Ancient Philosophy

The Sophists and Athenian History

Primary Sources:

• Protagoras, Gorgias, and Critias, Fragments from Baird and Kaufmann, Ancient Philosophy, pp. 43-48.
• Thucydides, excerpts from The History of the Peloponnesian War (Handout).

Secondary Source:

• Irwin, “Tragedy and Naturalism”, “Beyond Naturalism”, “Naturalism and Human Nature”, “Questions About Naturalist History”, “Some Effects of Naturalism”, “Radical Doubt”, “Convention, Truth, and Reality”, “Scepticism, Conventionalism, and Morality”, “Political Tensions”, “The Growth of Political Debate”, “Practical Results”, and “Unsettled Questions” from Classical Thought, pp. 44-47, 53-67.

Background:

From Charles H. Kahn’s Routlegde Online Encyclopedia article on Protagoras:

Protagoras was the first and most eminent of the Greek Sophists. Active in Athens, he pioneered the role of professional educator, training ambitious young men for a public career and popularizing the new rationalist worldview that was introduced from Ionian natural philosophy. But unlike his contemporary Anaxagoras, Protagoras was skeptical of the dogmatic claims of the new science. His famous formula – ‘Man is the measure of all things, of things that are, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not’ – makes him the father of relativism and even, on some interpretations, of subjectivism. He was also considered the first theological agnostic: ‘Concerning the gods, I am unable to know either that they exist or that they do not exist or what form they have’. He was sometimes associated with the claim ‘to make the weaker argument (logos) the stronger’.

From Charles H. Kahn’s Routlegde Online Encyclopedia article on Gorgias:

The most important of the fifth-century BC Greek Sophists after Protagoras, Gorgias was a famous rhetorician, a major influence on the development of artistic prose and a gifted dabbler in philosophy. His display speeches, Encomium of Helen of Troy and Defense of Palamedes, are masterpieces of the art of making a weak case seem strong, and brilliant exercises in symmetrical and antithetical sentence structure. Of philosophical importance is his treatise On Not-Being, or On the Nature of Things, an elaborate reversal of the metaphysical argument of Parmenides, showing: (1) that nothing exists; (2) that if anything exists, it cannot be known; and (3) if anything can be known, it cannot be communicated. This nihilistic tour de force is probably a caricature rather than a serious statement of a philosophical position. Gorgias is a master of the persuasive use of logos (discourse), understood both as eloquence and as argumentative skill.

From William Morison’s Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Critias:

Critias, son of Callaeschrus, an Athenian philosopher, rhetorician, poet, historian, and political leader, was best known for his leading role in the pro-Spartan government of the Thirty (404-403 BC). But Critias also produced a broad range of works and was a noted poet and teacher in his own time. The fragments of three tragedies and a satyr play, a collection of elegies, books of homilies and aphorisms, a collection of epideictic speeches, and a number of constitutions of the city-states both in poetry and prose all have been passed down in the works of later authors. Critias, the political figure, author, and philosopher, stands as one of the most controversial and enigmatic figures of fifth-century BC Athens.

Critias believed that law, order, and the divine are merely human creations that function as tyrants over humanity—thus, morality is relative to the individual and a trained, noble character should be regarded as superior to any law. This ethical preference for the educated individual over human law occurs in several of the other fragments of his work, but is best illustrated in the fragment from the satyr play Sisyphus, which is attributed to Critias. In the play Critias describes the invention both of law and the gods by a clever and wise man who wished to deceive and control the rest of humanity through fear of supernatural powers. If law and the gods are a human construct, it follows that they are no match for the learned individual.

Additional circumstantial evidence for Critias' atheism may be found in his open blasphemy toward the gods at the climax of the condemnation of his political rival Theramenes. Having taken refuge atop the sacred altar in the council house, Theramenes calls Critias and his followers “the most unholy of men.” At Critias' behest, the herald orders the Eleven to drag Theramenes from the altar, and he is carried off to his execution “beseeching the gods to witness these events.”

From Paul Woodruff’s Routlegde Online Encyclopedia article on Thucydides:

A Greek historian with philosophical interests, Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (431–404 BC). He elaborates on the decisions of war in brilliantly reconstructed debates and speeches, reflecting his training under various Sophists. Many of these speeches take for granted that people care less for justice than for their own narrow interests. This dark view of human nature influenced Hobbes, while the style of the debates and speeches has had an enduring effect on public rhetoric. His account of Athenian democracy in action is cautionary, and his conservative political views anticipated Aristotle’s in some respects.

On human motivation, Thucydides’ views are no secret. Fear, ambition and avarice dominate his explanations of events. Expansion of the Athenian empire is due to these factors; this expansion put fear into the Spartans which drove them to start the war. Thucydides’ description of the plague at Athens in 430 BC shows how badly he believes people behave when they no longer have any reason to fear the laws. He sounds a similar theme in his account of a civil war on the island of Corcyra between the parties of ‘the many’ and the ‘few’, that is, the democrats and the oligarchs. These combatants were led by avarice and ambition to commit violent acts that they justified by a reversal in their use of moral language; the results included all sorts of betrayal, revenge and the slaughter of prisoners. Human nature, Thucydides believed, will overcome the effects of law whenever a breakdown of authority gives it the opportunity.

The same principle is at work in international affairs. Neither Athens nor Sparta considers justice when deciding how to treat its neighbor states. When the Athenians decide not to slaughter the people of Mytilene, whose rebellion they have just put down, they do so from a calculation of their own advantage. Justice, the Athenians believe, is relevant only when both parties are equally subject to authority. The Athenians do in each case what they deem necessary for the survival of their empire, and go so far as to conquer the harmless island of Melos and execute its male population for this reason. Although Sparta claims to support justice, it too destroys a city and its people out of self-interest.

Questions:

• What does Protagoras mean by his assertion that “Man is the measure of all things”?
• How does Gorgias demonstrate that Being does not exist? Why does he maintain that what-is cannot be communicated, even if it is comprehensible?
• According to Critias, why do people believe in the gods?
• During the plague of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, how do the Athenians behave?
• How do the Athenians justify their behavior to the Melians? How do the Athenians conceive of justice?
  

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