Introduction To The Sophists

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SOCRATES AND HIS OBJECTION TO THE SOPHISTS’ MISSION.
Research Question: who were the Sophists and what was Socrates’ main objection to their program?
Socrates did not dispute the fact that the Sophists were wise people, however, he believed that they were ignorant of their own ignorance and were unwilling to accept this fact.
First of all, I would like to describe who the sophists were. The sophists were great orators and great speakers. They were thought to use words of ambiguity and rhetoric when they spoke in public. They were also thought to be wise and all knowing. The sophists were also known to play an important role in politics. Although, they did not directly participate in politics, the sophists thought the young and noble men who …show more content…

Socrates on the other hand, was self thought and believed that he was wise enough to know that he could be ignorant at times. Unlike the sophists, he was not rich and did not ask for fines to teach people of this wisdom he had learnt. He was an orator, a great orator at that but according to the dialogue in Plato’s Apology (1.17c) he was not the kind of man who would talk in a formal tone as he was used to talking in common places. Socrates also saw himself as a god sent to open the eyes of the people to see what they had not learned.
In Plato’s apology, Socrates is seen defending himself from two brad accusations that he was someone who neglected the gods and secondly that he misled the youth. With several instances Socrates tries to prove himself in court saying that unlike the Sophists, he had never asked for any fine in …show more content…

He was just a philosphist whose ways of finding the deeper truth which was the knowledge of knowing that we really do not know all interrupted the mission of the Sophists and that was actually what got him into toouble. The two ends of a rope collided (Socrates and the Sophists) and one person had to

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