Philosophical ideas of the sophists. Sophists and sophistry. The significance of the activities of the sophists

In the middle of the 5th c. BC. sophists appear in ancient greece – professional teachers who taught (for a fee) eloquence (rhetoric) and the ability to argue. The Sophists taught this art without asking what the truth is. Therefore, the word "sophist" from the very beginning acquired a reprehensible connotation, because the sophists knew how - and taught today to prove the thesis, and tomorrow the antithesis. The attention of the sophists in their worldview was transferred from the problems of the Cosmos, nature to the problems of man, society, and knowledge.

In epistemology, the sophists raised the question of how our thoughts about it relate to the world around us? Is our thinking able to cognize the real world? Sophists believed that the world is not knowable, that is, they were agnostics.

The agnosticism of the Sophists stemmed from their relativism - the doctrine that everything in the world is relative; V epistemology relativism means that truth is relative that it depends entirely on conditions, on time and place, on circumstances, on a person;

The truth is "to each his own," the sophists taught. Sophists recognized only subjective truths, of which there are many, but denied objective truth.

There is no objective criterion of good and evil, what is beneficial to someone is good, then good. In the field of ethics, the agnosticism of the sophists grew into immoralism.

Protagoras: "Man is the measure of all things"

Already in ancient times, there was a mostly negative assessment of the activities of the sophists and their method. Aristotle wrote a special logical essay "On Sophistic Refutations", in which he gave the following definition of sophistry:"Sophistry is imaginary wisdom, not real, and a sophist is one who seeks self-interest from imaginary, not real wisdom" (Aristotle.-Soch.-T.3-S.536.). But perhaps the most passionate critic of the sophists and sophistry was

Socrates (469 - 399 BC) from Athens. Socrates never aspired to active social activity, led the "life of a philosopher": spent time in philosophical conversations and disputes, taught philosophy, not caring about his well-being and about his family. Socrates never wrote down either his thoughts or his dialogues, believing that writing makes knowledge external, interferes with deep internal assimilation, thought dies in writing. - Therefore, everything that we know about Socrates, we know "by hearsay", from his students.

Socrates called "dialectic" the art of arguing, in which "truth is born." Socrates studied the problem of man, considering man as a moral being. Therefore, the philosophy of Socrates can be characterized as an ethical anthropologism. Socrates once expressed the essence of his philosophical concerns as follows: "I still cannot, according to the Delphic inscription, know myself.". Socrates believed that each person can have his own opinion, the truth for all should be one. Socrates' method is aimed at achieving such truth, which he called "maieutics" (literally, "midwife") and which is a subjective dialectic - the ability to conduct a dialogue in such a way that as a result of the movement of thought through contradictory statements, true knowledge is obtained.

Socrates argued that the world external to a person is unknowable, and only the soul of a person and his deeds can be known, which, according to Socrates, is the task of philosophy. Socrates identified happiness not with profit, but with virtue.

This is the short description"Socratic philosophical revolution" that changed the understanding and tasks of philosophy and her subject.

Of the ancient, so-called "Socratic schools", perhaps the most popular was the school of cynics (literally, "kyunik philosophia" - "dog philosophy") - thanks to Diogenes of Sinop, (c. 404 - 323 BC) who, with his life, gave a model of a cynical sage. Diogenes "moderated" his needs so much that he lived in an earthen barrel, did not use dishes, and subjected his body to trials.. In his simplification, Diogenes reached complete shamelessness.. The Cynics philosophized with their way of life, which they considered the best, freeing a person from all the conventions of life, attachments, and even from almost all needs.

Plato (427 - 347 BC) - the founder of idealism. Being is eternal and unchanging, known only by the mind, inaccessible to sensory perception. Genesis is the world of eternal ideas ("eidos"). The material world is secondary. Plato explains, for example, the similarity of all tables existing in the material world by the presence of the idea of a table in the world of ideas. All existing tables are a shadow of the eternal idea of a table.

Between the world of ideas (being) and non-being, i.e. matter, as such, there is an apparent being (the world of sensually perceived objects).

The soul, according to Plato, is like an idea - one and indivisible.

but it can be divided into parts

a) reasonable;

b) affective (emotional);

c) lustful (sensual).

If a reasonable part of it prevails in a person's soul, a person strives for the highest good, for justice and truth; such are philosophers. If the affective part of the soul is more developed, then courage, courage, the ability to subordinate lust to duty are inherent in a person; such are the guards and there are far more of them than philosophers. If the "lower", lustful part of the soul prevails, then a person should be engaged in physical labor - to be an artisan or a peasant, and such people are in the majority.

Souls can transmigrate and can be in a supersensible ideal existence; therefore, people have "innate ideas" - memories of being in the world of eidos.

