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CHAPTER 2
SOPHISTS AND SOCRATES:
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MAN, RELATIVISM AND THE IDEA OF
GOOD
Key Words: Sophists, Gorgias, nihilism, relativism, skepticism. Socrates, Oracle of Delphi.
raised new questions and have initiated debates and discussions on many new areas
concerning human life, but also adopted new methods and strategies.
Vedic traditions, certain very important factors encouraged the emergence of Sophism in
ancient Greece.
More than any other sphere of life, the impact of the Sophists were on the moral
and political domains and the two were so intimately interconnected in ancient Greece.
The Sophists belonged to an era where many of the accepted notions about human
destiny were critically examined and assumptions about good life are questioned. The
critical spirit was part and parcel of the Greek culture from the very beginning, though
the religious sentiments too had played an important role in shaping the customs and
conventions. In other words, there was no apparent clash between the traditional moral
and religious assumptions and the critical spirit. The early Greek thinkers involved in
deep critical engagements as each generation produced an original thinker who would
oppose and challenge what was held before. But about moral assumptions and
conceptions about good life, there were a broad general agreement, as the ancient Indians
had about their conceptions about dharma. Though its interpretations and understanding
of its details vary, there were some broad fundamental agreements.
As mentioned above, the Sophists have questioned all the accepted customs and
conventions. They have insisted on being critical and thinking logically and through their
critical engagements have attempted transforming the old conceptions of the world,
human destiny and meaning of human life and even questioned the very sanctity of
holding such grand conceptions.
individualism that assert that there is no truth that is universally valid. Since they oppose
all conceptions of holding a philosophical position, they would not envisage projecting
any theory which would find acceptance from all. Hence Sophism cannot be treated as
a school of thought or an organized movement.
Consequently, the Sophists do not constitute an organized and systematic
philosophical movement or tradition of thought. There was no common metaphysical
doctrine to which all of them subscribed to, though there were several common features
shared by their thoughts. All of them opposed all forms of essentialism; metaphysical or
moral and had apparently advocated relativism, subjectivism and occasionally, nihilism.
The two most important features of the thinking of the Sophists were their
skepticism and relativism. The skeptical outlook exhibited a doubt on the very
possibility of true knowledge on the one hand and refused to accept the unconditional
authority of moral law on the other. Consequently, they refuted the prevalent conceptions
of objectivity and have attacked the existent religious and other customary values. They
endeavoured to demonstrate that the so called universal and objective moral values have
not emanated from God: they are human creations.
Gorgias, a prominent figure among the Sophists, advocated nihilism and
endeavoured to demonstrate that nothing exists. He declared that if something does exist
we cannot know it and even if we can know it we cannot communicate it.
practices have asserted that success is not something that comes as a hereditary right: it
can be achieved through skills.
Another notable thinker of this age was Protagoras, to whom the statement, man
is the measure of all things is attributed. We have seen that, Gorgias was not primarily
a teacher of virtue, and was more interested in proving the nihilistic position taking
advantage of the seductive powers of language. On the other hand, Protagoras was
interested in analyzing issues related to morality and have advocated an extreme form of
ethical relativism.
Protagoras Philosophy
Protagoras advocated the idea of dissoi logoi or different words, that asserts that there
are two contradictory sides to every issue. His arguments and approaches reflected the
spirit of this primary assumption and he trained his students to see both these sides and
argue accordingly. He tried to show that through the employment of such techniques one
could make the weaker cause appear the stronger.
As mentioned above, the famous statement, Man is the measure of all things is
associated with Protagoras. With this he categorically affirms the following:
1. There is no absolute truth, which can be held universally by all men.
2. There are no absolutely and universally correct moral positions or criterion, apart
from the individual who acts and takes decisions.
3. There is no extra-human reality that decides the values of human life; the
individual man decides it for him.
have argued that the moral laws are created by man based on circumstances and they
have no independent objective existence. They vary from time to time and place to place
and even from individual to individual.
According to the Sophists moral values and laws are conventional and they often
reflect the will of those who have the power to enforce their demands on others. They
held that moral rules are contrary to nature, as they are made by the weak, the majority, in
order to restrain the strong who is a minority. Natural right is the right of the stronger.
