Sophism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sophism can mean two very different things. In Ancient Greece, the sophists were a group of teachers of philosophy and rhetoric. In the modern definition, a sophism is a confusing or illogical argument used for deceiving someone. The term sophism originated from Greek sophistēs, meaning "wise-ist", one who "does" wisdom, one who makes a business out of wisdom (sophós means "wise man").
Protagoras is often said to be the first of the sophists. Others include Gorgias, Prodicus, Hippias, Thrasymachus, Lycophron, Callicles, Antiphon, and Cratylus.
[change] Modern usage
In modern usage, sophism, sophist, and sophistry are derogatory terms, due the influence of many philosophers in the past (sophism and platonism were enemy schools).
A sophism is means to deceive someone in a debate or conversation. It might be made to seem to make sense when really being wrong, or it might use difficult words and complicated sentences to intimidate the audience into agreeing. An argument Ad Hominem is an example of Sophistry.
A sophist is a someone who uses sophisms and sophistry means using lots of sophisms.
