism of the Sophists

Read MoreArt of Persuasion: Ancient Rhetoric UnveiledBy Richard Nordquist

"The Sophists formed part of the intellectual culture of classical Greece during the second half of the fifth century BCE. Best known as professional educators in the Hellenic world, they were regarded in their time as polymaths, men of varied and great learning. . . . Their doctrines and practices were instrumental in shifting attention from the cosmological speculations of the pre-Socratics to anthropological investigations with a decidedly practical nature. . . .

"[In the Gorgias and elsewhere] Plato critiques the Sophists for privileging appearances over reality, making the weaker argument appear the stronger, preferring the pleasant over the good, favoring opinions over the truth and probability over certainty, and choosing rhetoric over philosophy. In recent times, this unflattering portrayal has been countered with a more sympathetic appraisal of the Sophists' status in antiquity as well as their ideas for modernity."
(John Poulakos, "Sophists." Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Oxford University Press, 2001)

The Sophists as Educators

"[R]hetorical education offered its students mastery of the skills of language necessary to participating in political life and succeeding in financial ventures. The Sophists' education in rhetoric, then, opened a new doorway to success for many Greek citizens."
(James Herrick, History and Theory of Rhetoric. Allyn & Bacon, 2001)

"[T]he sophists were most concerned with the civic world, most specifically the functioning of the democracy, for which the participants in sophistic education were preparing themselves."
(Susan Jarratt, Rereading the Sophists. Southern Illinois University Press, 1991)

Isocrates, Against the Sophists

"When the layman . . . observes that the teachers of wisdom and dispensers of happiness are themselves in great want but exact only a small fee from their students, that they are on the watch for contradictions in words but are blind to inconsistencies in deeds, and that, furthermore, they pretend to have knowledge of the future but are incapable either of saying anything pertinent or of giving any counsel regarding the present, . . . then he has, I think, good reason to condemn such studies and regard them as stuff and nonsense, and not as a true discipline of the soul. . . .

"[L]et no one suppose that I claim that just living can be taught; for, in a word, I hold that there does not exist an art of the kind which can implant sobriety and justice in depraved natures. Nevertheless, I do think that the study of political discourse can help more than any other thing to stimulate and form such qualities of character."
(Isocrates, Against the Sophists, c. 382 BC. Translated by George Norlin)

What Ancient Greeks and Experts Had to Say About Sophists (2024)

FAQs

What Ancient Greeks and Experts Had to Say About Sophists? ›

Plato and Aristotle, among other Ancient Greek philosophers, were critical of the Sophists. They stated that Sophists were not legitimate philosophers, as their arguments were not sound. They gave the logic of the Sophists the designation of ''sophistry'' and said that it was inferior to philosophy.

How did Socrates feel about Sophists? ›

The sophists were criticized mercilessly by Socrates. These wandering teachers were the successors of the rhapsodes. Recently discovered fragments from the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. prove that they were also heirs of the tradition started by the poet Simonides (556 - 468 B.C.E.).

Why do you think many Greeks condemned the idea of the Sophists? ›

Suspicion towards the sophists was also informed by their departure from the aristocratic model of education (paideia). Since Homeric Greece, paideia had been the preoccupation of the ruling nobles and was based around a set of moral precepts befitting an aristocratic warrior class.

What was the Greek political thought of the Sophists? ›

They also believed that men were naturally nonsocial, that the state rested upon an artificial and individualistic basis, and that political authority was essentially selfish in its aims. The Sophists were the first teachers of individualism and originated the idea that the state rests upon a social compact.

What impact did the Sophists have on ancient Greece? ›

However, despite the opposition from philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, it is clear that sophists had a vast influence on a number of spheres, including the growth of knowledge and on ethical-political theory. Their teachings had a huge influence on thought in the 5th century BCE.

