You know, from the Greek, "sophia" means wisdom. So, why the sophists received this label, given that they were not wise people, but a bunch of professionals on eloquency?
Ie - B r a z i l
2006-10-23 08:46:00 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Sophists were indeed learned men. Plato was mainly responsible for discrediting them. There are two things Plato did not like about the sophists.
1) Sophist did not necessarily seek to discover the truth. They sought to win an argument. They also trained their students to learn how to do this. Their method of discourse, therefore, was based on the idea of an adversarial system, much as modern common law. Plato opposed this because to him, it made the truth a secondary pursuit to winning over an opponent.
2) Sophists also placed a high importance on rhetoric, or the art of expressing one's self well in order to convince. Plato opposed this as another illusion of the sophists, as he felt good expression had little to do with the truth expressed.
So basically, Plato felt that the sophists trained their students in the art of winning and convincing, as opposed to the art of seeking the truth. This is why he opposed them and felt they were not true philosophers.
2006-10-23 09:00:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Plato labeled the sohphists as merely a bunch of professionals skilled in the art of eloquence, because he questioned their ethical motivations. However, in general, the sophists had a different perspective on knowledge (that it is crafted through context-based language use); Plato thought that knowledge was absolute (and could be reached with philosophical logic and reasoning capacities).
The sophists were wise people--they have just gotten a bad rap, historically, because of other philosophers such as Plato.
2006-10-23 09:04:52 · answer #2 · answered by retorik75 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sophia truly means wisdom ; but a Sophist is a person using this
"sophia" in a confusing manner (greek Sophistis=mixing sophia with their "logics") to getting agreement by the people.
So, they were knowledgeable persons, driven by their impulses to creating "any" effect. Most of them they'd been the cause of wars in Ancient Greece.
Ciao.........John-John.
2006-10-23 08:53:36 · answer #3 · answered by John-John 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sophism is a specious argument used for deceiving someone. In Aristotle's "Politics" he uses logic to break down Socrates in "The Republic" as not working according to human nature, this could be construed as using a specious argument by Socrates to deceive someone. That is a complete stretch though since Socrates actually believed what he said and wasn't lying to convince people as a sophist would. Your best bet is to go with Aristophanes "Clouds".
2016-05-22 01:56:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm betting that the Sophists picked the name themselves.
2006-10-23 09:06:02 · answer #5 · answered by Quibish 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they charged a fee for the session.
2006-10-23 08:54:25 · answer #6 · answered by johnnyboy_86 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