New philosophical encyclopedia - sophistry. Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language What is Sophistry, what does it mean and how to spell it correctly

Origin of the term

The noun σοφιστής is derived from the verb σοφίζομαι (“to show skill”, “to practice some kind of art”); originally referred to poets and musicians, but from the second half of the 5th century BC. e .. so they begin to call people who have wisdom, primarily of a individual cases perhaps philosophical and scientific. Gradually, the word "sophist" begins to be used in the concept of "sage".

The development of the concept of "Sophist"

In the 5th century BC Ancient Greece a society of erudite teachers developed who set themselves the goal of teaching their wards the ability to argue (primarily for building their political careers by students). They introduced young people to the basics of history, law, mathematics and philosophy. But above all, they taught the methods of proof and refutation, discovered a number of rules logical thinking, but soon, when victory in the dispute became more important than proof of the truth (which is important in politics), all attention was focused on developing logical tricks based on the external similarity of phenomena, on the fact that the event is extracted from general connection events, on the polysemy of words, on the substitution of concepts, etc. These intellectuals were also called sophists.

Sophism as a direction of philosophy

Examples of sophisms

- Half-empty is the same as half-full. If the halves are equal, then the whole ones are equal. Therefore, empty is the same as full.
- You don't need eyes to see. After all, without the right eye we see, without the left we also see; apart from the right and left, we have no other eyes; therefore it is clear that the eyes are not necessary for sight.
- The medicine taken by the sick is good. The more you do good, the better. This means that you need to take as many drugs as possible.
- A thief does not want to acquire anything bad. The acquisition of good things is a good thing. Therefore, the thief desires good things.
- What you have not lost, you have. You didn't lose the horns. So you have them.
- The more suicides, the less suicides

Synonyms of the word "Sophism"

• Paradox
• Trick
• trick
• inference
• Subterfuge
• Craftiness
• Excuse
• philosophizing

Philosophy of the Sophists

Initially, the word "sophist" was synonymous with the word "sage" - this was the name of people who were versed in various public and private issues, able to give reasonable advice, leading a virtuous lifestyle. However, from the middle of the 5th century, this name began to be attributed to the teachers of eloquence that appeared in Greece. The need and popularity of teaching eloquence is explained by the development of public life in Ancient Greece: every citizen had to speak at political meetings and in court, it was necessary to be able to defend his point of view, convince listeners and refute the enemy. Oratory played a lot important role and in diplomacy, it was not in vain that many of the sophists carried out political assignments. Since then, the word sophistry has appeared - the ability to cunningly conduct a debate. The difficulty of studying the sophists lies in the fact that most of their works have been lost, and we can judge their views based on the writings of their opponents (Plato, Aristotle).

Philosophically, sophistry is not a homogeneous phenomenon; various sophists can be found influenced by the Eleatics, Heraclitus, and atomists. What the Sophists had in common was that they paid little attention to the issues of natural philosophy, which were central to the previous stage in the development of Greek thought, being more interested in the problems of rhetoric, grammar, jurisprudence, knowledge and, in general, humanitarian issues. The Sophists (along with Socrates) carried out a humanistic turn in ancient Greek philosophy. Unlike the teachings of the pre-Socratics, who are often reproached for the abstractness of their knowledge, the theory of the sophists is closely connected with practice (primarily judicial and political).

Greek sophistry is divided into two stages:

Senior sophistry (Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, Antiphon);

Junior sophistry (Lycophron, Alkidamant, Trasimachus).

The founder of sophistry can be considered Protagoras of Abdera (490 - 420 BC), who, according to Diogenes Laertes, was the first to teach eloquence for a fee. Democritus took Protagoras as a student, seeing how he, being a porter, rationally puts logs into bundles. Protagoras developed the art and techniques of argument; paying great attention to the verbal expression of thought, he classified the tenses and modalities of the verb, systematized the methods of inference.

In the book "On the Gods" Protagoras denied the possibility of knowing the gods due to brevity human life and complexity of the subject. Protagoras was accused of godlessness (although he only claimed the unknowability of the gods) and the Athenians expelled him from the city (according to another version, they sentenced him to death, Protagoras fled, but drowned while escaping) and burned his books in the square. Modern researchers discover political motives in the trial of Protagoras.

Protagoras put forward the idea of ​​epistemological relativism (the relativity of truth), he believed that absolutely opposite statements are possible about any subject, equally true. This was based on the statement "Man is the measure of all things". Since Protagoras did not distinguish between feelings and reason, we can conclude that everything that appears to a person is true: for example, it is equally true that honey is sweet and that honey is bitter, since it seems sweet to a healthy person, and bitter to a sick person. However, Protagoras himself had something else in mind: it is useless to convince a sick person that honey is actually sweet, it is necessary to cure him, and he himself will understand this. Sophistry, he considered this kind of therapy, not inspiring truth, but teaching a person the ability to think and independently discover the truth.

The teachings of the sophists were also characterized by skepticism (a position that rejects the existence of absolute truth) and agnosticism (a position according to which it is impossible to know the essence of something). Sophist Gorgias owns a treatise "On Nature, or On Non-Existent", which is considered one of the most striking manifestos of agnosticism.

Gorgias (about 480 - about 380 BC) from Leontina (Sicily), a student of Empedocles, claimed that he came to Athens as an envoy of his city, where he became famous as an orator and teacher of rhetoric. Gorgias claimed that he did not teach virtue and wisdom, but only oratory. Gorgias' speech was distinguished by a special poetic expressiveness. He developed and applied special rhetorical devices, called Gorgian figures: phrases similar in form and corresponding in volume, the use of parallel sentence members and sentence members that are in antithesis. The compositions of Gorgias are characterized by rhythmic design and similar sounding of completions.

According to Gorgias, true knowledge does not exist, because even what we personally experienced, we remember and learn with difficulty; we should be content with a plausible opinion. The main idea of ​​the treatise is "Nothing exists; but even if something exists, it is not knowable; but even if it is knowable, it is inexplicable for another." Gorgias substantiates these three positions with the following arguments:

If the existent is eternal, then it is infinite, and if it is infinite, then it is nowhere, and if nowhere, then it is not. If the existent is not eternal, then it came either from the existent, which is impossible, since then the existent would have been before itself, or from the non-existent, which is also impossible, since nothing comes from the non-existent. Therefore, the existent is not eternal and not eternal. Therefore, it doesn't exist at all. (Also, Gorgias argues that there is no being, since it is neither one nor many).

Even if the existent exists, it is not conceivable, since the conceivable is not identical to the existent, otherwise Scylla and Chimera would exist in reality.

If the existent is conceived, then it is inexplicable to another, since we explain by means of words, and the word is not identical with the object it denotes and cannot explain it, since, on the contrary, we explain the word by pointing to the object.

