Dinner with The Sophists
Plato, Socrates and Aristotle are probably the most famous of the Ancient Greek philosophers, and for good reasons. Plato’s Republic has been shown to be the inspiration to a full range of modern political theories, from Communism to Fascism, and even is responsible for the basis of Freudian theory. Aristotle’s work was thought to be so reliable that it was not until the 19th Century that anyone bothered to count the number of legs on a fly (there are six) and were quite happy to believe that there were eight as Aristotle claimed. However, the period just before these great philosophers was probably the most exciting in Intellectual History.
Let’s set the scene, Athens, the cultural hub of its day for the entire ancient world was at its peak of greatness; Pericles had been upgrading the city, improving monuments and building impressive new structures that it truely was a sight to behold. If you were a wealthy member of society, the de regueur was to hold extravagant dinner parties, with a range of entertainment, including the obvious musicians and dancers, but if you were truely fashionable you would also employ a philosopher to give a speech on his latest theories, which the guests would argue about afterwards.
This caused a wide range of travelling philosophers to make their trade imparting wisdom and they became known as the Sophists (from the Greek sophos meaning ’wisdom’). Some of them became so wealthy that they would arrive in town in golden chariots with a mass of followers.
Unfortunately what they taught is relatively unknown as only fragments of quotes overheard have survived to the present day, but there are some exciting insights nonetheless. We know that some liked to focus on the art of debate teaching practises such as “make the weaker argument the stronger” (a useful skill for any modern lawyer). We know that, without the use of microscopes, some thought their logically had to be a smallest particle that made up everything – the atom (from the Greek meaning ’indivisible’). We even know there was arguments put forword suggesting there is no god (or that if he does exist he does not care) and that the earth went round the sun.
Whilst not much is known about the Sophists, I know I would like to live in a time where you can have a lively philosophical debate over dinner, rather than a quick snack in front of the TV!
Comments are closed!