What is the school of the wise? What's the point?

"Wise man" originally refers to a person with intelligence and a certain skill specialty. It was not until the 5th century BC to the 4th century BC that it was used to refer to professional teachers who gave lectures, taught rhetoric, argumentative essays and political knowledge. Many outstanding philosophers have emerged in this group, so they are called "wise men". The school of the wise (sophists) is a collective name for a group of vocational teachers in Greece from the 5th to 4th century BC. They traveled around Greece with Athens as the center, trained young people in rhetoric, debate and speech, and taught them the skills of participating in politics, governing the country and handling public affairs. Before the 5th century BC, a wise man generally refers to a person who is smart and has certain knowledge and skills. For example, when Homer mentions sculptors, shipbuilders and chariot drivers, they are all called "wise men". Later, natural scientists, poets, musicians and even politicians were also called "wise men". The famous Greek "seven wise men" means "seven wise men" in Greek. By the fifth century BC, especially in the era of Plato and Aristotle, "wise man" had the above meaning, but it mostly refers to professional teachers who teach young people with wages. Plato and Aristotle regard the wise as people who distort the truth and play with specious wisdom because of their eloquence and sophistry. Therefore, the wise man has become synonymous with sophists in history. People and Works The earliest and most important representatives of wise men are protagoras and gorgias, whose thoughts laid the foundation of the theory of wise men. Other representatives are Prodico, Hipia, Antiphon, Trasimaku and Chrittia. Due to the loss of historical materials, people know little about his life story and writings. The important representative works of the wise include protagoras's Truth or Destructive Speech, Great Words, On God and gorgias's On Non-existence or Nature. , but only the fragments are kept. The study of the wise is mainly based on the records and reports of the activities and judgments of the wise in the relevant works of Plato, Aristotle, Sextus empiricism and others. Philosophers have no unified organization and different political attitudes. They are not an independent faction, but their ideas and basic tendencies are relatively consistent in theory, so some people call them "wise men". The basic philosophical thoughts of the wise can be summarized as the following aspects: the cognitive theories of sensualism, relativism and skepticism. They accepted Heraclitus' thought of changing everything, affirmed the authenticity of changing sensory phenomena, and opposed the Elijah school's view of denying the role of perceptual knowledge. But they turned to relativism and skepticism, thinking that knowledge is feeling and asserting that everyone's feelings are true. The same thing, if you feel cold, you feel cold, and I feel neither cold nor cold. It doesn't matter whether it's true or not. Protagoras's famous proposition "Man is the measure of all things" is a typical expression of this thought. Protagoras, the ideological factor of simple dialectics, developed empedocles's thought that perceptual things are a mixture of opposites, and further proposed that every problem has opposing aspects. Through three arguments about "non-existence", gorgias refuted the metaphysical view that Elijah School denied non-existence, revealed the difference between thinking and existence, and touched the connection and transformation between existence and non-existence. Conventionalist view of social history. They believe that the political and legal system and moral norms are neither natural nor created by God's will. They are formed in the long-term life of human beings, and they are the established products formed by people in order to avoid being destroyed in cannibalism. Protagoras proposed that the polis originated from the "self-protection" of people, that justice and virtue should belong to all people, and that law and morality can only exist when they are beneficial to people. This is the truth. Hippia believes that law does not exist naturally, but is artificially created by tyrants, and the compulsion of law violates human nature. In Trasimaku's view, the justice of law is the embodiment of the interests of the strong. All these reflected the desire of Democrats at that time to break old traditions and old ideas. In order to oppose the bondage of traditional ideas and religious myths, they tried to belittle the authority of God and deny the traditional image of God. Protagoras thinks that God is an agnostic. People invented language on their own, made houses, clothes, shoes and beds, and got health care from the soil. Prodico denied that God's attributes were immortal. In his view, God is only imagined by people for their own interests. People name these things God because they see that the sun, the moon and rivers are good for them. According to Chretien, God is indifferent to man's fate. In this way, human dignity and authority can be established, and the emergence of the wise school has become the origin of humanistic spirit. & lt/SPAN>。 & lt/p & gt； Historical position, the wise man's ideas are flawed and different. They advocate relativism and skepticism, believe that things and truth and falsehood are transferred by personal feelings, and describe personal wishes and demands as the decisive force to produce social, political, legal systems and moral norms. They are keen on the superficial persuasiveness of language and logic, which is the dross of wise men's thoughts and is bound to fall into subjective idealism in their understanding. The late wise man developed this idea and became a sophist by playing with concepts and words. Later, these thoughts had a negative impact in history and became the source of skepticism. From the middle of 4th century BC to the beginning of 3rd century BC, the Greek philosopher Pyrrho tried his best to exaggerate the relativism of wise men and went to extreme skepticism. However, the thoughts of wise men also contain positive contents, which occupy an important position in the history of philosophy. It declared the end of ancient Greek natural philosophy centered on the formation of the universe and opened the way for the transformation of natural philosophy to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Since then, not only natural phenomena, but also social and life problems have become the theme of ancient Greek philosophy. It explores the relationship between subject and object, affirms the dynamic role of cognitive subject, and reveals the difference between thinking and existence, all of which mark the deepening of philosophical research; It breaks through the shackles of traditional religious myths, denies God's intervention in political and legal systems, moral customs and other phenomena of human social life, and emphasizes the creative role of human beings in the face of natural forces and social life, which has obvious anti-theological significance; His traditionalism thought is the theoretical basis of slave owner democracy. It not only inspired ancient Epicurus (see Epicurus and Epicurus) and Lucretius, but also had a far-reaching influence on the social contract theory of modern western bourgeoisie. The positive significance and progressive function of the wise man's thought have long been denied. Plato and Aristotle correctly criticized the wise men for exaggerating their personal feelings, but refused to affirm their contributions. Later, many thinkers followed this prejudice and asserted that wise men are not philosophers, but a group of sophists and charlatans. This situation lasted until18th century. Hegel first broke through this stereotype, reintroduced the wise into the history of philosophy and affirmed its positive side. Then, the British historian grotte (1794 ~ 187 1) discussed the enlightenment of wise men to Greek culture in his History of Greece. Since then, the important position of the wise in history has been concerned by researchers. & lt/SPAN>。 & lt/p & gt； Man is the scale background of everything. 1) natural environment: less arable land and long coastline. The climate is mild. This land is barren. 2) Greek life: simple life with little labor. Discuss public affairs. Solon's revolution forgave farmers' debts and restored a person's dignity as a free man. 3) City-state: A number of city-states form a non-unified country. The city-state economy is mainly based on planting cash crops, and commerce has emerged. City-state politics separates the aristocratic class from the civilian class. Religion is not oppressed, but full of people's respect and confidence in themselves. The new idea of rational knowledge (1) abandons supernatural explanation and appeals to natural explanation. 2) Appeal to argumentation and abandon "arbitrary claims". 3) Seeking knowledge for the sake of seeking knowledge is never dominated by any factors other than truth. Social background and the role of slave-owner democracy 1) Democratic political life created a demand for social science: ancient Greece was in the heyday of Pericles's administration. They have experienced wars, come into contact with all kinds of whole, and are keen to discuss all kinds of issues, involving democratic politics, freedom of thought, feminism and so on. The first one is based on Ionian natural philosophy (using natural categories and perceptual materials to explain nature and explore changes and eternal problems). It is they who make the life of "loving wisdom" one of the models of practice and inherit Homer's view of natural justice. The old knowledge system of simple realism can no longer satisfy the rationality of human beings, and the accumulated experience of contemporary social and cultural life can no longer be placed in the framework of the old theory and philosophy system, so the wise came into being. At that time, Pericles practiced a direct democracy in which it took turns to govern. All freemen with civil rights can draw lots to decide on public office. Slaves don't count; They work hard, and freemen seldom work. ) The skill of argument is very important. "Knowledge" has become a tool in life. Sophistication has replaced truth. The original philosophical life has become an instrumental life. Science has embarked on the road of anthropology. 2) Democracy encourages and protects the right of free expression of free radicals. What kind of issues can be openly and freely decided and discussed. Democratic politics cultivated Athenians' keen critical spirit and enlightened rational temperament. An important part of city-state life is that freemen gather in public places to discuss public affairs. 