The arguments of Gorgias are a typical example of the constructions of the sophists, called sophisms. Sophisms are arguments aimed at convincing a person of something absurd, confusing, forcing the opponent to start fruitless verbiage. Many sophisms are based on the ambiguity of words or even on their consonance. Others are erroneously constructed syllogisms or the substitution of another meaning in terms of the syllogism. The most famous example of sophism is "Horned" ("You did not lose what you have. But you lost those horns. Therefore, you have them"). Sophistic tricks are among the techniques of eristics - the art of gaining the upper hand in a dispute at any cost. However, sophisms also had a positive pedagogical value, accustoming a person to analyze statements and think about the speech of others.

Sophisms, their aims and methods of their detection were classified by Aristotle (in the treatise "On Sophistic Refutations"), but he did not distinguish between sophisms and logical paradoxes, also used by sophists. Logical paradoxes reveal actual logical difficulties and contradictions. Such paradoxes are the "Liar Paradox" (the statement "I'm lying" is true if it is false, and false if it is true) or the "Barber Paradox" (The barber shaves all the inhabitants of the city who do not shave themselves. Should he shave himself?).

The study of the constitutions of various cities and the customs of various peoples led to moral relativism - the denial of a single criterion for good and evil for all, the rejection of the existence of a single moral law. According to the anonymous "Double Speeches" "Sickness is evil for the sick, but good for doctors. Death is evil for the dying, but for sellers of things needed for funerals, and for gravediggers - good." At the same time, some sophists opposed human laws, which are changeable and contradictory to each other, with the laws of nature, uniform and unchanging, according to which one should live.

The activities of the sophists caused discontent among the people, since many sophists criticized traditional religious beliefs and even expressed atheistic ideas. According to Thrasymachus, the gods exist, but do not pay attention to people. Prodicus of Keos believed that "ancient people deified the moon, the sun, rivers and streams - everything that benefits us, just as the Egyptians recognized the Nile as divine. Therefore, bread is revered under the guise of Demeter, wine - Dionysus, water - Poseidon, fire - Hephaestus", and Critias believed that religion was invented in order to force people to obey the laws. The most famous wicked was Diagoras of Melos, who arrived in Athens in the 30s of the 5th century. - he parodied the mystic hymns and mocked the Eleusinian mysteries by "dancing" them. He also owns the atheistic treatise "Overthrowing Speeches".

The younger sophists defended the idea of ​​equality of all people, so Alkidamant believed that "God made everyone free, nature made no one a slave", Antiphon denied the difference between Hellenes and barbarians and did not recognize the advantages of noble origin.

There was also a "second sophistry" during the Roman Empire of the 2nd-4th centuries, which flourished during the reign of Julian the Apostate, who patronized the sophists. However, the works of representatives of the "second sophistry", striving for sophistication and perfection of speech, were more literary than philosophical. The second sophists include Flavius ​​​​Filostratus (about 178 - about 248), who wrote the "Biography of the Sophists", Athenaeus (3rd century AD), author of the work "The Sophists at the Banquet Table", etc.

The activities of the sophists were sharply criticized by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who characterized them as seekers of self-interest from false wisdom; because of this criticism, the word "sophistry" has received a swearing connotation. However, the sophists made a significant contribution to the art of rhetoric, to the study of language, and developed a critical approach in the field of theology and ethics. Sophistry is often referred to as Greek enlightenment. The influence of the sophists is manifested in the philosophy of Socrates (and, consequently, Plato), who was often considered a sophist by his contemporaries, as Aristophanes ridiculed Socrates as a typical sophist in the comedy Clouds. Stoics and skeptics also turned to the teachings of the sophists.

"Sophists and sophistry"

Introduction

In the 5th century BC e. slave-owning democracy was established in many Greek cities, replacing the ancient aristocracy in power. New elective institutions arose: people's assemblies and the court, having great importance in the struggle of classes and parties of the free population. There was a need for people who knew the art of the word to participate in judicial and political cases. They had to be able to convince, prove, understand legal issues, know the intricacies of political life, and master diplomatic practice. Some of them, who successfully coped with their tasks (lawyers, diplomats, masters of eloquence), became teachers of rhetoric and political knowledge. Their training in the technique of legal and political activity was closely related to general philosophy and worldview.

Special prerequisites were created for the flourishing of eloquence. The speaker needed to draw attention to himself, to present his ideas and beliefs in an attractive way. In the public decision of political and judicial matters often the winner was the one who possessed the gift of eloquence, the ability to win over listeners. It was necessary to speak beautifully and convincingly at the People's Assembly, in front of the soldiers, as well as at crowded festivities, friendly meetings. Therefore, there was a need for people who taught eloquence, composed the texts of speeches. They were sophists - philosophers-enlighteners, who are excellent at oratory, the laws of logic and who know how to influence the audience with words.

Sophists - symbol groups of ancient Greek thinkers. V - 1st floor. 4th century BC e. The time of their activity is often called the age of the Greek Enlightenment. Initially, the word was synonymous with the word (“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 V civil life who themselves often actively participated in political life.

2. Sophistry as a phenomenon ancient Greek culture and philosophy

.1 Interpretation of the concept of "sophistry"

The terms sophistry and sophists are derived from the ancient Greek word for wisdom. In a literal translation, the word "sophist" means "sage, master, expert."

sophistry -

) the teaching of representatives of the prevailing in Athens in the second half of the 5th century. BC. schools of sophists - philosophers-enlighteners who gravitated towards relativism, the first professional teachers in general education.

) (Greek sophisma - fabrication, cunning) - the deliberate use in a dispute and in evidence of false arguments based on a deliberate violation of logical rules (sophisms); misleading verbal tricks.

The first schools of oratory arose in the cities of Sicily, and development in the 5th century. BC e. Democracy in Athens and connections with other Greek cities made Athens a public arena for speaking and teaching sophists.

Sophist teachers were very popular in Ancient Greece. They went on trips throughout the country with diplomatic missions, engaged in state activities, speaking to people and teaching those who wished the basics of eloquence.

“Wandering teachers of eloquence”, “the first European intellectuals”, as A.F. called the sophists. Losev, were engaged in rhetorical pedagogy - the practice of mastering speech skills. Their didactic activity united heterogeneous groups of people both by age and by social status. In the process of education, it was now important not only physical and spiritual perfection, but also education, which led to its widespread distribution. The gift of the word began to be perceived as a sign and an indispensable condition for a full-fledged, good education. A truly educated person, "best educated for philosophy and literature", "suddenly, in any place of speech, he will throw ..., like a mighty shooter, some wonderful saying, short and concise, and the interlocutor will turn out to be no better than a child," in Plato's famous dialogue Protagoras.

The Sophists first spoke in Greece about the power of the word and built a theory of this power. Many of them were virtuosos in using the theory of the word in life, they wrote treatises on this topic. Plato, in his treatise "Gorgias", argued that the art of the sophists is a greater good than all other arts; believing that the sophist is “a master of persuasion: this is his whole essence and all his concern”, who ... “possesses the ability to convince the word and judges in court ... and in any other meeting of citizens ... and as for our businessman, it turns out that he is not making money for himself, but for another and for you, who owns the word and the ability to convince the crowd.

