Sophists, Socratics and Cynics

Description

The Sophists, the Socratics and the Cynics had one important characteristic in common: they mainly used spoken natural language as their instrument of investigation, and they were more concerned to discover human nature in its various practical manifestations than the facts of the physical world. The Sophists are too often remembered merely as the opponents of Socrates and Plato. Rankin discusses what social needs prompted the development of their theories and provided a market for their teaching. Five prominent Sophists – Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, Hippias and Thrasymachus – are looked at individually. The author discusses their origins, aims and arguments, and relates the issues they focussed on to debates apparent in contemporary literature. * Sophists, Socratics and Cynics, first published in 1983, also traces the sophistic strand in Greek thought beyond the great barrier of Plato, emphasising continuity with the Cynics, and concludes with a look forward to Epicureans and Stoics. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Original Title Page Original Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Abbreviations Preface 1. The Sophistic Movement: Beginnings and Identity 2. Five Prominent Sophists: Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, Hippias, Thrasymachus 3. Less Prominent Sophists 4. Nature Versus Law, Relativism and the Origins of Society 5. First Philosophies? 6. Thucydides: Sophistic Method and Historical Research 7. Sophistry and Tragedy 8. Atheism 9. Socrates 10. Plato 11. The Socratics 12. Antisthenes 13. Diogenes and the Cynics 14. Conclusion Bibliography Index