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)
FAQs
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.
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.
Why were the Sophists disliked by philosophers in ancient Greece? ›
The Sophists challenged and criticized and destroyed the foundations of traditions and the moral and social order and they put nothing in its place nor did they care to.
Why do you think many Greeks condemned the idea of the Sophists? ›
The Greeks condemned the ideas of Sophists because the Sophists questioned Greek culture's ideas. Success was more important to them than moral truth. After the Peloponnesian War, the majority of young Athenians followed them due to their rhetorical skills.
How did Socrates view sophists? ›
Socrates' attitude towards the sophists was not entirely oppositional. In one dialogue Socrates even stated that the sophists were better educators than he was, which he validated by sending one of his students to study under a sophist.
Who criticized the sophists? ›
Socrates and Plato were philosophers who believed that the purpose of philosophy was to seek truth. They were critical of the Sophists, a group of traveling teachers who were popular in ancient Greece, because they believed that the. Why were the Sophists hated?
How did Plato feel about Sophists? ›
He is depicted by Plato as suggesting that sophists are the ruin of all those who come into contact with them and as advocating their expulsion from the city (Meno, 91c-92c).
How did the Sophists change Greek philosophy? ›
To Hegel, the Sophists were subjective idealists, holding that reality is only minds and their contents, and so philosophy could move forward by turning its attention to the subjective element in knowing.
What did the Sophists believe about reality? ›
To summarize, the Sophists held a variety of metaphysical viewpoints that were diametrically opposed to those held by Parmenides and Socrates. The Sophists were a group of philosophers who believed that reality was fluid and could be reshaped at will, and that there was no such thing as absolute truth or morality.
Why did Sophists have a bad reputation? ›
Some sophists were also orators and logographers. In the Phaedrus, Socrates accuses the sophists of lacking true knowledge and of training their students in an unethical, manipulative form of rhetoric that can persuade audiences regardless of the truth or falsehood of its claims.
In today's society, lawyers are the true modern Sophists — arguers for hire. And the court is their battleground where they try to outshine each other in a dazzling show of Sophistry!
What are Sophists' influences today? ›
The ideas of ancient sophists are visible in those trends of today's humanities that express the essence of the democratic formation (for instance, various forms of postmodernist philosophy, Perelman's “New Rhetoric”, and all the schools of the rhetorical theory of reality).
Who was known to be the most notorious of all the Sophists? ›
We do not know much about Protagoras' life, and even less about his death: as the most famous sophist, he became the object of many, often unreliable, anecdotes. He was born in Abdera in Thrace, in the north coast of the Aegean Sea.
What were the Sophists moral views? ›
Conclusion. 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.
What were the moral values of the Greek Sophists? ›
The Sophists taught that morals are relative to time and place; actions that one society regards as good may be regarded as bad by another and neither view is more correct than the other.
What were the main ideas of the Sophists? ›
Section 3 examines three themes that have often been taken as characteristic of sophistic thought: the distinction between nature and convention, relativism about knowledge and truth and the power of speech.
What were the Sophists known for quizlet? ›
The Sophists were Greek teachers who were paid to teach pupils in the education of arete (ability to persuade others with rhetoric). They did not believe in absolute truths, instead, since no truth existed, they believed it was more effective to prove something using wordplay (rhetoric) than logic.
What is an example of a sophist argument? ›
If a candidate falsely claims that the crime rate in a city is rising so that he can gain the support of voters who believe he'll be tough on crime, his statement is a sophism. The word comes from the Old French sophime, "fallacy or false argument," and its root, the Greek sophisma, "clever device or stage trick."
What are the 4 notable things about Socrates? ›
A legendary figure even in his own time, he was admired by his followers for his integrity, his self-mastery, his profound philosophical insight, and his great argumentative skill.
