Plato's " Sophist "

The Sophist by Plato

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I read this as part of the Online Great Books program. OGB holds a seminar to discuss the books it assigns. In this case, I was not impressed by the Sophist in initial reading. The book seemed to be an exercise in endless and pointless taxonomical classifications. In addition, the dialogue seems mainly to be about running down Sophists in terms that seem pure rhetoric. In point of fact, Plato's description of the Sophists looks a lot like the description of Socrates in The Clouds.

The Sophist is part of a duology with the Statesman. In both books, Socrates is present to introduce the participants but the Socratic dialogue was carried on by a visiting philosopher and one of Socrates' young friends.

In our seminar discussion, though, a sense of Plato's criticism of the Sophists came through. The visiting philosopher concludes his taxonomic analysis by concluding that Sophists are proud (and really ignorant) and charge for their lessons. Why are Sophists proud? Why the point about charging for lessons?

Because Sophists have to sell their product. They are in competition with every other Sophist. Accordingly, they have to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Americans might know the concept of “sell the sizzle.” Sophists certainly can't admit that they don't know something. Who, after all, would pay money to be educated by someone who knows less than they know?

Because they are profit-oriented, the essence of their vocation is not a search for truth, as is the case with the Philosophers. Philosophers are consequently able to admit that they are ignorant and pursue real knowledge.

The distinction seems like one that can apply today.