Sophistry and Political Philosophy: Protagoras' Challenge to Socrates

by Robert C. Bartlett

One of the central challenges to contemporary political philosophy is the apparent impossibility of arriving at any commonly agreed upon “truths.” As Nietzsche observed in his Will to Power, the currents of relativism that have come to characterize modern thought can be said to have been born with ancient sophistry. If we seek to understand the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary radical relativism, we must therefore look first to the sophists of antiquity—the most famous and challenging of whom is Protagoras.

With Sophistry and Political Philosophy, Robert C. Bartlett provides the first close reading of Plato’s two-part presentation of Protagoras. In the “Protagoras,” Plato sets out the sophist’s moral and political teachings, while the “Theaetetus,” offers a distillation of his theoretical and epistemological arguments. Taken together, the two dialogues demonstrate that Protagoras is attracted to one aspect of conventional morality—the nobility of courage, which in turn is connected to piety. This insight leads Bartlett to a consideration of the similarities and differences in the relationship of political philosophy and sophistry to pious faith. Bartlett’s superb exegesis offers a significant tool for understanding the history of philosophy, but, in tracing Socrates’s response to Protagoras’ teachings, Bartlett also builds toward a richer understanding of both ancient sophistry and what Socrates meant by “political philosophy.”
 

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

256 pages, Hardcover

Published September 12, 2016

About the author

Robert C. Bartlett is Behrakis Professor in Hellenic Political Studies at Boston College and has authored numerous studies on the history of political thought, including recent editions of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (with Susan Collins) and the Art of Rhetoric.

Reviews

[John Bloxham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a work about the relationship between the ideas of Socrates and those of Protagoras, written as an exegesis of the whole of Plato’s Protagoras and that part of his Theaetetus which deals with Protagoras (142a to 183c7). Bartlett provides loose commentaries on both dialogues, focusing on themes, dramatic framing and untangling the narratives through the careful examination of seemingly small details. He reads the dialogues in the manner of Leo Strauss (1899-1973) and he shares the strengths and some of the weaknesses of that approach. The author is very good at bringing the reader’s attention to subtle contradictions informed by close attention to the dialogues’ framing discussions. Whether or not one fully agrees with Bartlett, his highly sceptical, questioning approach often leads to novel insights and fresh perspectives. This book would also make an excellent text for undergraduates, both for its provocative commentary on the dialogues and as a lucid, readable example of the Straussian approach. For the full write up, see the Bryn Mawr Classical Review at: http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2017/2017-07...

[Will Spohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear and insightful analysis of the two dialogues. Perhaps if I had read them recently, I would have understood more, but worth the read all the same.