Hearty Welcome

Dear Fathers and Brothers

The Sophists’ Epistemology
 Student’s Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, the true source of light

and fountain of wisdom. Pour forth your brilliance upon my
intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin
and of ignorance. Grant me a penetrating mind to understand,
a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity
to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself.
Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and
bring it to successful completion. This I ask through Jesus
Christ, true God and true man, living and reigning with You
and the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
The Sophists’ Epistemology
 The Outlines of my Presentation
Topic: The Sophists’ Epistemology.
A short introduction on different Eras and the Approaches.
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers’ views. How do the Sophists differ
from them? From that perspective, how do they look at
Knowledge/Epistemology?
What do you mean by a Sophist? Who are the main Sophists?
What are their contributions in the field of Epistemology?
The Concluding Remarks of my presentation
The study of philosophy has given us a picture of three eras namely, the
Ancient Greek Era, the Medieval Era and the Modern Era. We also know
that there is an approach in each era. For the ancient Greek era, the approach
was cosmocentric. They looked at the reality from the point of view of
cosmos.
For the Medieval era, the approach was theocentric, so they looked at the
reality from the perspective of God.
Finally For the Modern era, the approach was anthropocentric. Here the
human person became the Centre of their reflection.
Having seen this, let us see what is epistemology and the history of
epistemology briefly.
‘The study of the philosophers of the Ancient Greece
shows that the pre-Socratic philosophers, the first
philosophers in the Western tradition, were primarily
concerned with the nature and possibility of change’.
‘It were the sophists and Socrates who shifted the
concern of philosophy to the study of human beings.
Instead of asking large cosmic questions about the
ultimate principle of things, they asked questions
directly related to moral behaviour.

D. W. Hamlyn, “EPISTEMOLOGY, HISTORY OF,” in ENCYCLOPEDIA of

PHILOSOPHY, 2nd ed.
The Pre-Socratic philosophers proposed
inconsistent interpretations of nature, and there
appeared to be no way of reconciling them. As a
result, it generated an attitude of skepticism about
the ability of human reason to discover the truth
about nature. But this skepticism provided the
impulse for a new direction for philosophy.
Instead of debating alternative theories of nature,
philosophers now addressed the problem of human
knowledge, asking whether it was possible to
discover any universal truth.
 Could there be a universal concept of goodness if
people were incapable of knowing any universal
truth? The principal parties to this new debate were
none other than the Sophists and Socrates.

Samuel Enoch Stumpf, and James Fieser., Socrates to Sartre and

Beyond, 7th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003), 29.
 THE SOPHISTS
The word ‘sophist’ (sophistês) is derived from the Ancient Greek sophos
meaning ‘wise’, ‘skilful’, ‘clever’. The associated noun, sophia, indicates
‘wisdom’, ‘skill’ and ‘knowledge’. In an unqualified meaning, a sophist is a
person who has wisdom, skill and perhaps knowledge; a person who is wise,
skilful and clever.
We find in the earliest Greek literature, a sophist was known to be a teacher,
poet and wise man. This is the way ‘sophist’ was used by Homer and Hesiod
(ancient Greek poets), who were writing their poetry in the eighth/seventh
centuries BC.

Patricia O’Grady, “What is a Sophist?” in THE SOPHISTS An Introduction, ed. Patricia

O’Grady (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2008), 9, https://1lib.in/book/2325269/d10ffd
(accessed August 29, 2021).
The Sophists and their contribution in the study of
Epistemology
‘The three most outstanding Sophists who emerged in Athens
during the 5th century BCE were Protagoras, Gorgias, and
Thrasymachus. They were part of a group that came to Athens.
They specifically called themselves Sophists, or “intellectuals.”
As they came from different cultures- Protagoras from Abdera
in Thrace, Gorgias, from Leontini in southern Sicily, and
Thrasymachus from Chalcedon, they took a fresh look at
Athenian thought and customs. And asked searching questions
about them. They forced Athenians to consider whether their
ideas and customs were founded upon truth or simply upon
conventional ways of behaving’.
Samuel Enoch Stumpf, and James Fieser., Socrates to Sartre and Beyond, 7th ed. (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2003), 31.
 