It is believed that the sophists did not have an integral definite system of knowledge. Sophistics did not represent a single circle of thinkers. Sophistry of the 5th century - "a set of independent efforts that satisfy identical needs by appropriate means." Their writings are practically not preserved, most of the information about the works of the sophists is contained in the works of philosophers of a later time.

2.2 Philosophical views sophists

To substantiate their practical activities, the sophists relied on philosophy. characteristic feature their philosophy is the assertion of the relativity of all human concepts, ethical norms and assessments. They introduced relativism into the theory of knowledge, which led the sophists to deny objective truth. Therefore, objective truth, common to all, is impossible. There is also no objective criterion of good and evil: what is beneficial to someone is good for him: “Illness is evil for the sick, but good for doctors. 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 Sophists were well aware that everything can be proved purely formally. The main goal of the sophists in didactic activity was to teach students how to argue. Therefore, in the preparation process, much attention was paid to rhetoric. Students learned the techniques of proof and refutation, got acquainted with the rules of logical thinking.

The philosophy of the Sophists was humanistic. It is important to emphasize that the sophists paid much attention to social issues, the person and the problems of communication, teaching eloquence and political activity, as well as scientific and philosophical knowledge. Some sophists used techniques and forms of persuasion and proof, regardless of the question of the truth of the provisions being proved. But in their desire to convince the interlocutor, the sophists came to the idea that it is possible to prove and disprove anything, depending on interest and circumstances, which sometimes led to a distortion of the truth in proofs and refutations. Gradually, methods of thinking developed, which became known as sophistry.

Sophists paid almost no attention to the study of nature. But they were the first to distinguish between the laws of nature, as something unshakable, and the laws of society, arising from human establishment.

The Sophists found beauty in the infinitely varied phenomena of human life. But these phenomena were contradictory. To use a red word, to amaze the listener with unexpected metaphors and oratory in general, to arouse anger and indignation, both in an individual and in a crowd, and at the same time, with the help of convincing artistry, to calm human suffering and free from vain complaints - these are the new ways on which the aesthetics of the sophists went.

2.3 "Senior" sophists as teachers and researchers of the art of the word

Some activity researchers ancient Greek philosophers There are three types of sophists:

) major well-known masters of the first generation, not at all devoid of moral restrictions;

) the so-called "erists", i.e. disputants who insisted on the formal aspect of the method, which aroused indignation, because, losing interest in the content of concepts, they inevitably lost their moral context;

) "sophist-politicians", who utilized sophistic ideas, in modern terms, into an ideological complex, and therefore fell into various excesses, which often ended in direct theorization of immoralism.

Taking into account the historical sequence in the history of Russian philosophical thought, two groups of sophists are distinguished: "senior" and "junior".

"Senior Sophists" investigated political, ethical, state, legal problems, studied linguistics. They questioned all the principles that existed before their time, and declared truths to be relative. In the concept of the "senior" sophists, the subjective nature and relativity of knowledge are absolutized.

The Sophists investigated the problem of being not as a problem of matter: they started talking about being for themselves, while being was developed earlier - in itself. In the sophists, the ancient spirit for the first time turns to itself, to itself.

Many sophists doubted the existence of the gods or even denied them, considering them to be human inventions. Sophistry is anti-dogmatic in nature, and any religion is built on dogmas. The Sophists played an important role in the destruction of traditional religious dogmas.

Sophists of the older group tried to critically examine religious beliefs. It is known that Protagoras said: "About the Gods, I do not have the opportunity to assert either that they exist or that they do not exist." At the heart of his method was the ability to demonstrate both arguments in favor of the existence of the Gods, and against it. This does not yet mean that he is an atheist, as was already concluded about him in antiquity, but only that he was an agnostic.

The work of Protagoras on the gods, despite the extremely cautious formulation of religious skepticism, was publicly burned and became the reason for the expulsion of the philosopher from Athens.

Prodik, developing the views of Anaxagoras and Democritus, began to interpret religious myths as the personification of the forces of nature.

Common features in the philosophy of the "senior" sophists:

· moving philosophical interests from the sphere of natural philosophy to the field of ethics, politics, theory of knowledge;

· the study of the person himself and his subjective characteristics.

2.3.1 Protagoras as "teacher of wisdom"

The "older" group includes the ancient Greek philosopher-sophist Protagoras from Abdera in Thrace (c. 481 - c. 411 BC), whose teaching was formed on the basis of the teachings of Democritus, Heraclitus, Parmenides and Empedocles, revised in the spirit of relativism. He was the first to call himself a "sophist" - "teacher of the science of virtue." It is known that Protagoras wrote the books “On the Gods”, “On Truth”, “The Science of the Dispute”, “On the Original Order of Things”, “On the State”, “On the Virtues”, “On Being”.

Protagoras possessed the most pronounced philosophical thinking among the sophists. It is believed that Protagoras was a materialist, talking about the fluidity of matter, about the relativity of perception, about the equal reality of being and non-being. According to Protagoras, matter flows and changes, and with its variability and fluidity, something comes to the place of the departed, while being accordingly transformed according to the age or state of the bodies of perception. The essence of all phenomena is hidden in matter, and matter can be everything that it is to everyone. According to Protagoras, it is possible to single out the initial metaphysical attitudes:

· by determining the nature and method, what "self"

(man) is a man;

· the essential interpretation of the being of beings;

· the project of truth as a phenomenon of knowledge;

· the sense in which man is a measure in relation to being and in relation to truth.

According to Protagoras, everything is relative: there is no absolute truth and no absolute moral values, goodness. However, there is something that is more useful, more acceptable, and therefore more appropriate. A sage is one who understands the usefulness of the relative, acceptable and appropriate, knows how to convince others of this and actualize this useful.

The philosopher-sophist Protagoras argued: “Man is the measure of all things: existing - in that they exist, and non-existent - in that they do not exist”, believing that every person existing on earth has his own special truth (the principle of man -measures). By measure, Protagoras understood a certain “norm of judgment”, by things - facts and experience in general. With this famous axiom, Protagoras negated the absolute criterion that distinguished being from non-being, truth from falsehood. The criterion is only a person, an individual: "what separate things appear before me, such they are for me, as they are before you, such they are for you." The wind that blows, for example, warm or cold? The answer in the spirit of Protagoras should be: "To whom it is cold, he is cold, to whom not, he is warm." And if so, then neither one nor the other is false, everything is true, i.e. correct in its own way.

Protagoras talked about the democratic system of government and substantiated the idea of ​​equality free people. In 444 or 443 BC. e. Protagoras visited Athens and, at the request of Pericles, wrote a code of laws for a new Greek colony called Thurii in southern Italy. Interestingly, these laws for a long time did not change, because Protagoras introduced a trick: if a person wants to change, or abolish the old law, or invent a new one, he must state his arguments and, putting a noose around his neck, await the decision of the citizens. The proposal is accepted - everything is in order, if the changes are rejected, then ... Well .... He himself chose fate by wearing a rope with a noose around his neck.

