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CHAPTER 3
THE SOPHIST: PROTAGORAS
Chapter 3 Key Concepts
Ethnocentrism is the often unconscious tendency to
consider one s own customs, foods, and social patterns as
superior to those of others. This leads an ethnocentric person
to condemn other customs as unnatural.
The term barbarian comes from a rude bar bar noise
The emergence of a new middle class, combined with
opportunities for growing numbers of Athenians to speak
before the Assembly, created a demand for formal,
specialized higher education in subjects such as letters,
rhetoric, science, statesmanship, and philosophy.
Social and cultural changes in fifth-century B.C.E. Athens
affected philosophy. Competing points of view criticized one
another yet failed to withstand criticism. Overwhelmed by so
many conflicting theories and cultural viewpoints, a new kind
of sophos emerged, known as a Sophist.
The term Sophist initially applied to a group of
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
The Sophists believed that virtually nothing is good or
bad by nature but that good and bad are matters of custom
The early Sophists argued that truth is relative. They were
relativists who believed that knowledge is determined by
specific qualities of the observer.
Cultural relativism is the belief that all values are
culturally determined.
Individual relativism is the belief that even in the same
place and time, right and wrong are relative to the unique
experiences and preferences of the individual. It carries the
logic of cultural relativism to a more refined conclusion.
Protagoras of Abdera was one of the most influential of
Thrasymachus transformed moral relativism into a hard-
edged moral realism, based on the doctrine that might makes
right. In Chapter 4, Thrasymachus tangles with Socrates.
Moral realism says that the values that prevail in all areas
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Callicles was a Sophist associated with an aspect of moral
realism known as the doctrine of the superior individual. He
Chapter 3 Teaching Tips
1. The most important use of this chapter is for placing
Socrates mixed reputation in context (Chapter 4) and to
2. Use the concept of ethnocentrism to generate discussion
about multiculturalism. Have students provide examples of
3. Discuss more controversial issues, such as abortion,
4. As part of the discussion of the For Deeper Consideration
box on page 80, play devil s advocate and argue that one
5. Have students collect examples of self-help and personal
6. Discuss the moral aspects of advertising by discussing a
few ads and commercials. Do the ends justify the means when
it comes to selling or anything else?
7. Use the Philosophical Query on page 88 to generate a
8. Use a current environmental or human rights issue to
discuss whether or not it is fair for one culture to impose its
values on another. Is there some absolute standard of justice
or human rights?
9. Use the photos of the anorexic woman on page 85 to
generate a discussion of the nature convention dispute. Use
10. Dig into the issue raised by the story of Gyges ring by
having students seriously consider what they would do if
11. Tell the story of Protagoras s Wager (page 86) early in the
treatment of this chapter. Allow the class to identify the