Protagoras (dialogue)

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Protagoras is the title of one of Plato's dialogues.

The title refers to the main character Protagoras, a philosopher who belonged to the Sophists. In this dialogue, Plato places himself in opposition to the Sophists and their style of philosophical inquiry, which he believes favors disingenuous word games over substantive and earnest thought.

The work consists of a discussion between Socrates and Protagoras, mainly dealing with the teachability of arete, or virtue. Protagoras argues that society is capable of instilling a sense of justice in the individual. This is achieved through instruction (ex: schools) or punishment (ex: prisons). He further argues that if an individual is aware of what is good and what is bad, they will never commit evil.

Socrates tries to show that this is an overly simplistic notion, first by demonstrating the difficulty of defining arete and isolating it from similar, but not identical notions such as "courage" or "wisdom", and secondly by getting Protagoras to admit that people sometimes willingly commit bad or evil acts even if they are aware that they are wrong. He also advances an idea similar to Jeremy Bentham's Principle of Utility, arguing that true wisdom is the ability to accurately determine which actions will produce the greatest pleasure and the least pain and to act accordingly. Socrates concludes that people commit evil acts because they lack the wisdom to assess their impact accurately.

Ultimately, Socrates and Protagoras agree that arete is a form of knowledge or wisdom which is therefore capable of being taught, although they are in substantial disagreement about how to go about doing so.

Another interesting area of this dialogue is the examination of the sophist Protagoras, the man whose name titles the dialogue. Protagoras is evidently a teacher of the political art for hire, and a sophist. He is unique in that unlike other sophists, he has no qualms about proclaiming publicly that he is a sophist, an occupation that was looked down upon, as one can see in many of the comedies of Aristophanes. Particularly interesting about Protagoras is that as he undergoes Socrates' examinations, his remarks imply that he believes that there are no gods, that oligarchy is the best form of government, and that he believes Socrates to share his views. Socrates disagrees, and notes that there is a considerable distinction between the two, a remark that raises questions regarding his political beliefs, and implies that he is opposed to the current system of government in Athens: direct democracy.

On the notion that Sophism was looked down upon, it is incorrect to say at the time of Protagoras, Sophism was looked down upon. After the fall of Athens, which was blamed on the Sophist, they were looked down upon.

Protagoras (dialogue)

See also