Protagoras argued that every statement is opposed by a statement that contradicts it (about every thing, every subject “there are two opinions that are opposite to each other”). Using such opposing opinions, the sophist philosopher created the art of philosophical dialogue, which was later given a special brilliance by Socrates and Plato. The idea of ​​Protagoras about the deep origin of the dialogue is interesting. “He was the first to say that about every thing there are two opinions that are opposite to each other. Of these, he composed a dialogue, the first to use this method of presentation. According to Protagoras, it is clear that the dialogical artistic form follows from the contradictions that lie in the depths of things themselves.

The skill that Protagoras taught consisted precisely in this ability to give weight and significance to any point of view, as well as to its opposition. And his success is due to the fact that his students, trained in this ability, mastered all new opportunities in public tribunals, assemblies and political life in general.

It is believed that Protagoras taught how "weaker arguments can beat stronger ones." But this does not mean that the goal was to crush justice and rightness with lawlessness and wrongness. He demonstrated how technically and methodologically it is possible to strengthen positions and come to victory, using an initially weak argument.

According to Diogenes Laertes (3rd century BC), Protagoras “was the first to use arguments in disputes”, “began to arrange competitions in a dispute and came up with tricks for litigants; he did not care about thought, he argued about words. Eloquence requires a lot of work. This is perfectly explained by Protagoras: “Work, work, training, education and wisdom form a crown of glory, which is woven from the flowers of eloquence and placed on the head of those who love it. It is true that language is difficult, but its flowers are rich and always new, and spectators applaud and teachers rejoice when students make progress, and fools get angry - or maybe sometimes they are not angry, because they are not insightful enough.

In the word, Protagoras saw the main basis for the power of man, believing that it is possible "by the power of words to turn a bad deed into a valiant one."

In Protagoras, every speech is divided into four separate parts: a request, a question, an answer, and an order. These are attempts at a separate aesthetic assessment of human speech, which in the future will play a large role in ancient rhetoric, and then in world grammar and style.

2.3.2 "Father of sophistry" Gorgias

Gorgias of Leontina (presumably 485-380 BC) is considered the creator of rhetoric. The sophist philosopher defined rhetoric as the art of speech and worked hard on the theory of judicial and political eloquence. A true orator, according to Gorgias, must be able to praise and blame one and the same thing.

Gorgias himself became famous for a speech delivered before the National Assembly of Athens in 427 BC. e. Warning the Athenians about the danger looming over their homeland, he surprised the citizens with a skillfully spoken word, skillfully selected examples.

Gorgias in his essay “On the Non-Existent, or On Nature” declared that “nothing exists at all”, including nature itself. He argued that being does not exist, that even if one assumes that being exists, it still cannot be known, that even if one recognizes being as existing and knowable, it is still impossible to communicate what is known to other people. In this philosophical work, Gorgias substantiated three paradoxical theses:

· nothing exists;

· if something existed, then man could not know it;

· even if he could know, he would not be able to express it in words and prove it to other people.

Having destroyed the very possibility of achieving absolute truth, Gorgias was in search of a path of reason limited to the coverage of facts, circumstances, situations in the life of people and the city. According to the sophist, this is “not a science that gives definitions and absolute rules, and not wandering individualism ... This is an analysis of situations, a description of what should and should not be done ... Gorgias is one of the first representatives of the ethics of situations, the essence of which in the fact that duties depend on the moment, era, social characteristics; the same act is both good and bad, depending on what it refers to.

Separately, there is a curious judgment of Gorgias about beauty and art: “The outstanding beauty of something hidden is revealed when wise artists cannot draw it with their tried and tested colors. For their great work and great untiring labor gives satisfactory proof of how beautiful it is in its mystery. And if the individual stages of their work have reached the end, then they silently give him again the wreath of victory. And that which no hand grasps, and no eye sees, how can the tongue express it, or the ear of the listener perceive it? Gorgias wants to say here that true beauty is inexpressible by any means, even if it be artistic, but always remains something mysterious; its artistic expression, however perfect, only confirms its mysterious nature. The possibility of such reasoning for Gorgias follows from the very great sensitivity of the sophists to the phenomenon of any beauty in general (According to Losev).

The position of Gorgias in relation to rhetoric was also new. If there is no absolute truth and everything is false, the word has an almost unlimited power, as long as it is not connected with being. The theoretical discovery of Gorgias is to discover the word as a carrier of belief, belief and suggestion, regardless of its truth. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion; that uses the possibilities of the word. This art in Greece of the 5th century was a true "wheel in the hands of statesman". Politics has therefore been called a rhetorician capable of persuading the judges in the tribunals, the advisers in the Council, the members of the popular assembly, his citizens in any community. The significance of rhetoric is obvious, just as the unprecedented success of Gorgias is clear to us. So, Gorgias in his speech “Praise to Helen” writes: “The Word is a great ruler, who, having a very small and completely imperceptible body, performs wonderful deeds. For it can overtake fear, and destroy sadness, and inspire joy, and awaken compassion.

Gorgias was the first philosopher who sought the theoretical meaning of what is now called the aesthetic value of the word and the essence of poetry. "Poetry in its various forms, - he said, - I call a certain dimensional judgment, and the one who listens is captured, trembling with fear, compassionate, sheds tears, trembles with grief, his soul suffers from the action of words, the happiness and misfortune of others become his own " .

Gorgias owns the glory of creation artistic means expressiveness - tropes and figures of speech as exquisite decorations for what has been said. He used all sorts of artificial, pretentious and subtle expressions, which later became known as the "Gorgian style". Gorgiam invented the colon - a rhythmic-intonational unit of speech: the number of words pronounced in one breath. He is considered the creator of artistic prose: he combined the poetic style with the prose. The golden statue of Gorgias, which was placed in Delphi, confirms the merits of this sophist to Greek culture, as well as the significant role that Gorgias played in the historical fate of Athens. Here is how Gorgia A.F. Losev writes about rhetorical activity, relying on ancient sources: “He was the first to introduce the type of education that prepares orators, special training in the ability and art of speaking, and he was the first to use tropes, metaphors, allegories, the misuse of words in improper sense, inversions, secondary doublings, repetitions, apostrophes...”. Being himself a virtuoso of brevity, Gorgias taught everyone who wanted to speak beautifully so that they could conquer people, “make them their slaves of their own free will, and not under duress. By the strength of his conviction, he forced the sick to drink such bitter medicines and undergo such operations that even doctors could not force them to do.

2.3.3 Hippias as one of the representatives of the Greek Enlightenment

Hippias (?????)from Elis (470s - after 399 BC), Greek sophist, younger contemporary of Protagoras. Considered one of the most erudite and versatile representatives of the Greek Enlightenment.

