Philosophy essay

What led the Sophists to declare that there is no absolute truth, or that truth is
unknowable even if it exists? What were the moral and ethical implications of
their position? (Sep 2016)

The Sophists were a group of travelling intellectuals living in Athens and in other
parts of ancient Greece in the 5th century BC. They are known to have questioned
and come up with philosophies about truth.
The Sophists had travelled widely and so had seen many different forms of
government. This caused them to question whether laws were natural or created
by man. However, they were doubtful they would discover the truth of this
matter. This led to the formation of their philosophies about truth. The two most
important Sophists who came up with theories about truth are Protagoras of
Abdera and Gorgias the Sicilian.
Protagoras believed that “Man is the measure of all things, of the things that are,
that they are and of the things that are not, that they are not”. This means that he
believed that there is no absolute or fixed truth but instead, truth is relative to
every being and is dependent on individual perspectives and cultural norms. Since
every human has a different and unique perspective, everyone must have a
different truth. For example, if a group of friends share a pizza, all of them will get
a different taste. Protagoras believed that these tastes existed within the object,
so it was impossible to know which taste was the actual taste of the pizza.
This concept of relativism leads to the idea of moral relativism, which is the idea
that, since all perspectives are different, then right and wrong must be different
to each person. This means that what may seem right to one person, may be
wrong to another. For example, while one person may view murder as wrong,
another person may view it as the right thing to do. Hence, Protagoras believed
that there are no fixed rules in nature meant to be discovered, rather, they should
be put in place by humans according to their customs in order to ensure stability
and moral order. He believed that young people should obey the laws and should
be educated to do so to make sure that society functions healthily. However, this
concept of moral relativism could be viewed as threatening to religions and
traditions as it introduced the idea that what may be morally right to one culture,
may not be to another.
On the other hand, Gorgias the Sicilian introduced the idea of Nihilism. Contrary
to Protagoras, he believed that there is no truth at all. He reasoned that nothing
exists, however, if something exists it cannot be understood and if it can be
understood, it cannot be put into words. This is because language and symbols
are unreliable since they were invented by humans, which, according to him are
fallible and flawed creatures. Moreover, languages and symbols are relative to
each person and so can be interpreted in different ways. Therefore, there can
never be a perfectly reliable truth and so no reliable truth about anything. For
example, if two people describe the colour of the sea, both will say that it is blue,
however, blue might mean a different shade of the colour to both of them. This
means that the true colour of the sea may never be known. Since the philosophy
of Nihilism implies that there is no reliable truth, it also rejects religious and moral
principles. This is because it states that existence is senseless, values and beliefs
are unfounded, and nothing can be really communicated.
The Sophists used their skill of rhetoric to pass on and convince other people of
these philosophies. Their art of persuasion could, however, be viewed as
undermining the search for moral truth and encouraging the manipulation of
opinions for personal gain.
In conclusion the Sophists’ philosophies about moral relativism and nihilism had
many moral and ethical implications as they challenged popular ideas, traditions
and religions of the time. However, thanks to their questions, which led to their
philosophies, they contributed to popular topics of discussion and debate today.