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'''Sophism''' can mean two very [[different]] [[things]]: In the modern definition, a sophism is a specious [[argument]] used for [[deceiving]] someone. In Ancient Greece, the sophists were a group of [[teachers]] of [[philosophy]] and [[rhetoric]].

The term sophism originated from [[Greek]] σόφισμα, sophisma, from σοφίζω, sophizo "I am [[wise]]"; confer σοφιστής, sophistēs, [[meaning]] "wise-ist, one who does wisdom, one who makes a [[business]] out of wisdom" and σοφός, sophós means "wise man".
==Sophists of Ancient Greece==
The [[Greek]] [[words]] sophos or sophia had the [[meaning]] of "wise" or "[[wisdom]]" since the time of the [[poet]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer Homer], and [[originally]] connoted anyone with expertise in a specific [[domain]] of [[knowledge]] or craft. Thus a charioteer, a sculptor, and a warrior could be sophoi in their occupations. [[Gradually]] the word came to denote general [[wisdom]] and especially wisdom about [[human]] affairs (in, for example, [[politics]], [[ethics]], or household [[management]]). This was the term given to the Greek [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sages_of_Greece Seven Sages] of 7th and 6th Century BC (like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon Solon] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thales Thales]), and this was the [[meaning]] that appeared in the histories of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus Herodotus]. At about the same time, the term [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophistes sophistes] was a synonym for "[[poet]]", and (by [[association]] with the traditional role of poets as the [[teachers]] of [[society]]) a synonym for one who teaches, in particular through the [[performance]] of prose works or [[speeches]] that impart [[practical]] [[knowledge]]. Richard Martin refers to the seven sages as "[[performers]] of [[political]] [[poetry]]."1

In the second half of the 5th century BC, particularly at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens Athens], "sophist" came to denote a class of itinerant [[intellectuals]] who taught courses in "excellence" or "[[virtue]]," speculated about the [[nature]] of [[language]] and [[culture]] and employed [[rhetoric]] to achieve their [[purposes]], generally to [[persuade]] or convince others. Sophists claimed that they could find the answers to all questions. Most of these sophists are known today primarily through the [[writings]] of their opponents (specifically [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato Plato] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle Aristotle]), which makes it [[difficult]] to assemble an unbiased view of their [[practices]] and [[beliefs]].

Many of them taught their [[skills]] for a price. Due to the importance of such skills in the litigious social life of Athens, practitioners often commanded very high fees. The [[practice]] of taking fees, along with the sophists' practice of questioning the [[existence]] and roles of [[traditional]] [[deities]] (this was done to make "the weaker [[argument]] appear the stronger") and [[investigating]] into the [[nature]] of the [[heavens]] and the [[earth]] prompted a popular [[reaction]] against them. Their attacks against [[Socrates]] (in fictional prosecution speeches) prompted a vigorous condemnation from his followers, including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato Plato] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon Xenophon], as there was a popular view of [[Socrates]] as a sophist. Their [[attitude]], coupled with the [[wealth]] garnered by many of the sophists, [[eventually]] led to popular resentment against sophist practitioners and the [[ideas]] and [[writings]] associated with sophism.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagoras Protagoras] is generally regarded as the first of the sophists. Others include [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias Gorgias], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodicus Prodicus], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippias Hippias], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrasymachus Thrasymachus], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycophron Lycophron], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callicles Callicles], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiphon_(person) Antiphon], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cratylus Cratylus].

In comparison, [[Socrates]] accepted no fee, instead adopting a self-effacing posture, which he exemplified by Socratic questioning (i.e. the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method Socratic method], although [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_Laertius Diogenes Laertius] wrote that Protagoras—a sophist—[[invented]] the “Socratic” method[1][2]). His [[attitude]] towards the Sophists was by no means [[opposition]]al; in one [[dialogue]] Socrates even stated that the Sophists were better educators than he was [3], which he validated by sending one of his students to [[study]] under a sophist.[4] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._K._C._Guthrie W. K. C. Guthrie] associated Socrates with the Sophists in his ''History of Greek Philosophy''.[4]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato Plato], the most illustrious student of [[Socrates]], depicts Socrates as refuting the sophists in several Dialogues. These [[texts]] depict the sophists in an unflattering [[light]], and it is unclear how accurate or fair Plato's [[representation]] of them may be; however, it is also suggested that such [[criticism]] was often [[ironic]]. Another contemporary, the comic playwright [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes Aristophanes], criticizes the sophists as hairsplitting wordsmiths, yet suggests that Socrates was one of their number.

Plato is largely [[responsible]] for the modern view of the "sophist" as a greedy instructor who uses [[rhetorical]] sleight-of-hand and [[ambiguities]] of [[language]] in order to [[deceive]], or to support fallacious [[reasoning]]. In this view, the sophist is not concerned with [[truth]] and [[justice]], but instead seeks [[power]]. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all challenged the philosophical [[foundations]] of sophism.

