The Sophistic Movement
G. B. Kerferd’s study of the sophists, the itinerant teachers of fifth-century Greece who have been known chiefly through Plato’s hostile portraits. Kerferd separates them from one another, giving Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus and Hippias their own positions, along with the arguments Plato hands to Callicles and Thrasymachus. What looks like a single doctrine that might is right resolves into distinct claims about nature and convention, language, and whether virtue can be taught.
Recommended by 1 Person
Angela Hobbs
Their positions are very often just lumped together in the secondary literature as ‘might is right,’ but Kerferd distinguishes them beautifully. He shows that although both Callicles and Thrasymachus think that conventional morality is a hypocritical and cynical cover for self-interest and not to be trusted, there are nevertheless important differences in their positions about who’s exploiting whom.
Interview · October 2015
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