The Cambridge Companion to the Sophists

Introduces the Sophists and their time: a period of cultural enlightenment in thought, language, pedagogy, and performance.

Joshua Billings (Edited by), Christopher Moore (Edited by)

9781108796859, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 October 2023

400 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.76 kg

The Classical Greek sophists – Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, Hippias, and Antiphon, among others – are some of the most important figures in the flourishing of linguistic, historical, and philosophical reflection at the time of Socrates. They are also some of the most controversial: what makes the sophists distinctive, and what they contributed to fifth-century intellectual culture, has been hotly debated since the time of Plato. They have often been derided as reactionaries, relativists or cynically superficial thinkers, or as mere opportunists, making money from wealthy democrats eager for public repute. This volume takes a fresh perspective on the sophists – who really counted as one; how distinctive they were; and what kind of sense later thinkers made of them. In three sections, contributors address the sophists' predecessors and historical and professional context; their major intellectual themes, including language, ethics, society, and religion; and their reception from the fourth century BCE to modernity.

Introduction: the problem of the sophists Joshua Billings and Christopher Moore
Part I. Contexts: 1. Sophia before the sophists Kathryn A. Morgan
2. The sophists between aristocracy and democracy Mark Munn
3. The professional lives of the sophists Håkan Tell
4. The sophists in the fifth-century enlightenment Joshua Billings
Part II. Thoughts: 5. Nature and norms Richard Bett
6. The turn to language Mauro Bonazzi
7. Problems of being Evan Rodriguez
8. Politics in theory and practice Chloe Balla
9. Interrogating the Gods Mirjam E. Kotwick
10. Skills of argument Mi-Kyoung Lee
11. Civic and anti-civic ethics David Conan Wolfsdorf
Part III. Receptions: 12. The fourth-century creative reception of the sophists Christopher Moore
13. Writing the first sophistic Susan Prince
14. The sophists in the history of philosophy Christopher C. Raymond
Appendix: the people of the sophistic period Christopher Moore.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]