Hippias paid much attention to rhetoric. The naturalness and entertaining nature of the story were his main strength, he often went to different cities with great political assignments and always performed successfully. Traveled all over Greece as a teacher and orator, thus making a fortune great fortune. He took an active part in public affairs, traveled with embassies to Athens, Sparta and other cities, gave public lectures on the genealogies of heroes and local noble families, on the founding of cities in antiquity. Hippias wrote on mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, grammar, poetry, music, mythology, and history. He worked on the creation of epics, tragedies and dithyrambs. He wrote poems, songs, various prose and was an expert on rhythm, harmony, spelling and mnemonics. Despite the diversity of his interests, Hippias basically remained a sophist, since he sharply opposed the tyrannical law, allegedly free nature. He taught the science of the nature of legislation, believing that knowledge of nature is indispensable for prosperity in life, that in life one should be guided by the laws of nature, and not by human institutions. Nature unites people, but rather the law separates them. The law is devalued to the extent that it is opposed to nature. A distinction is born between law and the law of nature, natural and positive law. The natural is eternal, the second is accidental. Thus, there is a beginning for the subsequent desacralization of human laws that need expertise. However, Hippias draws more positive conclusions than negative ones. He finds, for example, that, based on natural law, there is no point in separating the citizens of one city from the citizens of another, nor in discriminating against citizens within the same city.

2.3.4 Prodic's interest in language

The Sophists did a lot of word theory, so they can be considered the first Greek philologists. Prodik especially delved into verbal semantics.

Prodik from the island of Keos (c. 470-after 400 BC) - Greek sophist. In 431 or 421 BC. e. received great acclaim in Athens. He developed the teachings of Protagoras about correct speech. Prodik was engaged in synonymy, emphasizing the differences between words with a similar lexical meaning. The only work of Prodicus that is known for certain is The Four Seasons, the title of which he associated with the goddesses of the seasons revered on Ceos.

The philosopher-sophist argued that the emergence of agriculture led to the development of human culture. He presented the theory of the origin of religion. Protagoras proclaimed the theory of divine honors for things useful to people (a kind of fetishism) and their inventors (a theory later called euphemism). He was the first to explain the origin of religion psychological reasons(a feeling of gratitude). His understanding of the gods is original. According to Prodick, the gods are nothing more than a “hypostatization of the useful and beneficial”: “The ancients invented the gods by virtue of the superiority, redundancy that flowed from them: the sun, the moon, the sources of all the forces that affect our lives, such as the Nile on the life of the Egyptians.

In ethics, he became famous for his interpretation of the sophistical doctrine in the familiar myth of Hercules choosing between virtue and vice at the crossroads, where virtue was interpreted as the appropriate means of achieving true gain and real good.

2.3.5 Proclamation of the idea of ​​human equality in the writings of Antiphon

Antiphon from Athens (2nd half of the 5th century BC) - an ancient Greek philosopher-sophist of the older generation, who wrote the works: "Truth", "On Consent", "Speech on the State", "Interpretation of Dreams".

The main philosophical work "Truth" consisted of two books: 1 - general principles and theory of knowledge; 2- physics, anthropology, ethics. He argued that the antithesis of truth-opinion correlates with the antithesis nature-law. As a result, all socio-legal “establishments”, laws and “generally accepted norms” of morality turn out to be a conventional fiction, “hostile” to human nature. Nature is understood as natural inclinations, biological instincts and declares itself in the well-known hedonistic postulate: maximum pleasure, minimum suffering. "Justice" - hypocritical and forced observance of laws; therefore, “for a person, the most beneficial way to use justice is this: in the presence of witnesses, respect the laws, and without witnesses, the requirements of nature. The superiority of “nature over “law” leads Antiphon to the idea of ​​the equality of all people and the untruth of class and racial privileges: “By nature, we are all and in everything the same way - both barbarians and Hellenes”, “we all breathe air through our mouths and noses and eat with our hands ".

Antiphon put nature above the law and opposed it state power and public institutions. He not only developed a materialistic explanation of the origins of nature and the origin of its bodies and elements, but also tried to criticize the phenomena of culture, defending the advantages of nature over the establishment of culture and over art.

In the essay "Truth" Antiphon expounded astronomical and meteorological views (the doctrine of the origin of the world from a whirlwind) and argued that "everything is one." He denied the objective existence of individual things and time. Ethics was understood as "the art of being carefree."

2.4 general characteristics"junior" sophists

In the teachings of the younger sophists (fourth century BC), about which extremely scarce information has been preserved, their ethical and social ideas stand out in particular.

· Lycophron and Alkidamant opposed the partitions between social classes: Lycophron argued that nobility is fiction, and Alkidamant - that nature did not create slaves and that people are born free. Lycophron, opposing the aristocracy, put forward the thesis that "nobility" is only a fiction, it by nature does not betray itself, but is based only on opinion; “In truth, the ignoble and the noble are no different from each other.”

· Thrasymachus extended the doctrine of relativity to social and ethical norms and reduced justice to what is useful for the strong, arguing that each government establishes laws that are useful to itself: democracy is democratic, and tyranny is tyrannical, etc. Following Prodicus, who is natural way trying to explain the emergence of religion ("the sun, moon, rivers, springs, and in general everything that is useful to our life, the ancestors considered deities, like the Egyptians - the Nile"), Thrasymachus frankly supports atheism. He says “that the gods do not see human affairs: for they could not fail to notice the greatest asset of people - justice; we see that people do not resort to it.”

2.5 Evaluation of the activities of the sophists

The Sophists paid great attention not only to the practice, but also to the theory of eloquence. They taught that “speech should be neither long nor short, but respecting the measure”, used antithesis and consonance of endings; paid attention to the conciseness and roundness of thought, the rhythm of speech, studied oratorical vocabulary, as well as the impact of speech on feelings. The Sophists knew how to ridicule the argument of the enemy, and to answer his ridicule with dignity.

Initially, the word "sophist" was used to refer to people skilled in any business - poets, musicians, legislators, sages. Subsequently, those who, in speeches addressed to listeners, strove not to clarify the truth, but to pass off lies as truth, opinion as reliable truth, superficiality as knowledge.

The Sophists laid the foundations of rhetoric as a science of oratory. To master eloquence, certain techniques were proposed. According to the sophists, the goal of the orator is not to reveal the truth, but to be persuasive. The task of the sophist is to teach "to make a weak opinion strong." Hence the meaning of the word sophism is a deliberately false conclusion. The speaker, by the power of his word, must make "small seem big, and big seem small, present the new to the ancient, and the ancient to the new", he can make people "his slaves of good will, and not by compulsion."

Sophism (from Greek s ó phisma - trick, trick, invention, puzzle) is a conclusion or reasoning that justifies some deliberate absurdity, absurdity or paradoxical statement that contradicts generally accepted ideas. Aristotle called sophisms "imaginary evidence", in which the validity of the conclusion is apparent and is due to a purely subjective impression caused by a lack of logical or semantic analysis.

Here is one example of the sophism of the ancients, attributed to Eubulides: “What you did not lose, you have. You didn't lose your horn. So you have horns." This is where the ambiguity comes into play. If it is conceived as universal: "Everything that you did not lose ...", then the conclusion is logically flawless; if it is conceived as private, then the conclusion does not follow logically. And here is a modern sophism, justifying that with age, “years of life” not only seem, but actually are shorter: “Each year of your life is 1/n part of it, where n is the number of years you have lived. But n + 1>n. Therefore, 1/(n + 1)<1/ n».

