The Sophists (A History of Western Thought 8)

This is part eight of the series A History of the Western Thought. This is the final video covering the Pre-Socratic era, in which I explain the school known as the Sophists.

[zacharymanuel]

Back in college after 7 years.... this video is helping me with some homework. Thank you. I'll be sure to stay tuned to your channel.

[lc-mschristian]

These videos have been a great blessing. Thank you very much and God's peace be with you.

[Portitforward]

Well done. Informative and succinct, and you have a good cadence in your speech.

[cypriotwarrior]

A very good picture of the ideas of the sophists is given by Pyrrhus Ilios, who was an ancient Hellene philosopher and founder of the philosophical movement of the skeptics. The philosophers of this movement are considered to be the continuation of the sophists, as they adopt their relativism. Therefore, according to Pyrrhus (and therefore according to the sophists), nothing can be in itself morally good or bad, beautiful or infamous, right or wrong as human behavior is governed by conventionality, that is, from the established habit and custom. In other words, they believed that an individual's beliefs depended on the customs, religion, institutions, and laws of the environment in which it was raised. As a result, nobody can think objectively.

[elijah__]

Even though I got an A in this class a while ago, I am still studying and learning from these awesome videos! Thank you, Professor!

[ElfProduct]

Hi Dr. Cooper, great vid. I’m currently interested in any parallels between the Sophists and post modernists of today. Could you give a quick expansion on the way, in your view, the subjectivism and relativism found in the 2 groups differ from each other?

[carlovandenbroeck]

Hi, if they helped people with their rethorical skills, was there a kind of political party at that time?

[gogogomes]

I'm here mainly to understand why Marcus Aurelius despised the Sophists so much, and it's very much understandable how someone who held introspection so dearly as Marcus Aurelius did, would not sympathize much with what amounts to some very *sophisticated* etiquete coaches.

[thandowtee]

This video is very helpful. I can now be able to write my test tomorrow

[dman]

Sounds like history is repeating itself in today society.

[MathewAlden]

Pastor Cooper,
Please add the episode numbers to the titles of the videos in this series. Right now the Search can't differentiate between the eight episodes.

[kuki.]

Thanks but with subtitle is more preferable

[juanventura]

I was expecting more on the other sophists

[Clbhrdwck]

Dude this geogias guy laid the foundations for flat earth rhetoric! Sophistry at its finest

[LostMindedTHC]

so lies are sold like snake oil, and the truth is free,

[MrBears]

Certain things are deemed true by some people and not too others some people call this nihilism but that doesn’t mean or shouldn’t mean objective fact doesn’t exist

[jaydan]

6:09 HA and he was sarcastic? gorgias was the man

[livingstone]

The apostle Paul ran into the Stoics and Epicureans in Athens (Acts 17) What changed everything was the mention of Jesus and the resurrection which was foolish to the philosophers aka superstitious. These are also the teachings that the apostle Paul argued against in the book of 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 as he maintained he did not preach with excellency of speech or the wisdom of the world. Taught Timothy that elders should not teach for "filthy lucre". Also the Protagorus idea about man being the measurement of all things lines up with Christ prophesying in John 5 how he who comes in his own name receiving honor one of another AND Paul addressing the new religious teachers being false teachers (2 Corinthians 10) in that they who commend themselves, being measured amongst themselves, by themselves is exactly what the new religion is based on. PHARASAIC influence...loving the praise (approval) of men more than God... who do their deeds "to be seen of men" .. "in the sight of men" Revelation 13... Workers of iniquity. False prophet!! Christianity, Christian Philosophers aka CHURCH FATHERS

[redjirachi]

Let's say that, hypothetically, Ben Shapiro is a sophist

[DubNationTrickshots]

The arguments presented to illustrate relativism and relative truth are interesting, as they are inherently flawed. The claim is made that one's perception of hot may be to another cold, but this ignores the fact that there is still a measurable amount of heat present at one time. Experience is unique to each person, and opinions are certainly relative, but no matter if 72 degrees F is hot or cold to you, there is still an exact amount of heat energy present. If you were to claim that there is no (none, non-existent) absolute truth, then you would be making an absolute truth claim; thus, you have defeated your own assertion.