The Sophists not only lived in different countries with their different
customs, but also, they had gathered a wide fund of information based
upon their observation of a multitude of cultural facts. Their
encyclopedic knowledge of different cultures made them skeptical about
the possibility of attaining any absolute truth by which they society
might order its life. They forced thoughtful Athenians to consider
whether Hellenistic culture was based upon artificial rules (nomos) or
upon nature (physis). They had them question whether their religious and
moral codes were conventional and therefore changeable, or natural and
therefore permanent. In a decisive way, the Sophists set the stage for a
more deliberate and careful consideration of human nature, specifically
how knowledge is acquired and how humans might order their
behaviour’.
‘The sophists were primarily practical people and especially competent in
grammar, writing and public discourse. When the old aristocracy of Athens
had been replaced by democracy, the Sophists possessed the exact skills to
facilitate the Athenians with the power of persuasion which was a political
necessity in order to rise to the level of leadership. So, the Sophists provided
an immense service by training people to present their ideas clearly and
forcefully in the public assemblies. In a public assembly, it would be
disastrous to permit debate among unskilled speakers who could neither
present their own ideas effectively nor discover the errors in their opponents’
arguments. They facilitated a shift from the commendable use of rhetoric to
its regrettable use. As long as the art of persuasion was linked to the pursuit
of truth there could be no quarrel with the Sophists.
But since they looked upon truth as a relative matter, they were
eventually accused of teaching the young citizens how to make a
bad case look good or to make the unjust cause appear to be just.
Therefore, they were criticised for leading the young in a critical
and destructive analysis of their traditional religious and ethical
views. The Sophists too charged fees for their teaching and
sought out the rich who were able to pay these fees. Socrates
had studied under the Sophists, but because of his poverty could
not afford their “shorter courses.” The practice of fees for their
teaching prompted Plato to disparage them as “Shop-keepers
with spiritual wares”’.
 Three most outstanding Sophists and their contributions
Protagoras, Gorgias, Thrasymachus
Protagoras: ‘He was the oldest and the most influential. He is best
known for his statement 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.” That is, a person is the ultimate standard of all
judgments that he or she makes. This means that whatever knowledge
I might achieve about anything would be limited to my human
capacities. Knowledge is limited to our various perceptions. And these
perceptions will differ with each person. If two people observe the
same object, their sensations would be different, because each would
occupy a different position in relation to it. To say that a person is the
measure of all things is, therefore, to say that our knowledge is
measured by what we perceive. Finally, he says that knowledge is
relative to each person’.
Gorgias: ‘He took a radical view regarding truth
that he denied that there is any truth at all. He
propounded the extraordinary notions (1) that
nothing exists, (2) that if anything exists it is
incomprehensible, and (3) that even if it is
comprehensible, it cannot be communicated.
Taking this third notion, for example, he argued that
we communicate with words, but words are only
symbols or signs, and no symbol can ever be the
same as the thing it symbolizes. For this reason,
knowledge can never be communicated. He was
convinced that there could be no reliable
knowledge and certainly no truth’.
Thrasymachus: ‘He believed that “Might is right.”
He said that laws are made by the ruling for its
own interest. These laws define what is right. In all
countries alike, the notion of “right” means the same
thing, since “right” is simply the interest of the party
established in power. So, he says, “the sound
conclusion is that what is ‘right’ is the same
everywhere: the interest of the stronger party”’.
Concluding Remarks:
The Sophists were considered to be wise people. Their
thought-provoking question was whether we can know
any universal truth. They were known as the intellectuals
of the then time. They have taught the young people the
art of rhetoric or the speech of persuasion. They have
charged fees for imparting knowledge. They have
presented their arguments passionately with deep
conviction and reflection. With all of their faults and
shortcomings the Sophists did make an important
contribution to Greek Philosophy.
With regard to the field of Epistemology, their work
encouraged the development of a critical attitude of mind
which examines the arguments on which any given doctrine is
based and accepts only those conclusions which are supported
by sound evidence.
Though their works are criticized and, in some respects, refuted
by the philosophical systems of Plato and Aristotle. And it was
Socrates, who tried to unravel the logical inconsistencies of the
Sophists to rebuild some notion of truth, and to establish some
firm foundation for moral judgements.
We must value the Sophists’ contributions in terms of their
important ideas in the history of western philosophy.
 Dear Fathers and Brothers

Fr. Subir Kumar Singh, CM Roll No. 21205