Cosmos is one, finite, has a spherical shape. The center of the cosmos is the earth. It is surrounded by planets and stars. The creator of the world - the demiurge - endowed the world with a certain order.

Human society is ordered on the basis of the theory of the ideal state. The ideal state emerges as a society of three social groups. These are rulers - philosophers, strategists - warriors, producers - farmers and artisans.

Aristotle (384 - 322 BC)

Born in Macedonia, in the family of a court physician. Studied with Plato at the Academy c. 20 years. The time of Arestotle's life coincided with the weakening of democracy in Athens and other Greek cities, with the rise of Macedonia and the beginning of the aggressive policy of the Macedonian kings. It is known that Aristotle raised the son of Tsar Philip Alexander, the founder of the Great Empire. In 335 BC Aristotle organized his own school in Athens - the famous Lyceum. For 12 years, Aristotle led the extensive work of the Lyceum to systematize philosophical and scientific knowledge, introducing new disciplines, primarily logic.

He dealt with the problems of logic, psychology, ontology, epistemology, cosmology, etc. The teaching of Aristotle himself developed as a result of his criticism of Plato's teaching on ideas.

1. "Ideas" of Plato are simple copies (twins) of sensible things and do not differ from them in their content. - A very materialistic idea!

2. The "view" (eidos) or "idea" of a person is essentially no different from the general features that belong to an individual person.

3. Since Plato separated the world of ideas from the world of things, ideas cannot give anything to the existence of things.

According to Aristotle, every single thought is a unity of matter and form. Within the limits of the perceived world, a sequential transition is possible from "matter" to the "form" related to it, and from "form" to the "matter" related to it. There are only single things - individuals.

Aristotle's doctrine of being is based on his doctrine of categories. The most complete knowledge of a thing is achieved when the essence of the thing becomes known. Categories are the main categories of concepts about being, about the essence of things. Aristotle offers ten such categories - personality, quantity, quality, attitude, place, time, position, possession, action, suffering.

God according to Aristotle is an active mind, closed thinking, it is a kind of spiritual Absolute - "a mind that thinks of itself, and its thought is thinking about thinking."

The Sophists developed the doctrine of Democritus. One of the founders of this doctrine Protagoras (c. 480 - 410 BC) makes a digression towards subjectivism. He proclaims that man is the measure of all things, which exist because they exist, and which do not exist because they do not exist. Moral standards are arbitrary. Some say that good and evil are different from each other, others that they are not. Even for the same person, the same thing can be both good and bad: “After all, what seems fair and beautiful to every city, then it is for him, as long as he thinks so.” And the skeptical orientations of the sophists are expressed in the triune thesis of Gorgias: 1) nothing exists, 2) if something exists, then it is unknowable, 3) even if it is knowable, then such knowledge is inexpressible. sophistry worldview subjectivism speech

Sophists understand virtues not only as moral properties, but in general as a variety of human virtues: professional skills, the gift of speech, mental abilities, etc. - everything that ensures respect and success for a person. A utilitarian motive penetrates into moral evaluation: everything that is useful and beneficial is fair. The sophist Antiphon (5th century BC) famously said: “Justice consists in not violating the law of the state in which you are a citizen. Thus, a person will derive the most benefit for himself from the application of justice if, in the presence of witnesses, he begins to observe the laws, honoring them highly, while remaining alone, without witnesses, he follows the laws of nature. For the prescriptions of laws are arbitrary (artificial), but the dictates of nature are necessary. However, not only relativism determines the ethics of the sophists. Following Democritus, the sophists are skeptical about the existence of gods, and the first use the problem of "evil in the world" to deny divine intervention in human affairs.

An even more significant achievement of the ethics of the sophists was the idea of the equality of all people - noble and common people, Greeks and barbarians, free and slaves, first proclaimed in antiquity; “Those who come from noble parents, we respect and honor, those who are not from a noble house, we do not respect and do not honor. In this we act towards each other as barbarians, because by nature we are equal in all respects, moreover, both barbarians and Hellenes are the same,” Antiphon said.

The educational activity of the sophists, directed against moral dogmatism, had a pronounced humanistic meaning: in the center of their attention is a person (as a self-sufficient value), who has the right to create a moral law. Rightly emphasizing the variability of moral ideas, the role of the relative in morality, the sophists put forward the position of moral relativism, arguing that each person has his own idea of the meaning of life, happiness, and virtue.

The skepticism of the sophists allowed them to doubt what was considered undoubted - the universal validity of the foundation of morality. This circumstance, as well as the fact that the sophists exaggerated the role of individual creativity of moral values (that is, they essentially came to the idea of their pluralism).