It is impossible to speak about the unambiguity of the characteristics of the activities of the sophists. Giving an assessment to the sophists as philosophers, modern researchers determine the negative and positive sides of their deeds:

Accusations against the sophists “Protection” (a positive result of the activities of the sophists) 1. They pursued purely practical goals, and it was essential for them to look for students for “profit” They brought to the fore the problem of education, and pedagogical activity acquired a new meaning They argued that virtue is not given from birth and does not depend on the nobility of blood, but is based only on knowledge For the sophists, the study of truth was tantamount to its dissemination2. They charged for teaching, because knowledge was understood as a product of disinterested spiritual communication, the occupation of rich and noble people who had already solved their life problems , which made culture accessible only to selected strata, opening up opportunities for cultural penetration into other layers of society. The Sophists were engaged in knowledge as a craft and therefore had to demand payment in order to live in order to travel3. The Sophists were reproached for vagrancy, in disrespect for their native city, attachment to which was for the Greeks until that time a kind of ethical dogma. The Sophists were aware of the narrowness of the borders of the policy; pushing them apart, they became carriers of the pan-Hellenistic beginning, they felt themselves not only citizens of their city, but also of Hellas. 4. They violated traditions, norms and codifications. Deserved the name of the Greek "enlighteners"

"Sophist" - this term, in itself positive, meaning "wise", sophisticated, expert in knowledge, later came to be used as a negative one, especially in the context of the controversy between Plato and Aristotle.

For in the beginning the sophists

· taught the correct methods of proof and refutation,

· discovered a number of rules of logical thinking,

· but soon they moved away from the logical principles of its organization and concentrated all their attention on the development of logical tricks based on the external similarity of phenomena, on the fact that an event is extracted from the general connection of events, on the ambiguity of words, on the substitution of concepts, etc.

Some, like Socrates, considered the knowledge of the sophists to be superficial and ineffective, since they lacked the selfless goal of searching for truth as such, but in modern conditions their true historical significance was determined.

Conclusion

The historical significance of sophistry for the development of philosophy and culture.

Most importantly, the sophists shifted the axis of philosophical research from space to man. The grandeur of the cosmos receded into the background. Human life and human personality, with their endless chaos and variegation, with their inconstancy, far from cosmic grandeur, came to the fore.

The old image of a man of the pre-philosophical poetic tradition was destroyed by the sophists, but the new one has not yet appeared:

· Protagoras associated man mainly with sensuality,

· Gorgias conceived of man as a subject of mobile emotions, moved in any direction.

The sophists spoke about nature, about man as a biological animal nature, keeping silent about his spiritual nature. Man, in order to find himself again, had to find a stronger foundation.

The Sophists rejected the old Gods, but, abandoning the search for the beginning, they went to the denial of the divine in general:

· Protagoras settled on agnosticism,

· Prodik already sees the Gods as an exaggeration of profit,

· Critias - as an ideological image of politicians.

It is clear: in order to think the divine, it was necessary to look for a different, higher sphere.

The same should be said about truth:

· Protagoras divided logos into "two arguments" and revealed that logos posits and opposes.

· Gorgias rejected logos as thinking, and retained it only as a magic word, but he also found that the word, with the help of which everything can be said and also everything can be refuted, does not truly express anything. Thought and word lost their subject and their order, being and truth were lost. Word and thought had to restore themselves to a higher level.

The significance of sophistry for the history of philosophical thought lies in the opening up for critical discussion of new topics in epistemology, philosophy of language, ethics, sociology and political theory:

· the reliability of sensory representations and judgments of the mind, as well as their expression in language,

· the relativity of truth in relation to various subjects, circumstances of place and time, ethnic characteristics,

· the ratio of universal principles and norms established by people in the field of ethics, language, public institutions,

· selection criteria in the moral field (the influence of pleasure on behavior, the nature of utilitarian calculation in the choice of actions),

· the principles on which social life is based,

· the motives that led to the emergence of society, the essence of the gods and the origin of religion.

Thus, the Greek sophists are "deep thinkers" who contributed to the change in the philosophy of the doctrine of nature to the field of ethics and the theory of knowledge. Denying absolute truth, they for the first time paid considerable attention to the study of the subjective world of man.

List of used literature

oratory philosophical

1.Ancient Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Progress-Tradition. P. P. Gaidenko, M. A. Solopova, S. V. Mesyats, A. V. Seregin, A. A. Stolyarov, Yu. A. Shichalin. 2008

2.Asmus V.F. Ancient philosophy (history of philosophy). - M.: Higher. School, 2003

3.Akhmanov A. S., The logical doctrine of Aristotle, M., 1960.

4.Akhmanov A.S. The logical doctrine of Aristotle. - M., 1960

5.Belkin M.V., O. Plakhotskaya. Dictionary "Ancient writers". St. Petersburg: Publishing house "Lan", 1998

6.Bogomolov A.S. ancient philosophy. - M., 1985

7.Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969 -1978

8.Bradis V.M., Minkovsky V.L., Kharcheva L.K. Errors in mathematical reasoning. - M., 1967

V. S. Stepin. 2001

9.Grinenko G.V. History of Philosophy. - M.: 2004. - 688 p.

10.Grinenko G.V. History of Philosophy. 3rd edition. - M., 2011

.J. Reale and D. Antiseri. Western philosophy from its origins to the present day. I Antiquity. - LLP TK "Petropolis", 1997

.Losev A.F. History of ancient aesthetics in 8 volumes. T 2: Sophists. Socrates. Platon.- M., 1969.

.Small academic dictionary. - M.: Institute of the Russian language of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Evgenyeva A.P., 1957-1984

.Minkovsky V. L., Kharcheva L. K., Errors in mathematical reasoning, 3rd ed., M., 1967

.Mikhalskaya A.K. Russian Socrates: Lectures on comparative historical rhetoric. M., 1996

.New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. M.: Thought. Edited by

.Plato. - Folio, AST, 2000

.Plato. Collected works in 4 volumes. T. 1. - M.: Thought. - 1990.

.Spirkin A.G. Philosophy: textbook / A.G. Spirkin. - 2nd ed. M.: Gardariki, 2008

.Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ed. A.A. Ivin. - M.: Gardariki, 2004.

.Philosophical Encyclopedia. In 5 volumes - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia. Edited by F. V. Konstantinov. 1960-1970.

