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Sophists: The sophists were a group of Greek philosophers in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Sophists were not a unified group, and had a wide range of beliefs. They were generally skeptical of traditional values and beliefs, and emphasized the importance of individual thought. Representatives were Protagoras of Abdera, Gorgias of Leontini and Hippias of Elis. See also Sophism, Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Plato on Sophists - Dictionary of Arguments

Gadamer I 351
Sophists/PlatoVsSophists/Plato/Gadamer: The archetype of all empty argumentation is the sophistic question of how one can ask for something that one does not know. This sophistic objection, which Plato formulates in "Menon"(1), is significantly not overcome there by a superior argumentative resolution, but by invoking the myth of the pre-existence of the soul.
Admittedly, this is a very ironic vocation, provided that the myth of pre-existence and recollection, which is supposed to solve the riddle of questioning and searching, in reality does not play out a religious certainty, but is based on the certainty of the soul seeking knowledge, which asserts itself against the emptiness of formal argumentation. Nevertheless, it is characteristic of the weakness that Plato recognizes in the Logos that he does not base his criticism of the sophistic argumentation logically, but mythically. Just as true opinion is a divine favour and gift, so the search for and knowledge of the true logos is not a free self-ownership of the spirit.
Justification by the myth: (...) the mythical legitimation that Plato gives to the Socratic dialectic here [is] of fundamental importance (...). If the sophism remained unrefuted - and it cannot be refuted by argument - this argument would lead to resignation. It is the argument of "lazy reason" and possesses truly symbolic significance insofar as all empty reflection leads to the discrediting of reflection in general, despite its victorious appearance. Cf. >Reflection/Gadamer
;
HegelVsPlato see >Reflection/Hegel.
Gadamer I 415
Sophists/Language/Correctness/Truth/Plato/Gadamer: Cratylos: As always with Plato, there is (...) a factual reason why Socrates is so blind to what he refutes.
>Word/Plato, >Language/Plato, >Correctness/Plato.
Cratylos is not clear to himself that the meaning of words is not simply identical with the things mentioned, and he is even less clear about that this justifies the superiority concealed from the Platonic Socrates that the logos, the talking and speaking and the revelation of things carried out in it, is something different from the meaning of the meanings lying in the words - and that only here the actual possibility of language to communicate what is right, true, has its place.
PlatoVsSophists: In the misunderstanding of this actual truth possibility of speech (to which by its nature falsehood, pseudo, belongs as a counter-possibility) its sophistic abuse arises. If the logos is understood as the representation of a thing (deloma), as its disclosure, without fundamentally distinguishing this truth function of speech from the meaningful character of the words, a possibility of confusion inherent in language is opened up. One can then think to have the thing in the word.
>Truth/Plato.

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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

Gadamer I
Hans-Georg Gadamer
Wahrheit und Methode. Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik 7. durchgesehene Auflage Tübingen 1960/2010

Gadamer II
H. G. Gadamer
The Relevance of the Beautiful, London 1986
German Edition:
Die Aktualität des Schönen: Kunst als Spiel, Symbol und Fest Stuttgart 1977


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