In this chapter, we can make a small conclusion that the sophists were paid teachers of their own “truth”, which they revived and taught in this way to find all the tricks of the dispute.

Thus, the educational activity of the sophists was directed against moral dogmatism, and had a pronounced humanistic meaning. The focus of their attention was a person who had the right to the creation of the moral law.

Based on the above, we can conclude:

1) Sophistry is a doctrine that was formed in Athens, which had its paid teachers who fought for their "truth";
2) There are eras of sophistry divided into: classical (ancient sophistry), new (represented by: Lucian of Samosata, Flavius Philostratus, etc.) and late sophistry. There were people who knew how to win over the people to their side, and the more valuable and inevitable the teaching of these people must have seemed. After such mentoring, one could become an orator and a people's leader;
3) The Sophists provided the basis for other modern sciences, such as rhetoric, for example. Each of them proposed his own theories and made his contribution to the development of linguistics, ethics, epistemological relativism and philosophy;
4) They introduced their worldview into philosophy, affecting dialectics and nihilistic theories;
5) The center of attention of the sophists was a person.

The philosophy of the sophists appears at a very interesting period in the history of Greece. This is the era of domination of the so-called ancient democracy, when the fate of city-states was often decided on the squares. Ancient Greek policies - specific republics with their own autonomous control - included residents of the main city and the surrounding countryside. During the solution of important problems for the state, residents came to public meetings. A huge role was played by the courts, where it was necessary to defend one's point of view. The ability to speak beautifully and convincingly, as well as to lead other people, has become very important and vital. It is under such conditions that teachers of life and wisdom appear.

Sophists, philosophy (briefly) and the origin of the term

This name itself is traditional for the Greek discourse of that time. No wonder the term "philosophy" means the love of wisdom. But what is typical for this school? The name itself is not new. The word "sophistes" defined people who thoroughly know and know how to do something. So they could call an artist, and a good master, and a sage. In a word, connoisseur. But since the fifth century this term has become one of the main characteristics of the phenomenon known to us as the Sophists were experts in rhetoric.

The meaning of learning

The ability to speak persuasively is one of the main arts of ancient democracy, in order to make a public career. The development of the skill to logically and correctly express one's thoughts becomes the basis of education, especially for future politicians. And eloquence, which has come to be considered the queen of the arts, comes to the fore. After all, the way you wrap your words is often the reason for your success. Thus the Sophists became the teachers of those who wished to think, speak, and do right. They were looking for wealthy young men who wanted to go far in the political sense or make other stunning civilian careers.

Characteristic

Since rhetoric and eloquence were in great demand in society, these newfangled wise men began to charge for their services, which is reflected in historical sources. Their originality also lies in the fact that the philosophy of the sophists practically abandoned the religious justifications for their positions. And what were they for? After all, sophists are practitioners who teach politicians. In addition, they laid certain foundations for modern culture. For example, following the correctness of eloquence, they developed the norms of the literary Greek language. These wise men raised questions in a new way, which had long been asked by ancient philosophy. The Sophists also took a different look at many problems that had not been noticed before. What is a person, society, knowledge in general? How absolute are our ideas about the world and nature, and is it even possible?

Elder

Sophists, as a phenomenon in the history of thought, are usually divided into two groups. The first is the so-called "seniors". It is to them that all the main achievements attributed to this “Elder” belong, who were contemporaries of many other great sages. They lived during the time of the Pythagorean Philolaus, representatives of the Eleatic school Zeno and Melissa, natural philosophers Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Leucippus. They were rather a set of methods, and not some kind of single school or trend. If you try to characterize them in general, you can see that they are the heirs of naturalists, because they try to explain everything that exists with rational causes, point out the relativity of all things, concepts and phenomena, and also question the foundations of their contemporary morality. The philosophy of the older sophists was developed by Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, Prodicus, Antiphon and Xeniades. We will try to tell you more about the most interesting.

Protagoras

More about this. We even know the years of his life. According to some reports, he was born in 481 BC and died in 411. He was born in the trading city of Abdera and was a student of the famous Democritus. The thinking of the latter had a significant influence on Protagoras. The doctrine of atoms and emptiness, as well as the multiplicity of worlds, constantly dying and reappearing, he developed into the idea of the relativity of things. The philosophy of the sophists has since become a symbol of relativism. Matter is transient and constantly changing, and if something dies, something else takes its place. Such is our world, argued Protagoras. So it is with knowledge. Any concept can be given the opposite interpretation. It is also known that Protagoras was the author of the atheistic work "On the Gods". It was burned, and the philosopher himself was doomed to exile.

