Читать книгу A Beginner's History of Philosophy, Vol. 1: Ancient and Mediæval Philosophy онлайн

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The Prominent Sophists.

Many of these men were reformers. Some (as Alcidamus) were opposed to the institution of slavery in Greece; some to marriage; some (as Lycophron) to the nobility; some to the inequality of property; while Hippodamus was the first to propose an ideal state.

The method of argumentation employed by the Sophists was first to perplex and confuse their opponents as to what had been taken in the past as valid. Then they made their opponents ridiculous by drawing out consequences from their statements. Their conclusions were often verbal and their witticisms vulgar.16

The Philosophy of the Sophists.

1. The Relativism of Protagoras.

The relativism of Protagoras was based on two principles: the first is that of universal change, which he borrowed from Heracleitus; the second is, so far as we know, original with Protagoras,—that sense-perception is the only source and only kind of knowledge. In Heracleitus’ doctrine change is universal, each term of a series of changes passing into another. The senses are a part of this flux, and since they are, according to Protagoras, the only source of knowledge, knowledge is ephemeral and unreal. Reason is extended and continued sensation. A movement external to the organism stimulates an organ of the body and is met by a reacting movement of the organ. The result is perception. Perception being itself a process, each present moment of perception is the only knowledge. We cannot know things as they are in themselves; there is no insight into the Being of things over and above our perceptions. On the contrary, reality is not only what it perceptually appears for each individual, but also what it appears at each individual momentary perception.