Some scholars argue that the sophists held a [[relativistic]] view on [[cognition]] and [[knowledge]]. However, this may be due to a mis-reading of the [[Greek]] word "doxa," which means "culturally [[shared]] [[belief]]" rather than "[[individual]] [[opinion]]." Thus it may be more accurate to say that they [[believed]] that [[knowledge]] is socially constructed. Their [[philosophy]] contains [[criticism]] of [[religion]], [[law]], and [[ethics]]. Though many sophists were apparently as religious as their contemporaries, some held [[atheistic]] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism agnostic] views (for example, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagoras Protagoras] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagoras_of_Melos Diagoras of Melos]).

In some cases, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgias Gorgias], there are [[original]] [[rhetorical]] [[works]] that are fortunately extant, allowing the [[author]] to be judged on his own terms. In most cases, however, [[knowledge]] of sophist thought comes from fragmentary quotations that lack [[context]]. Many of these quotations come from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle Aristotle], who seems to have held the sophists in slight regard, notwithstanding his other disagreements with Plato.

Owing largely to the [[influence]] of Plato and Aristotle, [[philosophy]] came to be regarded as distinct from sophistry, the latter being regarded as [[rhetoric]], a [[practical]] [[discipline]]. Thus, by the time of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire Roman Empire], a sophist was simply a [[teacher]] of [[rhetoric]] and a popular [[public]] speaker. For instance, Libanius, Himerius, Aelius Aristides, and Fronto were sophists in this sense.
[edit] Sophists and democracy

The sophists' [[rhetorical]] [[techniques]] were extremely useful for any young nobleman looking for [[public]] office. In addition to the [[individual]] benefits that Sophistic-style teaching conferred, the societal roles that the Sophists filled had important ramifications for the Athenian [[political]] [[system]] at large. The historical context in which the Sophists operated provides evidence for their considerable influence, as Athens became more and more democratic during the period in which the Sophists were most active.[5]

The Sophists certainly were not directly responsible for Athenian democracy, but their cultural and psychological contributions played an important role in its growth. They contributed to the new democracy in part by establishing deliberation as the foundation of decision-making, which allowed and perhaps required a tolerance of the beliefs of others. This liberal attitude would naturally have precipitated into the Athenian assembly as Sophists acquired increasingly high-powered clients.[6] Contiguous rhetorical [[training]] gave the [[citizens]] of Athens "the ability to create accounts of communal possibilities through [[persuasive]] [[speech]]".[7] This was extremely important for the [[democracy]], as it gave disparate and sometimes superficially unattractive views a [[chance]] to be heard in the Athenian assembly.

In addition, Sophists had great [[impact]] on the early [[development]] of [[law]], as the sophists were the first lawyers in the world. Their [[status]] as lawyers was a result of their extremely [[developed]] [[argumentation]] [[skills]].[8]
==Modern usage==
In modern usage, ''sophism'', ''sophist'', and ''sophistry'' are derogatory terms, due to the [[influence]] of many past philosophers.

A sophism is taken as a specious [[argument]] used for [[deceiving]] someone. It might be crafted to seem [[logical]] while actually being wrong, or it might use [[difficult]] [[words]] and complicated sentences to intimidate the [[audience]] into [[agreeing]], or it might appeal to the audience's [[prejudice]]s and [[emotions]] rather than [[logic]]; e.g., raising doubts towards the one asserting, rather than his assertion. The goal of a sophism is often to make the [[audience]] [[believe]] the [[writer]] or speaker to be smarter than he or she actually is; e.g., accusing another of sophistry for using [[persuasion]] [[techniques]].
==See also==
*[[Demagogue]]
* [[Rhetoric]]
==References==
* Blackwell, Christopher. Demos: Classical Athenian Democracy. 28 February 2003. The Stoa: a Consortium for Scholarly Publication in the Humanities. 25 April 2007.
* Guthrie, W. K. C. Vol. 3 of History of Greek Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969
* Jarratt, Susan C. Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991.
* Kerferd, G.B., The Sophistic Movement, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1981 (ISBN 0-521-28357-4).
* Rosen, Stanley, Plato's 'Sophist', The Drama of Original and Image, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1983.
* Sprague, Rosamond Kent, The Older Sophists, Hackett Publishing Company (ISBN 0-87220-556-8).
==Notes==
# Jarratt, Susan C. Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991., p. 83
# Sprague, Rosamond Kent, The Older Sophists, Hackett Publishing Company (ISBN 0-87220-556-8)., p. 5
# Guthrie, W. K. C. Vol. 3 of History of Greek Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969, p. 399
# Guthrie, W. K. C. Vol. 3 of History of Greek Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969, p. 401
# Blackwell, Christopher. Demos: Classical Athenian Democracy. 28 February 2003. The Stoa: a Consortium for Scholarly Publication in the Humanitiez. 25 April 2007.
# Sprague, Rosamond Kent, The Older Sophists, Hacker Publishing Company (ISBN 0-87220-556-8), p. 32
# Jarratt, Susan C. Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured. Carbon dale and Edwards ville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991, p. 98
# Martin, Richard. "Seven Sages as Performers of Wisdom." Cultural Poetics in Archaic Greece. New York: Oxford, 1988. 108-130.
# http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20095778 Sophists, sophistry, and modern medical education. Medical Teacher 2010 Jan;32(1):71-5.
==External links==
* [http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/sophist.html Plato's Dialogue: Sophist]
* [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Sophists "Sophists". Catholic Encyclopedia]. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

[[Category: Philosophy]]
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]