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from the Greek sofisma - wisdom, cunning, trick) - the direction of ancient Greek intellectual thought. Sophists (the so-called "teachers of wisdom") focused their attention on the theory and practice of eloquence, the art of argumentation, arguing, and various aspects of ethics, politics, and the theory of knowledge. S. is the art of all sorts of tricks, focusing on winning an argument at any cost, even if by deceit, violating the requirements of logic, deliberately confusing the opponent, etc. S. is usually evaluated as an absolute evil. This is a centuries old conventional wisdom. Plato defined S. as follows: “This name denotes hypocritical imitation of art, based on opinion, confusing the other in contradictions” (Plato. Sophist). According to Aristotle, the tricks of the sophists are “the art of making money with the help of imaginary wisdom, and therefore the sophists strive for imaginary evidence” (Aristotle. On Sophistic Refutations). G.H. Lichtenberg emphasized: "A person becomes a sophist and resorts to tricks where he lacks knowledge." V. Hugo described S. in even more harsh terms: “The sophist is a falsifier: in case of need, he violates common sense. A certain logic, extremely flexible, merciless and skillful, is always ready for the services of evil: it subtly beats the science hidden in the shadows in the most sophisticated way .... False science is the scum of genuine science, and it is used to destroy philosophers. Philosophers, by creating sophists, are digging a hole for themselves. On the droppings of the song thrush, mistletoe grows, secreting glue, with which thrushes are caught ”(V. Hugo. The Man Who Laughs). The formation of S. is associated with the peculiarities of the political life of Athens. For the ability to speak convincingly determined the fate of a person. Hence the attention of the Athenians to the possibilities of the living word. Written speech was considered (compared to oral) dead and useless. And this is natural: all fundamental issues were decided by the people's assembly. This means that the degree of influence on the minds and feelings of citizens largely depended on the art of eloquence. There was another motivating factor. The basis of the Athenian legal proceedings was also adversarial: both the accuser and the defender made speeches, trying to convince the judges (whose number was several hundred!) That they were right. It can be considered, therefore, that there was a kind of “social order” for the ability to speak beautifully and convincingly, as well as for teachers of this art and compilers of public speeches, “craftsmen” who could come up with tricks that baffled, put the enemy in a funny or stupid form. In reality, the flowering of S. is several decades at the turn of the 5th-4th centuries. BC, a short-term rise of thought, when the sophists really developed ideas related to the art of argument and the ability to convince with the help of oratory. This period coincides with the "golden age" of Athenian democracy - the era of Pericles. At the origins of S. were two great thinkers (the merits of which history has not properly appreciated) - these are Protagoras and Gorgias. Protagoras from Abdera (c. 481 - c. 411 BC), who was called the "father" of C, was a close friend of Pericles, wrote laws for a new colony - cleruchia called Furii at his request, gave a philosophical "cut" to the amazing design the strength of the intellect of Pericles' long-term girlfriend - Aspasia. And such a relationship between the leader of Athenian democracy and the main sophist is far from accidental: S. is a very complex phenomenon, but on the whole she is the spiritual brainchild of democracy. Indeed, the sophists oriented the citizens of Athens to the fact that any of them has the right to express their opinion on the affairs of the state, talk about politics, etc. It is in this context that the famous aphorism of Protagoras should be taken: “Man himself is the measure of all things” . It is usually interpreted as the apotheosis of subjectivism, but in fact the meaning contained in it is completely different: a person can judge independently about everything, first of all, of course, about political problems. The name of another great sophist, Gorgias, is identified primarily with rhetoric. The emergence of rhetoric dates back to the middle of the 5th century. BC e., when in Sicily Corax and Tisius created their manuals on rhetoric (the first to be mentioned). It was from them that Gorgias Leontinsky (c. 480 - c. 380 BC), who became famous in Athens as a famous sophist and rhetorician, borrowed elements of the future theory of eloquence. Gorgias developed special stylistic devices for decorating the speaker's speech - Gorgian figures. Representatives of S. acquire great influence in Athens: “paid teachers of wisdom” (as they were called) literally turned into a “plague”. It was to this time that well-known sophisms date back, such as Horned, Covered, You, the father of a dog, You are not a person, etc. The fact that Aristophanes devoted a special comedy "Clouds" to the exposure of their tricks testifies to the widest distribution of sophists in Athens. The unlucky hero of the comedy Strepsiades, in order to get rid of debts, turns to sophists so that they teach his son to turn the truth into falsehoods. His son Pheidippides, having gone through the "school" of deceitful tricks, turns his art against the parent who sent him to the sophists, "justifying" the right to beat his father. “Phidippides: And I can prove that the son of his father has the right to beat ... And this is what I will ask you: did you beat me as a child? Strepsiades: Yes, he did. but out of love, wishing you well. Pheidippides: Well, I have no right to wish you well, and beat you, when beating is the purest sign of love? And why is your back not guilty of beatings, but mine is, yes, because we were both born free? The guys are roaring, but the father should not roar? Is not it? You will object that this is all the responsibility of the little ones. I will answer you: “Well, the old man is doubly a child. Old people deserve double punishment, because mistakes in the elderly are unforgivable ”(Aristophanes. Clouds). The greatest philosophers tried to resist the Sophists. Suffice it to recall the constant disputes that Socrates had with them. It is no coincidence that Plato brought out many sophists in his dialogues (the dialogues Protagoras, Gorgias, Greater Hippias, Lesser Hippias, Sophist and a number of others), where he portrayed the sophists as negative characters, and this assessment was entrenched in world culture, but Plato did not succeed in refuting the tricks of the sophists with the weapon of criticism. Only Aristotle solved this problem. The creation of logic was conceived by him precisely as the development of methods for refuting sophistical arguments. As Aristotle himself emphasized, he created his own logical system in order to give "honest citizens a weapon against the sophists", to expose their tricks and tricks. It is the logical analysis of ordinary spoken language that is the basis on which the logical teaching of Aristotle was created. In the work "On Sophistic Refutations" he examined in detail the favorite tricks of the sophists: the use of words that have different meanings; shifting many questions into one; substitution of the thesis; anticipation of the foundation; confusion of the absolute and the relative, etc., thereby created the “technology” of combating S. So, it must be recognized that the representatives of S. have unconditional merits before science: it was they who, by their tricks, forced the ancient Greek thinkers to turn to a thorough development of the theory of argumentation and logic in general. They raised the art of argument to a whole new level. According to Diogenes Laertes, Protagoras “was the first to use arguments in disputes”, “began to arrange competitions in a dispute and came up with tricks for litigants; he did not care about thoughts, he argued about words ”(Diogenes Laertes. On the life, teachings and sayings of famous philosophers). It was Protagoras who created the philosophical dialogue, later it was called "Socratic" or "Platonic" - these thinkers gave the philosophical dialogue a special brilliance, but Protagoras was the first! Therefore, some researchers quite reasonably believe that in the works of the sophists, and primarily Protagoras, are the origins of three areas of scientific thought: linguistics, logic and rhetoric. Today we have to admit that the ideas of the sophists in the history of science have not been appreciated. And it is no coincidence that A. I. Herzen considered it necessary to intercede for the "slandered and misunderstood sophists." In his opinion, the sophists "expressed a period of youthful arrogance and daring." The sophist “relies on one thing - his thought; this is his spear, his shield”, he has “the unconditional power of negation”. A.I. Herzen wrote about the sophists: “What a luxury in their dialectics! what ruthlessness!.. What mastery of thought and formal logic! Their endless disputes - these bloodless tournaments, where there is as much grace as strength - were a youthful prancing in the strict arena of philosophy; this is the daring youth of science ”(A. Herzen. Letters on the study of nature). In the period from II to IV century. n. e. the so-called second S. arises and rapidly develops. Modern researchers, in particular A.A. Ivin, they consider it insufficient to consider S. only as an art of tricks. Sophisms are beginning to be seen as a special form of problem posing. A.A. Ivin emphasizes: “A distinctive feature of sophism is its duality, the presence, in addition to external, also of a certain internal content. In this he is like a symbol and a parable. Like a parable, outwardly sophism speaks of well-known things. At the same time, the story is usually constructed in such a way that the surface does not attract independent attention and in one way or another - most often by contradicting common sense - hints at a different content lying in the depths. The latter is usually unclear and ambiguous. It contains in an unexpanded form, as if in embryo, a problem that is felt, but cannot be formulated in any way clearly until sophism is placed in a sufficiently wide and deep context. Only in it is it found in a comparatively distinct form. With a change in context and consideration of sophism from the point of view of a different theoretical construction, it usually turns out that a completely different problem is hidden in the same sophism ”(A. Ivin. Logic: Study Guide). Lit.: Aristotle. On sophistical refutations // Aristotle. Op. in 4 vols. - M., 1978; - T. 2; Herzen A.I. Letters on the study of nature. - M.; L., 1946; Diogenes Laertes. About the life, teachings and sayings of famous philosophers. - M., 1979", Ivin A.A. Logic: Textbook. M., 1997 (chapter 7. Sophisms); Ivin A.A. Sophisms as problems // Questions of Philosophy. - 1984. - No. 2; Kravchuk A. Pericles and Aspasia: Historical and artistic chronicle. - M., 1991 (part seven is dedicated to Protagoras); Xenophon. Memories of Socrates. - M., 1993; Losev A.F. History of ancient aesthetics: Sophists. Socrates. Plato. - M., 1994; Nikiforov A.L., Panov M.I. Introduction to Logic: A Guide for Teachers and Parents. - M., 1995 (section 2 of the topic 2. Logic, rhetoric, sophistry); Panov M.I. Rhetoric from antiquity to the present day // Anthology of Russian rhetoric. - M., 1997 (chapter 2. How did rhetoric arise and what role did sophistry play in its formation?); Panov M.I. What are sophisms? What is their danger? How should they be refuted? // Buzuk G.L., Panov M.I. Logic in questions and answers (Experience of a popular textbook). - M., 1991; Plato. Gorgias // Plato. Op. in 3 vols. - M., 1968. - T. 1; Plato. Protagoras // Ibid. - M., 1970. - T. 2; Plato. Sophist // Ibid; Russell B. History of Western Philosophy. In 2 vols. - Novosibirsk, 1994 (chapter 9 of part 1. Protagoras); Dictionary of antiquity. - M., 1993 (articles: Gorgias; Protagoras; Sophistry). M.I. Panov