What was the nature of Socrates disagreement with the Sophists? ›

For most Sophists, their most important principle was that “Man is the measure of all things.” To Socrates, the exact opposite was the case. Rather Socrates felt that all real knowledge had to be objective knowledge — and to him, that meant rational, objective knowledge about mathematical objects and other ideal forms.

Did Sophists believe in God? ›

Arguing that 'man is the measure of all things', the Sophists were skeptical about the existence of the gods and taught a variety of subjects, including mathematics, grammar, physics, political philosophy, ancient history, music, and astronomy.

Why did Sophists have a bad reputation? ›

Many of the sophistic educators were characterized as deceitful because they were more concerned with making a profit from teaching persuasive trickery than of producing quality orators that would promote Athenian democracy.

Who was known to be the most notorious of all the Sophists? ›

Protagoras (born c. 490 bce, Abdera, Greece—died c. 420) was a thinker and teacher, the first and most famous of the Greek Sophists.

What did Plato think of the Sophists? ›

Poets as well as philosophers were called Sophists in the fifth century before Christ. In Plato himself the term is applied in the sense of a 'master in art,' without any bad meaning attaching to it (Symp.; Meno). In the later Greek, again, 'sophist' and 'philosopher' became almost indistinguishable.

Why is a misleading argument known as a sophism? ›

Thus sophist (which comes from Greek sophistēs, meaning "wise man" or "expert") earned a negative connotation as "a captious or fallacious reasoner." Sophistry is reasoning that seems plausible on a superficial level but is actually unsound, or reasoning that is used to deceive.

What were the Sophists views on ethics? ›

The sophists believed morality was an a priori fact of existence, denouncing Platonic and Aristotelian nomocratic relativism. They outlined a new framework of ethics; a framework which transcends human convention and custom.

Who rejected the Sophists? ›

Ancient writers, influenced by Plato and Aristotle, seem to have excluded the Sophists, apart from Protagoras, from their schematized accounts of early Greek thinkers. Modern writers have frequently maintained that, whatever else they were, the Sophists were in no sense philosophers.

Why were the Sophists unpopular? ›

The primary reason was that they used their knowledge to manipulate the thinking of other people, and taught the ways and means to use their knowledge to manipulate people. This is in contrast with philosophers like Socrates or Aristotle, who had the intention to distinguish between what is True, and what is False.

What is the difference between a skeptic and a sophist? ›

Though their positions have often been conflated, there is a big difference between Skeptic Hnd Sophist: whereas the Skeptic disavows all interest in determining: that a judgment is true or that it is false, the Sophist avows a definite interest in determining that it is false.

Why did Socrates disagree with the Sophists quizlet? ›

Socrates disagreed with the Sophists because the Sophists believed that their students should use their time to improve themselves. Socrates believed that an absolute truth existed within each each person.

On what point did Socrates find agreement with the Sophists? ›

Final answer:

Socrates found agreement with the Sophists on the point that virtue was subjective and not very important. Both fostered a subjective understanding of virtue despite their differing overall philosophical stances.

What did Socrates disagree with? ›

Socrates' criticism of democracy

But that is not the only accusation Socrates brings forward against his city and its politics. He tells his democratic audience that he was right to have withdrawn from political life, because a good person who fights for justice in a democracy will be killed.

What did Socrates believe? ›

Socrates believed that no one does wrong voluntarily. Evil is the result of ignorance. If people knew what was the right thing to do they would do it. We always choose what we think is the best or good for us.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Sen. Emmett Berge

Last Updated:

Views: 6462

Rating: 5 / 5 (80 voted)

Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Sen. Emmett Berge

Birthday: 1993-06-17

Address: 787 Elvis Divide, Port Brice, OH 24507-6802

Phone: +9779049645255

Job: Senior Healthcare Specialist

Hobby: Cycling, Model building, Kitesurfing, Origami, Lapidary, Dance, Basketball

Introduction: My name is Sen. Emmett Berge, I am a funny, vast, charming, courageous, enthusiastic, jolly, famous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.