Sophist

Introduction
History of the name
The 5th-century Sophists
Nature of Sophistic thought
Writings
Particular doctrines
- Theoretical issues
- Humanistic issues
The Second Sophistic movement

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Grote, detail of an oil painting by Sir John Everett Millais, 1870; in the Senate House, University of London

At a Glance

sophists summary

Related Questions

How did Athenian democracy create demand for Sophistic education?
How did Plato criticize the Sophists’ approach to truth and debate?
How did Plato’s attacks help give the word sophist a negative meaning?
How did Protagoras connect virtue with success in daily life?
How did Protagoras explain the development of civilization from savagery?
How did Protagoras use the experience of cold to explain differences in perception?
How did Socrates differ from the professional Sophists?
How did Sophists argue that moral rules were based on social convention?
How did Sophists challenge traditional values in ancient Athens?
How did Sophists contribute to the early study of logic and argument?
How did sophistry come to mean reasoning that seems convincing but is unsound?
How did the Sophists focus Greek philosophy more on human beings and society?
What did Protagoras mean by saying that humans are the measure of all things?
What evidence challenges the claim that Sophistic teaching made students immoral?
What happened to Protagoras after he expressed agnostic views about the gods?
What was antilogic in Sophistic argument?
When did the influence of the Second Sophistic movement begin to weaken?
When were the ancient Greek Sophists most influential?
Why did Athens become the main centre of Sophistic teaching?
Why did Plato insist that Socrates was not a Sophist?
Why did ancient Greek Sophists charge fees for their instruction?
Why did both aristocrats and newcomers seek a Sophistic education in Athens?
Why did many Sophists travel throughout the Greek-speaking world?
Why did the oratory of the Second Sophistic movement have little political function?
Why were Sophists among the first thinkers to demand reasons for moral claims?
Why were some Second Sophistic writers called Atticists?
What is ethics?
How is ethics different from morality?
Why does ethics matter?
Is ethics a social science?
What are some general characteristics of postmodernism?
What do postmodernists believe?
How is postmodernism related to relativism?
Where did Marxism come from?
Why is Marxism important?
How is Marxism different from other forms of socialism?

Philosophy & Religion Philosophical Issues

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External Websites

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - The Sophist
St. Francis Xavier University - Sophist
City University of New York - Queensborough Community College - Sophists
University of Notre Dame - The Sophists
K12 LibreTexts - The Sophists
Encyclopedia Romana - The Sophists
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - The Sophists (Ancient Greek)
Temple University Sites - Sophistic Method and Practice
Philosophy Now - Back to the Sophists

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Sophists - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Sophist

philosophy

Written by

George Briscoe Kerferd

Hulme Professor Emeritus of Greek, Victoria University of Manchester.

George Briscoe Kerferd

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Sophist, any of certain Greek lecturers, writers, and teachers in the 5th and 4th centuries bce, most of whom traveled about the Greek-speaking world giving instruction in a wide range of subjects in return for fees. The term sophist (Greek sophistes) had earlier applications. It is sometimes said to have meant originally simply “clever” or “skilled man,” but the list of those to whom Greek authors applied the term in its earlier sense makes it...

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