If we raise the question of justice in this context, the implications of Sophists views
become clear. They advocate the principle, might is right and argues that it is accident
that makes might. Platos The Republic, discusses the argument that explains the origin of
justice by the Sophists. They argue that to do injustice is, by nature, good and to suffer
injustice, evil. But in such cases, evil is always greater than the good. Plato writes:
And so when men have both done and suffered injustice and have had experience
of both, not being able to avoid the one and obtain the other, they think that they
had better agree among themselves to have neither; hence there arise laws and
mutual covenants; and that which is ordained by law is termed by them lawful and
just. [The Republic by Plato: Book II Glaucon]
The gist of the argument is the following. The origin and nature of justice can be
traced to this idea of a compromise or a mean between the best of all and the worst of all.
The best of all is to do injustice and not be punished, and the worst of all, is to suffer
injustice without the power of retaliation. Justice needs to be understood as a middle
point between the two. It is tolerated not as a good, but as the lesser evil, and honoured
by reason of the inability of men to do injustice. The Sophists argue that no sane person
would ever submit to such an agreement if he were able to resist.
On the positive side, the Sophists have advocated hedonism and affirmed that the
Good Life IS the Pleasurable Life. If this maxim is true, then injustice is more profitable
than justice (provided one could get away with that). The Sophists most people would
take advantage of their neighbors if they were certain they would get away with it.
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The Drawbacks
The Sophists have initiated more free and critical approaches to philosophical reflections
by adopting a completely unorthodox approach and methodology. But with their
emphasis on individualism, they have failed to see the universal element in man. One
may note that they were exaggerating the differences in human judgements and in this
process were ignoring the agreements and similarities. They have magnified the
accidental, subjective and personal elements in human knowledge and neglected the
commonalities and similarities.
The critique of traditional morality collapsed into subjectivism and individualism
and further to pure selfishness and moral anarchy. The radical moral skepticism and
individualism further promoted disrespect and disobedience to the law, and has ultimately
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led to a complete neglect of civic duty, and encouraged selfish individualism. With their
stress on selfish interests of the individual over the general welfare of the society, the
philosophical outlook of the Sophists posed a threat to community life.
and gradually make them commit contradictions. The opponent soon realizes that,
actually Socrates is under control of the situation. This is known as Socratic irony.
The purpose of this method is to bring out contradictions hidden in ones thinking
that are manifested in ones assumptions, beliefs and views. Socrates is compared with a
gadfly, because with his constant questions he makes his opponent uncomfortable, who
otherwise does not feel the necessity of his long held beliefs need to be questioned or
revised. This is what a gadfly does to the horse. It flies around the horse and makes it
uncomfortable.
Socrates is also known as an intellectual midwife. The job of a midwife is to help
the woman in pain to deliver the child. Similarly, Socrates assists people to arrive at
correct knowledge, which the human soul already possesses. The underlying assumption
is that the human soul already possesses all knowledge in advance, which as a result of it
coming into contact with the body, it has forgotten. The dialectical method helps us to
introspect about this knowledge, encounter confusions and contradictions and finally
overcome them by arriving at right definitions of concepts.
It is Plato who systematically develops these insights and in his Dialogues,
Socrates has been presented as the Protagonist, who engages with others in conversations
and arguments. Socrates would have attracted the wrath of many people in this process
that ultimately had led to his arrest and execution. The next chapter discusses the
important contributions of Plats Philosophy.
Quiz
1. Which of the following is not true of the Sophists?
(a) Disregard for ethical values (b) Propagated nihilism (c) Advocated objectivism (d)
reason (c) Moral laws are like laws of nature (d) Moral laws vary from time
to time and place to place.
Answer Key
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
(c)
(a)
(a)
(d)
(d)
Assignment
1. Discuss how did the Sophists challenge the Greek moral tradition.
2. Describe intellectual midwifery.
References
Durant, Will, A Story of Philosophy: The lives and Opinions of the Greater
Philosophers of the Western World, Pocket Books, 1991.
Long, A. A. : The scope of early Greek philosophy, Cambridge Companions Online
Cambridge University Press, 2006
Russell, Bertrand: History of Western Philosophy, London, Routledge Classics, 2004.
Thilly, Frank: A History of Philosophy, New Delhi, SBE Publishers, 1983.
Zeller, E: A History of Greek Philosophy, Vol 1, London, Longmans, Green and Co,
1881.
Web Resources
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