"Junior"

These sages were very disliked by classical ancient philosophy. The sophists appeared in the image of its masters as cunning liars. “Teachers of imaginary wisdom,” Aristotle spoke of them. Among these philosophers one can name such names as Alcidamus, Trasimachus, Critias, Callicles. They professed extreme relativism and came to the conclusion that the concepts of good and evil are practically the same. What may be good for one person may be bad for another. In addition, human institutions are very different from natural laws. If the latter are unshakable, then the former vary greatly, depending on the ethnic group and culture, and are something of an agreement. Therefore, our ideas about justice often manifest themselves in the rule of the right of the strong. We make people slaves, but all people are born free. History has appreciated their teaching. For example, Hegel stated that these wise men did a lot for the birth of dialectics.

About a human

Even Protagoras declared that people are the measure of everything. What exists and what does not. Because everything we say about the truth is just someone's opinion. The problem of man in the philosophy of the sophists appeared precisely as the discovery of subjectivity. Similar theses were developed by Gorgias. This sage was a student of Empedocles. According to the ancient author Sextus Empiricus, Gorgias made three propositions. The first of them was devoted to the fact that nothing really exists. The second said that if something is in reality, then it is impossible to know it. And the third was the result of the first two. If we were able to prove that something exists and can be known, then it is completely impossible to convey our idea of it exactly. "Teachers of Wisdom" declared themselves cosmopolitans, because they believed that the homeland of a person is where he is best. Therefore, they were often accused of lacking small-town polis patriotism.

About religion

The Sophists were known for ridiculing the belief in gods and being critical of them. Protagoras, as mentioned above, did not know whether higher powers really existed. "This question is not clear to me," he wrote, "and a human life is not enough to investigate it to the end." And the representative of the "younger" generation of sophists Critias received the nickname of the atheist. In his work Sisyphus, he declares all religion to be an invention, which is used by the cunning to impose their laws on fools. Morality is not at all established by the gods, but is fixed by people. If a person knows that no one is watching him, he easily violates all established norms. The philosophy of the Sophists and Socrates, who also criticized social mores and religion, were often perceived by a not very educated public as one and the same. No wonder Aristophanes wrote a comedy in which he ridiculed Plato's teacher, attributing to him unusual views.

Ancient Philosophy, Sophists and Socrates

These wise men became the object of ridicule and criticism from their contemporaries. One of the sharpest opponents of the sophists was Socrates. He disagreed with them on matters of faith in God and the virtues. He believed that discussion exists for the search for truth, and not to demonstrate the beauty of arguments, that terms should define the essence of things, and not just be beautiful words that mean one thing or another. In addition, Socrates was a supporter of the absoluteness of good and evil. The latter, in his opinion, comes solely from ignorance. The philosophy of the Sophists and Socrates thus has both similarities and differences. They were adversaries, but in some ways they were allies. If Hegel believed that the "teachers of wisdom" did a lot for the foundation of dialectics, then Socrates is recognized as its "father". Sophists drew attention to the subjectivity of truth. Socrates considered that the latter is born in disputes.

What have the sophists become?

It can be said that all these heterogeneous currents created the prerequisites for the development of many subsequent phenomena in the human worldview. For example, from the above reflections on subjectivity and the influence of an individual's opinion on the perception of truth, anthropological philosophy was born. The Sophists and Socrates stood at its origins. As a matter of fact, even the public rejection that hit them was of the same nature. The Athenian public of that time was not very well disposed towards the intellectuals and tried to equalize everything to the taste of the crowd. Gradually, however, wisdom itself began to disappear from the teachings of the sophists. They practiced more and more not in philosophy, but in the ability to equally well argue different points of view. Their schools became literary circles, where literati, not politicians, honed their eloquence. Sophism as a phenomenon died out completely after the era of Aristotle, although there have been attempts to revive it in history, including in ancient Rome. But these attempts turned into purely intellectual games of rich people and had neither popularity nor future. Our modern understanding of the word "sophism" comes precisely from this late phenomenon, which was actually emasculated and lost the attractiveness inherent in its founders.

