Why did Plato criticize some Sophist debates as eristic?

Plato criticized certain Sophist debates as eristic because he believed they prioritized winning an argument over the pursuit of truth.12

For Plato, the term eristic—derived from the Greek word for "fond of wrangling"—represented a form of argumentation that reduced philosophical inquiry to a mere rhetorical exercise. He argued that while genuine dialectic serves as a method to uncover the nature of reality, eristic arguments are designed to silence opponents or mechanically negate propositions, often through subtle and specious reasoning.123

Plato’s hostility toward this practice stemmed from his conviction that the Sophists lacked a sincere regard for truth, as they frequently employed "antilogic"—the assignment of a counterargument to negate any position—to secure victory in debate. By focusing on success in disputation rather than the investigation of the forms, Plato concluded that these Sophistic methods were fundamentally inconsistent with the goals of true philosophy.12