Editing Sophist (section)

==Criticism==
[[File:Socrates in a basket.jpg| thumb|300px|Socrates was lampooned by Aristophanes in ''The Clouds'' as a pedantic wordsmith who lived in a basket. Later philosophers such as Plato and [[Xenophon]] sought to distinguish Socrates' ethical teachings from this comic portrayal of a sophist.]]
Many sophists taught their skills for a price. Due to the importance of such skills in the litigious social life of Athens, practitioners often commanded very high fees. The sophists' practice of questioning the existence and roles of traditional deities and investigating into the nature of the heavens and the earth prompted a popular reaction against them. As there was a popular view of [[Socrates]] as a sophist, he was among the targets (which prompted a vigorous condemnation from his followers, including [[Plato]] and [[Xenophon]]). For example, in the comic play ''[[The Clouds]]'', [[Aristophanes]] criticizes the sophists as hairsplitting wordsmiths, and makes Socrates their representative.<ref>Aristophanes' "clouds"; Aeschines 1.173; Diels & Kranz, "Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker", 80 A 21</ref> Such criticism,  coupled with the wealth garnered by many sophist practitioners, eventually led to popular resentment against sophists and the ideas and writings associated with sophism.

===Aristophanes===
The comic playwright [[Aristophanes]], a contemporary of the sophists, criticized the sophists as hairsplitting wordsmiths. Aristophanes, however, made no distinction between sophists and philosophers, and showed either of them as willing to argue any position for the right fee. In Aristophanes's comedic play ''[[The Clouds]]'', Strepsiades seeks the help of Socrates (a parody of the actual philosopher) in an effort to avoid paying his debts. In the play, Socrates promises to teach Strepsiades' son to argue his way out of paying his debts.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nichols|first=Mary P.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKCWsxcChlQC&q=Socrates+promises+to+teach+Strepsiades%27+son+to+argue+his+way+out+of+paying+his+debts&pg=PA9|title=Socrates and the Political Community: An Ancient Debate|date=1987-01-01|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-88706-395-4|language=en}}</ref>

===Socrates===
An ongoing debate is centered on the difference between the sophists, who charged for their services, and [[Socrates]], who did not.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Blank|first=David L.|date=1985-01-01|title=Socratics versus Sophists on Payment for Teaching|journal=Classical Antiquity|volume=4|issue=1|pages=1–49|doi=10.2307/25010822|jstor=25010822}}</ref> Instead of giving instruction Socrates professed a self-effacing and questioning posture, exemplified by what is known as the [[Socratic method]] (although [[Diogenes Laërtius]] wrote that Protagoras, a sophist, invented this method<ref>[[Susan Jarratt|Jarratt, Susan C.]] ''Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured''. Carbondale and Edwardsville: [[Southern Illinois University Press]], 1991, p. 83</ref><ref>Sprague, Rosamond Kent, ''The Older Sophists'', Hackett Publishing Company ({{ISBN|0-87220-556-8}}), p. 5</ref>). Socrates' attitude towards the sophists was not entirely oppositional. In one dialogue Socrates even stated that the sophists were better educators than he was,<ref>[[W. K. C. Guthrie|Guthrie, W. K. C.]] Vol. 3 of ''History of Greek Philosophy''. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1969, p. 399</ref> which he validated by sending one of his students to study under a sophist.<ref name="a">[[W. K. C. Guthrie|Guthrie, W. K. C.]] Vol. 3 of ''History of Greek Philosophy''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969, p. 401</ref> [[W. K. C. Guthrie]] classified Socrates as a sophist in his ''History of Greek Philosophy''.<ref name="a" />

[[File:Isocrates pushkin.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Isocrates, one of the later sophists, was critical of the education practices of his predecessors]]

=== Isocrates ===
One of the few speeches that have survived from ancient Greece is [[Isocrates]]' ''[[Against the Sophists]].'' The speech offers scathing criticisms against sophist teachers and their failures.

While a sophist himself, Isocrates sought to distinguish his school's pedagogical focus from other sophistic teachings. In particular, Isocrates wanted to establish an institution that educated Athenian students in a manner that would promote the success of Athenian democracy. By developing a school in Athens around 392 BCE, approximately five years after Plato opened his [[Platonic Academy]], Isocrates gave sophism more credibility in society.

===Plato===
As only small portions of the sophists' writings have survived they are mainly known through the works of [[Plato]]. Plato's dialogs present his generally hostile views on the sophists' thought, due to which he is largely responsible for the modern view of the sophist as an avaricious instructor who teaches deception.

Before Plato, the word "sophist" could be used as either a respectful or contemptuous title. It was in Plato's dialogue, [[Sophist (dialogue)|''Sophist'']], that the first record of an attempt to answer the question "what is a sophist?" is made. Plato described sophists as paid hunters after the young and wealthy, as merchants of knowledge, as athletes in a contest of words, and purgers of souls. From Plato's assessment of sophists it could be concluded that sophists do not offer true knowledge, but only an opinion of things. Plato describes them as shadows of the true, saying, "the art of contradiction making, descended from an insincere kind of conceited mimicry, of the semblance-making breed, derived from image making, distinguished as portion, not divine but human, of production, that presents, a shadow play of words—such are the blood and the lineage which can, with perfect truth, be assigned to the authentic sophist". Plato sought to distinguish sophists from philosophers, arguing that a sophist was a person who made his living through deception, whereas a philosopher was a lover of wisdom who sought the truth. To give the philosophers greater credence, Plato gave the sophists a negative connotation.<ref>Shiappa, Edward. "Protagoras and Logos" (University of South Carolina Press, 1991) 5</ref>

[[Plato]] depicts Socrates as refuting sophists in several dialogues. These texts often depict the sophists in an unflattering light, and it is unclear how accurate or fair Plato's representation of them may be; however, Protagoras and Prodicus are portrayed in a largely positive light in ''[[Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]].'' Protagoras argued that "man is the measure of all things", meaning man decides for himself what he is going to believe.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Versenyi|first=Laszlo|date=1962-01-01|title=Protagoras' Man-Measure Fragment|journal=The American Journal of Philology|volume=83|issue=2|pages=178–184|doi=10.2307/292215|jstor=292215}}</ref> The works of Plato and Aristotle have had much influence on the modern view of the "sophist" as a greedy instructor who uses rhetorical sleight-of-hand and ambiguities of language in order to deceive, or to support fallacious reasoning. In this view, the sophist is not concerned with [[truth]] and [[justice]], but instead seeks [[Political power|power]].

Some scholars, such as Ugo Zilioli<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2265.2009.00484_1.x | volume=50 | issue=3 | title=Protagoras and the Challenge of Relativism: Plato's Subtlest Enemy |first=Ugo |last=Zilioli | journal=The Heythrop Journal | pages=509–510| year=2009 | editor1-last=Waterfield | editor1-first=Robin | doi-access=free }}</ref> argue that the sophists held a [[Relativism|relativistic]] view on [[cognition]] and [[knowledge]]. However, this may involve the Greek word "[[doxa]]", which means "culturally shared belief" rather than "individual opinion". The sophists' philosophy contains criticisms of [[religion]], [[law]], and [[ethics]]. Although many sophists were apparently as religious as their contemporaries, some held [[atheism|atheistic]] or [[Agnosticism|agnostic]] views (for example, [[Protagoras]] and [[Diagoras of Melos]]).