SOPHISTS

(from the Greek. sophistes - sage) - put in the center of philosophy. attention to the problems of man and society (second half. 5 - lane. half. 4th century BC). In a democracy, the ability to publicly speak, persuade and persuade has become vital. S. taught the art of defeating the enemy in disputes and litigation. And “in the courts,” Plato will say later, “absolutely no one cares about the truth, only persuasiveness is important.” Therefore "S." acquired reprehensible . Sophistry began to be understood as the ability to represent black as white, and white as black. S. were philosophers to the extent that this received worldview from them.
At the same time, S. played a positive role in the spiritual development of Hellas. They are theorists and teachers of eloquence. Many of the S. had an amazing gift for words. Their merits are also great in the field of preparing logic. Defiantly violating the yet undiscovered, S. contributed to their discovery. In the epistemology of S. consciously put about how they relate to the world around us about him? This question S. answered in the negative: the world is unknowable. However, S. is limited by their relativism - the doctrine that everything in the world is relative, including relative and, because it depends on conditions, place and time, on circumstances and on a person. S. taught that everyone has their own truth. As anyone thinks, it is. S. rejected the objective criteria of good and evil. What is beneficial to someone is good, then it is. In the field of ethics, S. turned into.
S. divided what exists by nature, and what exists according to human laws (not from nature). S. extended his relativism to religious faith. S. were wandering. And where they appeared, tradition was shaken. They themselves could prove today, and tomorrow -. This shocked the layman and awakened him from his dogmatic slumber. Everyone involuntarily asked the question: where is the truth?
S. is usually divided into older and younger. Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, Prodicus, Antiphon, Xeniades stood out among the elders; among the younger ones - Alcidamus, Trasimachus (Thrasimachus), Critias, Callicles. from numerous writings. S. remained a little.

Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Gardariki. Edited by A.A. Ivina. 2004 .

SOPHISTS

conventional designation of the group of other Greek. thinkers ser. 5th 1st floor. 4 centuries before n. e. Initially Greek the word was synonymous with the word ("wise") and denoted a person who is authoritative in various matters of private and society. life. WITH ser. 5 V. before n. e. S. began to be called the then paid teachers of eloquence and all kinds of knowledge that were considered necessary for active participation in civil the life of the team. S. have come under attack from conservative societies. groups (accusation of impiety against Protagoras; the image of Socrates in the form of a typical S. in the comedy of Aristophanes "Clouds" and T. P.). Main op. S. did not reach us, and their views can be judged ch. arr. according to the controversy that Plato and Aristotle had with them and the later authors who were under their influence.

to the older S. (2nd floor. 5 V. before n. e.) they include Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, Prodicus, Antiphon, Critias. The next generation, the younger S., includes Lycophron, Alkidamant, Trasimachus. Unknown S. belongs to what has come down to us op."Two Words". The reasoning of the unknown S. literally leads Iamblichus in Protreptyche. Naturphilos. problems interested S. less than the thinkers of previous generations - most often they accepted the ideas of Ionian philosophy.

A common feature of S.'s teachings was relativism, which found the classic. in the position of Protagoras "- of all things." This was facilitated by the very activity of S.: they had to teach the young man who turned to them to convincingly defend any t. sp., which only he could need in his affairs. The basis of such training was the absence abs. truth and objective values. Comparison of conflicting norms that prevailed among different peoples, the rapid collapse of traditions. ideology in Greek cities shook the idea of a single deity. morals. law. The relativity of the concepts of good and evil "Double Speeches" is brought almost to a caricature: "The disease is for the sick, but for the doctors it is good. Death is an evil for the dying, but for the sellers of things necessary for the funeral, and for the gravediggers, it is a blessing. The most important role in S.'s worldview was played by nature, as a relatively constant element, human. law or regulation - changeable and arbitrary.

The appearance of S. and sophistry is associated with the needs of economical. and cultural development of antique. Greece - the growth of slavery, the need to overcome the stagnant traditions of family and tribal life, the need for new societies., Political. and other figures, in a more concrete, rational consideration of the problems of philosophy.

The degeneration of sophistry began already in the 4th century. BC. (Eutidem and others). S. gradually turned into conjurers who, with the help of sophisms and other methods (described in detail by Aristotle in "Sophistical Refutations"), defend or refute any opinions. Lit. is known under the name of "second sophistry". during the 2nd century. AD, seeking to restore the ideas and Greek. classics of the 5th–4th centuries BC. It was distinguished by scholarship, excellent knowledge of the preceding Greek. lit-ry; S.'s traditions in own. sense of the word, it continued to a certain extent only in the person of Lucian.

Op.: Diels Η. von, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, 11 Aufl., B., 1964, Cap. 2, S. 79–90; sofisti. Testimonianze e framementi. Introduction, trad. e comm. a cura di M. Untersteiner, 1–3, Firenze, 1949–54; I sofisti. Frammenti e testimonianze, trad. di M. Timpanaro Cardini, Bari, 1954; I sofisti e Socrates. Una antologia dai frammenti e dalle testimonianze. A cura di F. Adorno, Torino, 1961; Makovelsky A. O., Sophists, vol. 1–2, Baku, 1940–41.

