THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS’

VIEW OF THE HUMAN

PERSON
The Views of the Sophists vs. Socrates
Objectives:
At the conclusion of the session, you should have
been able to:

 Appreciate the historical importance of the Sophists in

the development of Greek Philosophy.

 Compare the philosophies of the Greek sophists

Protagoras, Gorgias and Thrasymachus.

 Discuss the basics of Socrates’ philosophical ideas.

The Sophists: The Background
 Noted not for philosophy but for the art of persuasive
speech (rhetoric).

 Practical people who earned money for teaching

rhetoric (first professional teachers) to those who
wanted to learn oratory.

 Used philosophy for material considerations rather than

for seeking for knowledge.

 Looked at truth as relative.

Protagoras
 Man is the measure of all things.

 Relativity of Knowledge: Knowledge differ to each

person because it is limited to the person’s various
perceptions.

 Relativity of Moral Judgments – one’s own conception

of goodness arise from the relativity of knowledge.

 Moral Relativism – moral laws/rules are based upon the

convention of each society; no one could decide on what
is moral but society can make laws they would deem
good.
Gorgias
 Preferred to be called a rhetorician who taught not
virtue but the art of persuasion.

 There is no truth at all.

 Everything is self-contradictory – nothing exists.

 “If anything is, it must have had a beginning.”
 If it arose from not being, , this is impossible because
something cannot arise out of nothing.

 The human person is incapable of knowing anything at

all. (epistemological nihilism)
Thrasymachus
 Injustice is to be preferred to the life of justice.

 Injustice is a virtue. – the unjust person is more superior

in character and intelligence than the just person.

 People should be aggressive in pursuing their own

interests in virtually unlimited form of self assertion.

 Might is right. – epistemological authoritarianism.

 Justice leads to weakness.
 Morality is reduced to power.
Socrates
 “To know the good is to do the good.”

 Ethical wisdom – recognizing the importance of an

ethical life and of doing good as the basic principle of
human activity.

 Knowledge is virtue; happiness can only be attained if

a person possess knowledge. To be virtuous is to be
happy and wise. Evil is the result of ignorance.

 Knowledge is inborn. Virtue is therefore a natural

endowment and not an artificial convention or habit to be
acquired by education.
Socrates
 Dialectic method – the means to attain knowledge
through the practice of disciplined conversation.

 An unexamined life is not worth living.

 Soul – the capacity for intelligence and character,

the conscious personality of the human being;
knows and directs our behavior.

 We need to make our soul as good as possible.

Billy Graham’s Prayer for the American
Nation:

'Heavenly Father, we come before

you today to ask your forgiveness
and to seek your direction and
guidance.
Billy Graham’s Prayer for the American
Nation:
We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call
evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed
our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the
lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it social
welfare.
Billy Graham’s Prayer for the American
Nation:
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it
justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children
and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
Billy Graham’s Prayer for the American
Nation:
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions
and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and
pornography and called it freedom of
expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of
our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Billy Graham’s Prayer for the American
Nation:

Search us, Oh God, and know

our hearts today; cleanse us
from every sin and set us free.

Amen!'
Learning Task No. 1:
 Form a Team of 4 or 5 Members.
 In a Focused Group Discussion, analyze the prayer
in connection with the ideas of Protagoras, Gorgias,
Thrasymachus and Socrates.
 Write a script of a story whereby Protagoras,
Gorgias, Thrasymachus, and Socrates are discussing
or talking about Billy Graham’s description of the
American Nation in his Prayer.
 E-mail your script to me on or before ___________.
 Prepare to present your output on ____________.