What is "Sophistry"? What is the correct spelling of this word. Concept and interpretation.

Sophistry SOPHISTICS 1) the teaching of representatives of the prevailing in Athens in the second half of the 5th century. BC. schools of sophists - philosophers-enlighteners who gravitated towards relativism, the first professional teachers in general education. The term 'S.' comes from the Greek word 'sophist' (sophistes - sage), which then called the paid teachers of oratory. Of the writings of the sophists, almost nothing has survived. The study of indirect information is complicated by the fact that the sophists did not seek to create a certain integral system of knowledge. In their didactic activity, they did not attach much importance to the systematic acquisition of knowledge by students. Their goal was to teach students to use the acquired knowledge in discussions and polemics. Therefore, a significant emphasis was placed on rhetoric. At the beginning, the sophists taught the correct methods of proof and refutation, discovered a number of rules for logical thinking, but soon moved away from the logical principles of its organization and focused all their attention on developing logical tricks based on the external similarity of phenomena, on the fact that an event is extracted from the general connection of events, on the polysemy of words, on the substitution of concepts, etc. In ancient S. there are no integral currents. Given the historical sequence, one can speak of "senior" and "junior" sophists. Senior sophists (Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, Prodicus, Antiphon) explored the problems of politics, ethics, state, law, and linguistics. They questioned all previous principles, declared all truths to be relative. Relativism, transferred to the theory of knowledge, led the sophists to deny objective truth. The well-known thesis of Protagoras ‘Man is the measure of all things’ was transformed into the idea that each person has his own special truth. The initial metaphysical attitudes are in Protagoras concerning the nature and way in which a person is a person, a ‘self’; the essential interpretation of the being of beings; the project of truth as a phenomenon of cognition; sense in which man is a measure in relation to being and in relation to ‘truth’. According to the ideas of Protagoras, matter is fluid and changeable, and since it flows and changes, something comes in the place of what leaves, and perceptions are transformed and change according to the age and other state of bodies. The essence of all phenomena is hidden in matter, and matter, if you think about it, can be everything that it is to everyone. Gorgias (presumably 483-375 BC) in his essay ‘On the Non-Existent, or on Nature’ went further, declaring that ‘nothing exists at all’, including nature itself. He argued that being does not exist, that even if one assumes that being exists, it still cannot be known, that even if one recognizes being as existing and knowable, it is still impossible to communicate what is known to other people. In the epistemological concept of the ‘senior’ sophists, the subjective nature and relativity of knowledge are absolutized. Among the ‘younger’ sophists (Frasimachus, Critias, Alcides, Lycophron, Polemon, Hippodamus), S. degenerates into ‘juggling’ with words, into false methods of ‘proving’ truth and falsehood at the same time. 2) (Greek sophisma - fabrication, cunning) - the deliberate use in a dispute and in evidence of false arguments based on a deliberate violation of logical rules (sophisms); misleading verbal tricks. There are the following types of sophisms: a) sophism ‘quadrupling a term’ - a syllogical conclusion in which the rule of a simple categorical syllogism is violated: in each syllogism there should be only three terms. Deliberately erroneous reasoning is built using non-identical, but outwardly similar concepts: for example, ‘The thief does not want to acquire anything bad. The acquisition of good things is a good thing. Therefore, the thief desires good’; b) sophism of an unlawful process - a syllogistic conclusion in which the rule of a simple categorical syllogism is violated: a term that is not distributed (not taken in its entirety) in one of the premises cannot be distributed (taken in its entirety) in the conclusion: all birds have wings ; some oviparous have wings; c) sophism of the collective middle term - a syllogistic conclusion in which the rule of a simple categorical syllogism is violated: the middle term must be distributed (taken in its entirety) in at least one of the premises: some people can play the violin; all diplomats are human; all diplomats can play the violin.

Sophistry- two dominant currents in the mental life of the Greeks: the first refers to the 2nd half of the 5th century. BC ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Sophistry- (from the Greek sophistike - the ability to cunningly debate) 1) a philosophical trend in Ancient Greece, ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Sophistry- SOPHISTICS, sophists, pl. no, w. (book). 1. Reasoning based on sophisms; use of sophism...