The Sophists and the Origins of Moral Relativism

Cursory reflections on the sophist schoolOskar Pyke·Follow5 min read·Jan 22, 2019--The sophists get a bad press. They were spurned with equal causticity by both Plato and Aristotle, authoring their most influential works as, essentially, anti-sophist tracts.But do the sophists deserve their reputation? Before we can answer this question, we must pin down the very elusive definition of ‘sophist’. In modern parlance, sophistry simply means speciousness; a false claim which is superficially plausible. The original definition comes from the sophist school of ancient Athens; a loosely defined group of itinerant scholars who taught philosophy to the broader masses. An oft-touted definition of sophism, therefore, is to accept remuneration for teaching wisdom. Although this was certainly a hallmark of the sophists, it isn’t descriptive of the creed at large. Only a select few sophists, for instance, provoked the ire and censure of Plato. Plato levelled his criticisms at something much more spe...