School
Sophists
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Relativism about truth refutes itself, but relativism about morality does not, at least not so easily
There is a passage in Plato's Theaetetus where Socrates turns Protagoras's own doctrine against him. Protagoras says man is the measure of all things: what seems true to each person is true for that person. Socrates points out that most people believe…
Started by Giulia Ferrante5 replies -
Reading group: Plato’s Gorgias in five weeks, one interlocutor at a time
I teach theology at a secondary school in Thessaloniki, and every year a student asks whether politicians are "just good at talking". I always want to hand them the Gorgias, and I have never read it closely with adults. Let's do that.…
Started by Nikos Theodoridis5 replies -
What did Gorgias actually say about the power of speech in the Encomium of Helen?
Persuasion is literally my rent. A mate who did classics told me there's an ancient Greek speech where Gorgias argues that words work on people like drugs, and that it's all in a speech defending Helen of Troy, of all people. That…
Started by Gemma Pritchard4 replies -
Protagoras
Protagoras of Abdera was the most famous of the fifth-century Sophists, a paid teacher of argument and civic excellence who spent long periods in…
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Gorgias
Gorgias of Leontini was a Sicilian Greek rhetorician and one of the most famous sophists, who came to Athens on an embassy in 427…