Sophist Political Thought

• The term Sophists implies a group of highly qualified teachers

specialized not in any particular field of knowledge. Sophists in
ancient Greece were different from philosophers and craftsmen.
• The word “sophist” is derived from Greek word “sophos” this means
wise. Subsequently the word stood for “man of wisdom”. Naturally the
Sophists came to be regarded as men of knowledge.
• Because of the disliking of common people for the phrase man of
knowledge the Sophists of early periods refrained from using the
particular phrase.
Sophist Political Thought
• Barker says— The Sophists are versatile. Because of this versatility the age of
enlightenment dawned in Greece. It is said that the teaching of the Sophists did not go in
vain. Greeks were able to rationalize their behaviour coming under the influence of
Sophists. They completely changed the traditional relationship between polis and
individual.
• The Sophists awarded due regard and importance to the individual.This changed the very
nature of society, politics, ethics and many other things. Protagoras, a famous Sophist, said
“Man is the measure of all things, each individual being qualified to judge, according
to his own beliefs and desires, what was right. The special emphasis given by the
Sophists to the individual radically changed the nature of society. The people were placed
at the centre of society and they took leading part in social change.
• The Sophists were professional teachers. The purpose of their teaching was to give
practical training to fellow countrymen in politics. Barker observes that the Sophists
represented the university. That is, they performed the function of university.
Sophist Political Thought
• The Sophists prepared the life of Greeks suitable for politics. In this connection it
is to be pointed out that the purpose of education portrayed in The Republic was to
prepare the guardians.
• Although the Sophists were teachers, at the same time they were journalists and
disseminators of things new and strange. Critics are of opinion the Sophists were in
a sense all-rounder.
• Another feature of the Sophists is that they never formed any clear-cut school.
They did not profess a single set of ideologies or tenets. Different Sophists adhered
to different philosophical, political and legal theories.
• Even on political conceptions they differed among themselves. Such as, earlier
Sophists advocated democracy and they were really democratic—minded. But the
Sophists of the later ages were supporters of aristocracy and oligarchy.
Sophist Political Thought
• As regards the taking of payment there was no uniformity among all the
Sophists. It is said that the Sophists of the 5th century B.C. received
payment. But they did not take it directly. Their pupils took it on their behalf
and the amount was also fixed by them.
• They offered instruction in goodness or practical wisdom” In fact, the
Sophists were practical thinkers and they disseminated the knowledge of
how to manage affairs of the state and the family properly.
• Another characteristic feature of the Sophists was that by origin they were
not Athenians. Most of the famous Sophists came to Athens from different
city-states and resided in Athens. But their pupils were Athenians and very
rich. The Sophists taught these rich students.
Sophist Political Thought
• The Sophists, in holding that men were by nature selfish and unequal in
strength, based political authority upon might. Political rule resulted, either
from an agreement among the strong to oppress the weak, or from a
combination among the weak to defend themselves against the strong.
• This view is clearly expressed by Thrasymachus in the Republic,
Thrasymachus, as the representative in the dialogue of the Sophists, is
asked by Socrates to define justice. His reply is that everywhere there is
one principle of justice, which is the interest of the stronger.
• The Sophists thus believed that might makes right. They also believed that
men were naturally nonsocial, that the state rested upon an artificial and
individualistic basis, and that political authority was essentially selfish in its
aims. They also drew a distinction between morality and law, and showed
that-law, because of the nature of political authority, often forces men to
act contrary to the dictates of reason.
Sophist Political Thought
• It is said that Protagoras was a conservative thinker. He said, “Man is the
measure of all things, of the existence of things that are, and of the
non-existence of things that are not.”
• Its implication is the existence or non-existence of anything is determined
by the common sense of the individual. In other words, individual is the
determiner of everything. This comment of Protagoras is the expression of
extreme individualism. He had a good deal of faith on the common sense of
man. The man- measure doctrine of Protagoras has glorified man and has
placed him in the centre of universe. This notion of Protagoras is quite
different from that of his predecessors who thought that man was the part of
cosmos and devoid of self-reasoning and consciousness.
Sophist Political Thought
• Barker says that Protagoras’s writings throw some light on the origin of human society. He
pointed out few stages of the evolution of society. The first stage according to Protagoras
was the state of nature.
• People of state of nature were to some extent acquainted with the arts of industry and
agriculture, but they could not build up political organization. That is, they were far away
from civic-life.
• The second stage of evolution consisted of founding cities and their preservation or
maintenance. People of the second stage did not have the political art which they acquired
in the final stage. Although Protagoras spoke of state of nature, he was not a believer of
social contract theory of origin of state.
• It has been observed that Protagoras has great love for democracy and he wholeheartedly
desired its progress. He thought that if justice were fully under the authority of only few
persons there could be no state.
Sophist Political Thought
• Prodicus was another important Sophist. He devoted a good deal of labour to the
study of the origin of state and emergence of commonwealth. Prodicus never
thought that the state was created by God or by any other supernatural element.
Men built up human society or state being driven by sheer necessity and for this
purpose they had to do hard labour and invest a lot of ingenuity.
• Therefore, it was human labour which banished conflict and brought peace in
society and it became possible when an organized polis emerged.
• Prodicus also thought that progress of human society and development of
consciousness implanted language in the mind of men which helped them to
exchange ideas among themselves. Religion, in Prodicus’s view, was also the
result of the progress of society. People created religion to meet their demands.
Sophist Political Thought
• Thrasymachus was a renowned Sophist of later 5th century B.C. It is
observed that he held unambiguous political views cloaked with realism. He
drew a distinction between religion and politics. He did not believe that the
gods were the creator of civil society and all other things coming to the
benefit of human being.
• The human society, in his opinion, is full of injustice and malpractices. If
God were the creator of society, injustice would not get any scope to
flourish to its fullest form. Men’s behaviour, function attitude etc. are the
root causes of injustice. He firmly believed that in actual society there was
no justice. Powerful and wealthy persons holding power declared law to suit
their own personal interests and justice was interpreted in their own favour.