Similarities Between Athens And Sophists

After the natural philosophers came other groups of philosophers. One of these groups were called sophists, and the other group is referred to as natural philosophers. These two groups of philosophers were different in many ways. However they also shared many similarities. Sophists were scholars and intellects who all came to Athens. Infact, sophia means wisdom. They congregated in Athens because this was the center of Greek culture. They lived in an era known as the pre-Socratic times. Sophists would preach to the people here, relying heavily on rhetoric, which is a persuasive speaking or writing. This style was important because it allowed sophists to get their ideas across. Otherwise, no one would remotely consider their ideas. Sophists were very critical of the traditional mythology of early Greece. Because of this, and among many other things, sophists were known skeptics. This mean that they doubted anything and everything. They believed there may be an answer for any question. However, due to relativity, how can someone prove that that answer is correct? They came to the conclusion that there is no absolute truth., …show more content…
Relativity refers to the idea that knowledge, truth, and morality exists in relation to culture and society. It states that because of this, there are no absolute truths. This is different from the natural philosophers because the natural philosophers were looking at the bigger picture of the world. Sophists are making a more localized approach.
Protagoras was a known sophist living in Athens from 490-420 BC. He excelled in the areas of language, education, virtue, personal affairs, skepticism, and political life. He was especially skeptical in the mathematical field of study, as he believed that natural phenomena cannot be explained through numbers and