Can you imagine becoming better and better every single day. Isn't that what we all want and are supposed to do? Becoming better for the Sophists was a central goal, at least from what I perceived from Protagoras, the head of the team of the sophists, the non philosophers. The idea of 'becoming better' works under the assumption that the person is lacking what can make you better. This is also under the assumption that once you become better you cannot become better again the way you were better the day before, you continue getting better, but cannot go back, this defeats the point of getting better. Hence why in my personal opinion this is one of the main flaws of the slogan, "Make America better again" by Trump.
However, the sophist were nothing like him. It is true that back then they were not liked by Plato, but some of their arguments about the importance of rhetoric, the knowledge to use words, is something that we should always keep in mind and learn from.
The fundamental problem for the sophist tackle is how can human beings find unity in themselves, that is why they want to become better. They believe that they can achieve this through the good use of words. But something admirable about the sophists is that not only there is search for a greater unity inside your own self, but to them there is also a unity with respect to the rest of humanity. This is where we can see their characteristics of society builders. It seems like they offer a model of how societies should be built. According to them, first we need to start by working on ourselves. Like Protagoras says in Plato's dialogue "Good counsel concerning his personal affairs, so that he may best manage his own household, and also concerning the city affairs," (Curd, p. 145). This is a valuable teaching from the sophists' way of thinking and maybe why they defended their cause so much, even though they charged high prices for it. The teaching is that in order to have good societies you have to be able to build your inner self. So my question now, can you have society without focusing on the betterment of each individual?
I attended the medical humanities retreat last weekend. This year's topic for their annual retreat was Making Room for the Poor. The main discussion point was how American Health Care system has forgotten the underservered. Even though some political efforts have been taken to remedy this, somewhere under the political policy making mess, more damage is being done to the underserved, this goes unnoticed. One of the speakers said something that I feel I can relate the sophists to. He said that anything that is done to one of our members of society is also done to us, mainly because it is one society we live in. Sophists tell us society starts at the individual level, this permits the creation of a healthy society. So, maybe society cannot exists without ensuring each individual is working towards their betterment.
There are other aspects of the sophists that are intriguing to me like their ideas of relativism that Protagoras voiced in "A person is a measure of all things- of thins that are, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not." (Curd 146) I have a feeling that this aspect of his thesis might just destroy my whole concept that I just developed above about how the sophists inspired me to think about society, but this is something that I sill need sometime to reflect on. Maybe this thought of relativism was shaped by their nature of travelers. They kept visiting cities and so saw different cultures having different values. And maybe this can explain the nature of cultures attaching to their own values.
However, the sophist were nothing like him. It is true that back then they were not liked by Plato, but some of their arguments about the importance of rhetoric, the knowledge to use words, is something that we should always keep in mind and learn from.
The fundamental problem for the sophist tackle is how can human beings find unity in themselves, that is why they want to become better. They believe that they can achieve this through the good use of words. But something admirable about the sophists is that not only there is search for a greater unity inside your own self, but to them there is also a unity with respect to the rest of humanity. This is where we can see their characteristics of society builders. It seems like they offer a model of how societies should be built. According to them, first we need to start by working on ourselves. Like Protagoras says in Plato's dialogue "Good counsel concerning his personal affairs, so that he may best manage his own household, and also concerning the city affairs," (Curd, p. 145). This is a valuable teaching from the sophists' way of thinking and maybe why they defended their cause so much, even though they charged high prices for it. The teaching is that in order to have good societies you have to be able to build your inner self. So my question now, can you have society without focusing on the betterment of each individual?
I attended the medical humanities retreat last weekend. This year's topic for their annual retreat was Making Room for the Poor. The main discussion point was how American Health Care system has forgotten the underservered. Even though some political efforts have been taken to remedy this, somewhere under the political policy making mess, more damage is being done to the underserved, this goes unnoticed. One of the speakers said something that I feel I can relate the sophists to. He said that anything that is done to one of our members of society is also done to us, mainly because it is one society we live in. Sophists tell us society starts at the individual level, this permits the creation of a healthy society. So, maybe society cannot exists without ensuring each individual is working towards their betterment.
There are other aspects of the sophists that are intriguing to me like their ideas of relativism that Protagoras voiced in "A person is a measure of all things- of thins that are, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not." (Curd 146) I have a feeling that this aspect of his thesis might just destroy my whole concept that I just developed above about how the sophists inspired me to think about society, but this is something that I sill need sometime to reflect on. Maybe this thought of relativism was shaped by their nature of travelers. They kept visiting cities and so saw different cultures having different values. And maybe this can explain the nature of cultures attaching to their own values.
You're right to notice that Sophist thought takes a recognizable social turn. Good work looking for merits in their thought rather than shredding them to pieces ;)
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