3) The practice of democratic politics determines the content, method and direction of social thought. The most basic ideas in ancient Greece were all produced in social practice. There is a fixed ideological class theory to explain them systematically. The concept of "freedom" did not come into being in "free debate". The three levels of social analysis of the wise school 1) draw a field of social order: is the law eternal or universally effective? (Humanism) Law is not the will of God or monarch, nor is it eternal. Law is the product of citizens' participation in state affairs under direct democracy. The rise and fall of law and the success or failure of litigation often depend on the skills of impressing the masses in debates and speeches, which strengthens the impression of artificiality and subjectivity of law. Social order and cosmic order are separated. 2) According to their own interests, people establish the concept of social order and justice through power or mutual agreement: independent individuals are equal as the main body of creating social order. Protagoras's famous saying "Man is the measure of all things" clarifies a view that man is an independent individual. As an actor, but also an actor who constantly produces action strategies. Discovered and affirmed the importance of independent individuals, and then affirmed the right of individuals to participate in state affairs. Everyone can decide his self-righteous principles of right and wrong, good and evil according to his own beliefs and desires. All principles are subjective and relative, and only meaningful to the people concerned. Relativism went to extremes and gave up the pursuit of universal principles. In this way, the wise school thinks that: a) people create governments and make laws according to their own interests. B) Law and justice are just agreed customs. In order to avoid hurting each other, people agree not to hurt others, which is the foundation of the government. The essence and origin of justice lies in people's practice of previous agreements. (the earliest social contract) c) Personal interests are the only motivation to obey the law, and the conditions for obeying the law are limited to the fact that the law conforms to personal interests. 3) Draw a field of natural law that is higher than artificial law: If personal interests conflict with legal interests, what choice should be made? What is the relationship between individual actions and social order? How is the validity of the law possible? How is social solidarity possible? A) Put forward the concept of natural law: laws superior to man-made ones are effective for anyone in the era of nation-state, which is the natural requirement of human nature. Its characteristics are: first, originality, artificial law is only a derivative. Two. Universal and inevitable validity, artificial law has only historical value. Three. There is no shortage, which has the normative or standard significance of value estimation, and the artificial law is insufficient, so the comprehensive legal system should be criticized according to natural law. B) What is nature and how is social solidarity possible? 1. protet Gora: People share the same feelings and the same reason, but it conflicts with his position on atomism. Two. The younger generation of wise men: nature is human nature and impulsive quality. Divided into two factions: criticizing reality and demanding that human beings be equal regardless of their status. The existing order is unreasonable. Solipsism and moral nihilism. The strong should not be bound by artificial laws. The law wants to make everyone equal, but it can't. The Pythagorean school and its community (1) hold that "everything is a number". Everything remains the same, in line with the law of numbers. We can know everything in the world through numbers. The perceptual material, which was originally the origin of all things, was abstracted. Rational philosophy. 2) Pythagoras community leads a mysterious religious life. They worship the world order embodied in mathematics. 3) The Pythagorean community is not what the ancient Greeks once saw. Participants in ancient Greek political life were all individual and free citizens, while Pythagoras society emphasized "organized" life. It forms another tradition of western political life, which is different from the city-state. Political life can be carried out through the establishment of associations, which provides a way of political participation different from individual participation. Socrates appeared 1) Man is still a slave to natural inevitability, not a subject. All kinds of "opinions" based on oneself are just prejudices, not the public's objective understanding of the nature of things. 2) Only through independent thinking can things become clear. It is knowledge that liberates us from our personal views and becomes the subject that can truly judge independently. The essence of human beings, that is, subjectivity, lies in rationality rather than sensibility. 3) Knowledge makes us happy or happy. It not only has cognitive and technical functions, but also has moral and social significance. Virtue is the knowledge of goodness. Only when citizens have learned something can they do their part and contribute to society. Therefore, moral education is needed. Raise knowledge to the social level and morality to the knowledge level. 4) Because knowledge is the most reliable and the management of the government should be done by intellectuals, he opposes democracy.