Protagoras

This is a method of philosophical inquiry that Socrates commonly employs to corral his interlocutors (including Hippocrates, Protagoras, and Prodicus) into accepting claims they may have originally found outlandish. Socrates generally builds to the unexpected (i.e., ironic) result through a series of questions. Most of these questions invite a simple yes or no response. The answers to the questions generally seem obvious, and the interlocutor responds with the expected answer, usually an affirmation of Socrates’s view. After a long series of answers that seem non-problematic, Socrates shows how these assertions entail another proposition that is less obvious. For instance, in the Protagoras, Socrates uses the Socratic method to teach Hippocrates that he should not rush into apprenticeship with Protagoras. Similarly, he uses the method to show Protagoras that courage and wisdom are not nearly so dissimilar as Protagoras thought. The nature of the method is such that Protagoras, who is a willing participant in the methodological inquiry, cannot help but agree to the unexpected conclusion.

Sophistry was an art of rhetoric, argumentation, and dialectical skill practiced in ancient Greece. Sophists, of whom Protagoras, Prodicus, and Hippias are all famous examples, traveled across the Greek-speaking world offering their services for money. By the time Plato was active in fifth-century BCE Athens, the practice of sophistry had fallen into disrepute. Plato and Socrates express disdain for sophists, and Socrates always refuses the label. Now, the term sophistry refers to a self-important manner of philosophizing that neglects truth in favor of rhetorical style. In the Protagoras, sophistry is contrasted with philosophy. The leading sophist, Protagoras, is exposed as fraudulent by the protagonist-philosopher, Socrates. The sophist appeals to appearance, but the philosopher appeals to realities. The volume Socrates and the Sophists, translated and edited by Joe Sachs, includes the Protagoras and several other Platonic dialogues that explore this issue.