Truth According to Socrates and the Sophists

Posted on Aug 19, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

Unit 5: The Question of Truth

A. Types of Truth

A1. Truth as Reality

For something to be true, it has to be real. It is independent of our opinions, judgment, knowledge, or thoughts. Reality is what it is. When our minds are in harmony with reality, we know something is true.

A2. Truth as Adequacy

This is the truth we know because of ourselves. It is the truth we get between our mind and real facts. Truth exists when there is a coincidence between the person thinking about the fact and the real fact; if not, there isn’t.

A3. Truth of Judgment

When we judge, we establish a connection between realities.

The truth of judgment is based on a sentence that states a truth (oración enunciativa). When I say that man is a rational animal, I am saying that man is rational and that it is also an animal, and that both are connected.

A4. Truth of Reasoning

Reasoning is connecting judgments, so it works as a conclusion of the judgments:

JUDGMENT + JUDGMENT = REASONING (conclusion).

E.g.: Socrates is a man (judgment) + men are mortal (judgment) = Socrates is mortal (reasoning).

Note: A reasoning will only be false when, the judgments being true, the conclusion is wrong.

A5. Truth as Success / Practical Truth

Our acts are based on the truth. If we don’t know the truth, our actions will probably fail. So, practical truth comes from adequate knowledge, which will make us succeed.

B. Socrates and the Sophists

People used the assembly for deciding citizens’ organization through debate. So, for them, the art of persuading and convincing others was very important for getting the support of the majority.

Differences between Socrates and the Sophists:

Sophists:

They defended that there were as many truths as people or groups of people in the world, that they always possessed the truth, and that they didn’t have to doubt their own thoughts. They considered themselves wise.

  • Truth they defend: Subjective truth
  • Movement they defend: Relativism

Socrates and his followers:

They thought completely differently. They said that they had to arrive at the truth through logical reasoning and that there was only one truth.

  • Truth they defend: Objective truth
  • Movement they defend: Objectivism

B1. Protagoras

Considered by Plato and Aristotle the father of sophistry.

  • He is the founder of the [missing information]
  • He said that the ” [missing information]
  • He was the first philosopher to ask for money for his services (first teacher).

The philosophical position of Protagoras is relativism (a sophistic method that points out the existence of as many truths as there are perceptions).

Meanings of the Sentence:

  1. The Sophists were very important. The Socratics focused on the study of nature (physis), and the Sophists focused on the study of human law (nomos). What they wanted to know is the origin of nature (arkhé) and the condition and place of man (polis). MAN IS THE CENTER.
  2. “Man is the measure of all things.” “Man” can be interpreted in two different ways, either as an individual or a collective reality. REALITY, WHATEVER IT IS, IS LINKED TO PERCEPTION AND MEASUREMENT.
  3. THE THINGS WE DON’T KNOW SHOULDN’T AFFECT US. (With this, he contradicts himself with the second sentence.)
  4. He said that there are as many realities as people. He also said that we should not only be interested in what affects us, but the search for knowledge should be applied to useful questions. Although this destroys the very notion of truth.

There are realities that are not made to the “human” measure.

B2. Gorgias

  • His theory was the opposite of Parmenides.
  • The unlimited can’t even be thought of; it’s a trick of language.
  • So, being is nothing at all.
  • He said that nothing exists.
  • Everything we can think about has some limits.
  • Knowledge is a good tool.
  • Truth is not important for him.

The philosophical position of Gorgias is radical skepticism or nihilism (radical skepticism consisting of the negation of the existence of truth).

  1. Nothing exists.

He says that being has no beginning and no end. So, being is something unlimited. As it is unlimited, it can’t be contained in anything. Anything that can’t be contained doesn’t exist. So, being doesn’t exist because everything that exists has a measure or limit.

Being has no beginning + no end –> is unlimited –> can’t be contained –> doesn’t exist *** ***Because everything that exists has a matter or limit.***

  1. If something exists, it cannot be thought of.

Gorgias said that things that exist are linked with imagination. When we think about something, we are imagining, not thinking. We are having the idea of something that in reality doesn’t exist, e.g., the pegasus and the centaur. So, there is a huge gap between what we think and what is in reality. There is no unity between thought and reality.

  1. If something can be thought of, it cannot be communicated.

He said that if there is something that exists and that can be thought of, it won’t be possible to communicate because you can try to represent, paint, or describe something with synonyms or similar terms, but it would never be possible to communicate the same thing.

B3. Callicles

Truth, for Callicles, was a construction of what someone wants. Callicles is worried about the strong people who want to rule (they represent aristocracy).

For him, there is a big difference between nature (physis) and law (nomos). He says that it is an injustice that everyone is the same from the point of view of the law.

According to nature, someone strong is the one who has to rule, and someone weak has to follow the rules.

He is worried about the strong people who want to rule.

He thinks that law (nomos) and nature (physis) should be connected in harmony and not depend on being strong or not.

Because truth is a construction of what someone wants.

  • Voluntarism (Callicles is the founder – a sophistic stance on truth consisting of stating that truth is a construction from the powerful will.)
  1. Why is democratic justice unfair according to Callicles?

He says that it is an injustice that everyone is the same from the point of view of the law.

  1. What is the source of truth according to this Sophist (Callicles)?

Truth is a construction of what someone wants.

  1. What is the difference for him between human law (nomos) and natural law (physis)?

According to nature, the strong rule, and the weak obey, but according to human law, being weak or strong doesn’t influence anything.

B4. Socrates

  • Maieutics (The first foundation is dialogue, and the second is definition. Through an oriented dialogue, we question our own approaches to truth to get a common definition.)
  1. He didn’t charge for his teachings.

He didn’t want people to give him money for his teachings because he stated that he wanted to have dialogues with people and that together they could reach conclusions of knowledge. He discovered that he was the only wise man in Greece because he recognized his ignorance: “I only know that I know nothing.”

  1. He didn’t write any books.

He decided not to write books because he preferred to maintain dialogues with people. His main activity was teaching BY DIALOGUE.

He said that you can’t maintain a dialogue, debate, or have an argument with a book.

He said that books were drugs because, as there was no entertainment (TV) in those times, people read lots and lots of books.

  1. Socrates was a defender of the truth.

For Socrates, truth comes after language, thoughts, and will.

Socrates didn’t want people to tell the truth (even he himself didn’t know what truth was). What he wanted was to have dialogues with people who also didn’t know the solution and reach a common point in the debates. When we maintain a conversation about something we don’t know, it is more probable that we will reach a common point.

  1. Truth is a collective category and not an individual one.

For Socrates, common truth is more important than selfish truth. The common one is more linked to the community.

He always thought that laws should be clarified and connected to truth.

C. Definitions

  • 5 sentences of the truth [missing information]
  • Sophistry (persuasion technique, and people could practice it) [missing information]
  • Virtue (areté) according to the Sophists [missing information]
  • Eristic method [missing information]
  • Relativism (Protagoras is the founder – a sophistic method that points out the existence of as many truths as there are perceptions.)
  • Nihilism (synonym of skepticism) (Gorgias is the founder – radical skepticism consisting of the negation of the existence of truth.)
  • Voluntarism (Callicles is the founder – a sophistic stance on truth consisting of stating that truth is a construction from the powerful will.)
  • Maieutics (The first foundation is dialogue, and the second is definition. Through an oriented dialogue, we question our own approaches to truth to get a common definition.)

The sophistic method consists of the use of dialogue and definitions to agree on what is true.

We can achieve that as we are set on the same ground, which is truth.