A Definition of Sophism August 2, 2006
Posted by poseidon715 in Humor, Philosophy.trackback
Wikipedia defines Sophism as follows:
Sophism (gr. sophistes meaning “wise-ist,” or one who ‘does’ wisdom, i.e. who makes a business out of wisdom; cf. sophós, “wise man”, cf. also wizard) was originally a term for the techniques taught by a highly respected group of philosophy and rhetoric teachers in ancient Greece.
Today, a sophism generally refers to a particularly confusing, illogical and/or insincere argument used by someone to make a point (for example, the “Chewbacca defense“). Sophistry refers to the practice of using such arguments, and is used as derogative for rhetoric that is designed to appeal to the listener on grounds other than the strict logical cogency of the statements being made.
The Sophists are known today only through the writings of their opponents (specifically Plato and Aristotle), which makes it difficult to formulate a complete view of the Sophists’ beliefs. However, modern research has shown that their views were much more complex than Plato’s depiction.
Also, be sure to check out the article on the Chewbacca Defense.
“Hello, I’m Chewbacca and I approve this message.”
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Does it say something for the state of our country with South Park begins making direct contributions to the Encyclopedia? Funny, but still a little scary.
No doubt! And Comedy Central becomes a change-agent for political journalism!
Of course, good parody has always had that effect through the ages; though it offers no solutions itself, it does help us to confront sensitive issues and sometimes discover cultural problems that have been taken for granted.
Very, very true. I’ve recently taken up an interest in politics, listening to our local talk radio. It’s made me realize that most of my political knowledge did formerly come from Comedy Central. And knowing that most of the American population watches more TV that I do makes me a little worried for the next election, but that’s a whole other topic all together.