Lit.: S., as a transitional from the first period of the Greek. philosophy to its further development, in the book: Kozlov A. A., Philos. sketches, part 1, St. Petersburg, 1876, p. 121–40; Brentano T. F., Ancient. and modern S., trans. s., St. Petersburg, 1886; Zelenogorsky F., Greek. tragedians and S., "Faith and", 1890, No 10, p. 409–36; No 11, p. 455–71; Gilyarov A. N., Greek. S..., "Uch. zap. Mosk. un-ta. Det. ist.-fil.", 1892, issue. 7; Savodnik V., K ist. Greek sophistry, "Questions of Philosophy and Psychology", 1895, book. 2 (27), p. 212–19; Golm, S., their followers and opponents, in collection: Ist. Greece since the Peloponnesian War, vol. 1, M., 1896, p. 155–76; Bogdashevsky D.I., Greek. S., "Proceedings of Kiev. . Acad.", 1897, No 8, p. 455–93; Novgorodtsev P.I., Politic. ancient ideals. and new. Gnost vol. 1, M., 1914, p. 35–60; Ulanov V. Ya., S. and Socrates, in the book: A book for reading in ancient times. history, part 1, M., 1916, p. 328–49; Chernyshev B. S., Sophists, M., 1929; History of Philosophy, vol. 1, M., 1940, sec. 2, ch. 3; Wesklein N., Die Sophisten und die Sophistik nach den Angaben Plato "s, Würzb., 1866 (Diss.); Siebeck H. D., Problem des Wissens bei Sokrates und die Sophistik, Halle, 1870; Chiappelli A., Per la storia della Sofistica greca, "Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie", 1890, Bd 3, S. 1-21, 240-74; Nestle W., Bemerkungen zu den Vorsokratikern und Sophisten, "Philologue", 1908, Bd 67, S. 531-81 ; his own, Politik und Aufklärung in Griechenland im Ausgang des 5. Jahrhunderts vor Christ, "Neue Jahrbücher für das Klassische Altertum", 1909, Bd 23, S. 1–22; v in seinem Verhältnis zur Philosophie des 5. Jahrhunderts, Lpz., 1912; Jaeger W. W., Das Ziel des Lebens in der griechischen Ethik von der Sophistik bis Aristoteles, "Neue Jahrbücher für das Klassische Altertum", 1913, Bd 31, S. 697 - 705; Gunning, C. R., De sophistis Graeciae praeceptoribus, Amst., 1915 (Diss.); Arnim, H., Gerechtigkeit und Nutzen in der griechischen Aufklärungsphilosophie, Fr./M., 1910; Masson-Cursel P., La sophistique. Etude de philosophie comparée, "Revue de métaphysique et de morale", 1916, v. 23, p. 343–62; Geffcken J., Die griechische Aufklärung, "Neue Jahrbücher für das Klassische Altertum", 1923, Bd 51–52, S. 15–31; Faggi A., L""essere" e il "non essere" neila sofistica greca, "Atti Accademia della scienze di Torino. Clase di scienze morali", 1926, v. 61, p. 215–30; Mewaldt J., Kulturkampf der Sophisten, Tübingen, 1928; Mieli A., L "epoca dei sofisti e la personalità di Socrate, "Archeion", 1929 , t. 11, p. 178–89; Hoffmann, E., Der pädagogische Gedanke bei den Sophisten und Sokrates, "Neue Jahrbücher für Wissenschaft und Jugendbildung", 1930, Bd 6, pp. 59–68; Levi A., Sulla Sofistica. Studi introduction, "Sophia", 1938, v. 6, p. 325–56; Saitta G., L "illuminismo della sofistica greca, Mil., 1938; Antonelli M. T., Figure di Sofisti in Platone, Torino, 1948; Buccellato M., Per una interpretazione speculativa della retorica sofistica, in collection: Studi di filosofia greca, Bari, 1950, pp. 181–213; Untersteiner M., Le origini sociale della sofistica, ibid., pp. 121–80; Buccellato M., Rassegna di studi sofistici, "Rassegna di filosofia", 1953, v. 2, p 100–29, 209–24.

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SOPHISTS

SOPHISTS - a symbol for a group of ancient Greek thinkers, Ser. 5-1st floor. 4th century BC e. The time of their activity is often called the age of the Greek Enlightenment. Initially, the word σοφιστής was synonymous with the word σοφός (“wise”) and denoted a person who was authoritative in various matters of private and public life. From the middle of the 5th c. sophists began to be called the then paid teachers of eloquence and all kinds of knowledge that were considered necessary for active participation in civil life, who themselves often actively participated in political life. The Sophists were attacked by conservative social groups (the accusation of impiety against Protagoras, the depiction of Socrates as a typical sophist in Aristophanes' comedy Clouds, etc.). The main writings of the sophists have not come down to us, and their views can be judged in ch. O. according to the controversy that Plato and Aristotle had with them and the later authors who were under their influence.

