Protagoras · Philosophy

The Long Shadow of the Sophist

Condemned by Plato and reduced to a byword for fallacy, Protagoras was rehabilitated by modern thinkers who saw in ‘man is the measure’ a profound anticipation of pragmatism, perspectivism, and the modern critique of objective truth. His relativism became one of the central, contested ideas of modern thought.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Protagoras, long dismissed as a mere sophist by Plato’s influential polemic, was rehabilitated in modern times: the pragmatists (F. C. S. Schiller, William James) hailed ‘man is the measure’ as an anticipation of their view that truth is what works for human purposes; Nietzsche’s perspecti…

Leads to Nietzsche.

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