The Ancient Greek Sophists

The Ancient Greek Sophists were educators and philosophers in the 5th century BCE who taught skills such as rhetoric, logic, and debate. They traveled between city-states, offering lessons for a fee, and emphasized the power of persuasion and relative truth, arguing that knowledge and morality were subjective. Sophists often challenged traditional beliefs, which led to criticism from philosophers like Socrates and Plato, who viewed them as prioritizing rhetoric over genuine wisdom. Despite this, the Sophists significantly influenced the development of critical thinking and education in Western philosophy.