The senior sophists (2nd half of the 5th century BC) include Protagoras, Gorgsh, Gshtia, Sale, Antiphon, Critias. The next generation - the younger sophists - include Lycophron, Alkidamant, Trasimachus. An unknown sophist owns the composition “Double speeches” that has come down to us. The arguments of another unknown sophist are quoted verbatim by Iamblichus in the Protreptica. Natural philosophical problems interested the sophists less than the thinkers of previous generations - most of all they accepted the ideas of Ionian philosophy.

A common feature of the teachings of the sophists was relativism, which found a classical expression in the position of Protagoras "man is the measure of all things." This was facilitated by the nature of the activities of the sophists: they had to teach the young man who turned to them to convincingly defend any point of view that he could need in business. The basis of such training was the idea of the absence of absolute truth and objective values. The comparison of conflicting norms that prevailed among different peoples, the rapid collapse of the traditional ideology in the Greek cities shook the idea of a single divine moral law. Relativity of the concepts of good and evil

"Double speeches" are reduced almost to a caricature; “Sickness is an evil for the dying, but for the sellers of things necessary for the funeral, and for the gravediggers, it is a blessing.” The most important role in the worldview of the sophists was played by the opposition of nature as an element of a relatively constant human law or institution - changeable and arbitrary.

The Sophists inevitably lapsed into traditional religious beliefs. Thus, Protagoras claimed that he did not know whether gods existed (Diog. L. K 51). Trasimachus believed that the gods do not pay attention to people (DK, B 8) ": Diagoras Melossky and Theodore Cyrene, close to the sophists, directly denied the existence of the gods. Prodik saw the origins of religion in the veneration of bread and wine, the sun, moon and rivers - everything that benefits the people (ibid., B 5.) Crigias, who headed the oligarchic government of the "30 tyrants" in Athens after the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War in 404, declared religion to be a fiction designed to force people to obey the laws (see Sext Emp. Adv Math K 54).

Protagoras made the first attempts to systematize the methods of inference. Lycophron reflected on the fact that the copula, even in the simplest judgments, identifies the one with the many, and demanded the abandonment of its use (see Arist. Phys. 2, 285b25). Protagoras, according to tradition, laid the foundation for verbal competitions, in which many sophists resorted to logical exaggerations and paradoxes, which already in antiquity received the name of sophisms. Gorgias and other sophists developed the teaching of oratory, begun in Sidylia by Corak and Tisias, and transferred it, in particular, to Athens. The Sophists took an important step towards the creation of a science of language. Protagoras dealt with the categories of inflection and sentence syntax. Prodicus laid the foundation for the doctrine of synonyms (cf. Plat. Crat. 384b; Prot. 337a-c).

The Sophists expressed the ideas of the equality of all people. So, Alkidamant declared that “God made everyone free, natural; yes, she did not make anyone a slave ”(scholia to Aristotle, “Rhetoric” 1379b). Antiphon and Lycophron rejected the advantages of noble birth. Antiphon denied significant differences between Greeks and barbarians.

The views of the sophists did not differ in unity even on basic issues. While the “anonymous Iamblichus” considers laws to be the basis for the normal existence of people. Antiphon declares state institutions evil (DK, B 44). Lycophron gave the law the role of a guarantor of the personal rights of citizens (Aristotle, “Politics” III 9, 1280b8), and Trasimachus, according to Plato, argued that rulers everywhere impose laws beneficial to citizens (“State” 336b-354c). The Sophists influenced Pericles, Euripides, Herodotus. Fragm.: Sofisti. Testimonianze e Frammenti, ed. M. Untersteiner, fasc. 1-2; Firenze, 1967; DK II; Makovelsky A. O. Sophists, vol. 1-2. Baku, 1940-41.

Lit .: Chernyshev B. S. Sophists. M., 1929; Durie S Ya. History of ancient social thought. M.-L., 1929; Havelock E. A. The liberal temper in Greek politics. L., 1957; KubeJ. und Arete. Sophistisches und platonisches Tugendwissen. V., 1969; Guthrie W. K. C. A history of Greek philosophy, v. 3, Cambr., 1971; Sophistic, hrsg. v. C. J. Classen. Darmstadt, 1976; The sophists and their legacy. Proceedings of the 4"" international colloquium in ancient philosophy, 29 Aug.- 1 Sept. 1979. Wiesbaden, 1981; KerferdG.ß. The sophistic movement. Cambr., 1983; The sophistic movement. Athens, 1984, p. 96-136; ClassenC.J. Bibliographie zur Sophistik.- “Elenchos”, 1985, fasc. l, p. 108-112; Hoffmann K. Das Recht im Denken der Sophistik. Stuttg.-Lpz., 1997.

