The Sophists

It is clear from the reading that Plato holds a level of disdain and prejudice against the sophists when describing their thoughts and actions. While there is some truth that underlies these negative beliefs, there probably were a lot of good things that the sophists did during their popularity in Athens. Much of what we have today relies heavily upon the opinions and views of Plato and Aristotle. With that said, there are certainly specific ideas of the sophists that seem alarming. The fact that they charged such high amounts of money and were mainly selective towards the wealthy aristocrats of Athens stains their reputation. These practices appear disingenuous by placing the emphasis and priority on money first instead of knowledge and education. Compared to many of the philosophers in ancient Greece, they do not present themselves as lovers of wisdom and pursuers of the good. Rather, the goal seems to be make a nice living first and then share their knowledge on rhetoric.

Extending off of this lowered sense of the good, many sophists aim to win arguments regardless of whether their view aims at the good. They elevate rhetoric to a level that exceeds its value and treat it as the sole necessity to success in this life. It does not matter whether a certain view is objectively better than another. As long as you can argue your view the best, then for all practical purposes you are right and speak the truth. They have left behind many of the delineations set by morality and look to logos as "a powerful master". This explains why some argue that the sophists were moral relativists. This is extremely dangerous and invites consequences that most people would not support such as social injustices. Disregarding a view of the good and leaving society to the subject of whoever can argue their point the best opens the floor to evil individuals coming to power through their use of rhetoric. We have to keep in mind the bias that Plato brings in his writings and understand that the actual sophists could have been very different from this portrayal, nevertheless this particular view of the sophists acts as a warning to future generations about the power of rhetoric. Are most people in our society influenced by rhetoric more than the substance of the ideas argued? If so, how can we heighten people's alertness to this influence?

-BaylorBear16