A. I. Zaitsev

New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. M.: Thought. Edited by V. S. Stepin. 2001 .

See what "SOPHISTS" are in other dictionaries:

SOPHISTS- SOPHISTS (οἱ Σοφισταί), under this name intellectuals who played an active role in the social and cultural life of Ancient Greece entered the history of philosophical thought. 5 early 4th century BC e. Despite the absence of their activities ... ... ancient philosophy

Sophists (from other - Greek σοφιστής - "craftsman, inventor, sage, expert") - ancient Greek paid teachers of eloquence, representatives of the philosophical trend of the same name, common in Greece in the 2nd half of the 5th - 1st half of the 4th centuries BC. e. In a broad sense, the term "sophist" meant a skilled or wise person.

Periodization and main representatives

In a broad sense, it is customary to speak of three eras of sophistry:

· Classical or ancient sophistry (V - 1st half of IV centuries BC).

Second or new sophistry (2nd - early 3rd century AD). The main representatives are Lucian of Samosata, Flavius Philostratus and others.

Third or late sophistry (4th century AD). The main representatives of Libanius, Julian the Apostate.

The second and third sophists were named only by analogy with classical sophistry and were imitative literary movements that sought to restore the ideas and style of the classical sophists.

The most famous senior sophists (their acme was in the 2nd half of the 5th century BC) include Protagoras of Abdera, Gorgias from Leontin, Hippias from Elis, Prodicus of Keos, Antiphon, Critias of Athens.

The most famous junior sophists (their acme fell on the first half of the 4th century BC) include Lycophron, Alkidamant, Thrasymachus.

Sources and snippets

From the majority of the sophists, no complete works have survived, but only fragments or testimonies. Only the following texts have been preserved in more or less complete form:

Gorgias. Two speeches have survived: "Praise to Helena" and "Protection of Palamedes". Currently, these speeches are considered false.

Antiphon. Several speeches (the so-called "tetralogy") and a fragment of the work "Truth" have been preserved.

Critias. Through Sextus Empiricus, a fragment of the text "Sisyphus" has come down to us. According to most modern scholars, this text does not belong to Critias.

The main ancient sources about sophists are Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes Laertes, Flavius Philostratus and others.

All fragments and testimonies about the sophists are collected in the work of Diels - Krantz. Translated into Russian only once by Makovelsky. The translation was often carried out from German, is now considered obsolete and is criticized.

Key Ideas

In general, from a philosophical point of view, the direction was very eclectic, not united by common socio-political, cultural and worldview foundations.

The criticism of the sophists by Socrates and the Socrates, as well as by Plato, was widely known.

By the 4th century sophistry began to decline. Gradually, philosophical concepts left the teachings of the sophists and only the elementary foundations of rhetoric remained, which made it possible to operate with words and concepts for abstract proof or refutation of something.

Sophists and religion

The teachings of most sophists came into conflict with religious ideas. Most of the sophists held atheistic or agnostic views.

Protagoras was an agnostic and acquired the glory of an atheist. In his essay “On the Gods,” he wrote: “About the gods, I cannot know either that they exist or that they do not exist. For many things hinder to know (this): both the obscurity (of the question) and the brevity of human life.

Some sophists (Diagoras of Melos and Theodore of Cyrene, who even received the nickname "godless") directly denied the existence of gods. A reward was appointed for the head of Diagoras - he divulged the mystery of the Eleusinian mysteries.

Prodik of Keos saw the origins of religion in the veneration of wine, bread, rivers, the sun, etc. - that is, everything useful to people. In Sisyphus, Critias writes that religion is a human invention that serves to make smart people make stupid people obey the laws.

The teachings of the sophists (V-IV centuries BC)

Sophists, developing the doctrine of Democritus. One of the founders of this doctrine Protagoras (c. 480 - 410 BC) makes a digression towards subjectivism. He proclaims that man is the measure of all things, which exist because they exist, and which do not exist because they do not exist. Moral standards are arbitrary. Some say that good and evil are different from each other, others that they are not. Even for the same person, the same thing can be both good and bad: “After all, what seems fair and beautiful to every city, then it is for him, as long as he thinks so.” And the skeptical orientations of the sophists are expressed in the triune thesis of Gorgias: 1) nothing exists, 2) if something exists, then it is unknowable, 3) even if it is knowable, then such knowledge is inexpressible.

The skepticism of the sophists allowed them to doubt what was considered indubitable - the general validity of the foundation of morality. This circumstance, as well as the fact that the sophists exaggerated the role of individual creativity of moral values (that is, they essentially came to the idea of their pluralism).

sophistry representative religion