Protagoras (about 490 BC or 480 ~ 420 BC or 4 10 BC) was a Greek philosopher and the main representative of the school of the wise in the 5th century BC. Protagoras was born from 490 BC to 480 BC and lived for about 70 years. Born in the city of Abdullah, he came to Athens, the center of Greek slave-owner democracy at that time, became close friends with Pericles, a democratic politician, and made a code for Tali, an Athenian colony in southern Italy. Living all his life, he was the most respected "wise man" at that time, receiving disciples to teach rhetoric and debate knowledge.
Chinese name: protagoras.
Protagoras Mbth
Nationality: Greece
Place of birth: Abdullah City
Date of birth: about 490 or 480 BC
Date of death: 420 BC or 4 10.
Occupation: philosopher
Main achievements: put forward the famous proposition that "man is the measure of all things"
Masterpiece: On God
Main anecdote: protagoras's paradox, also known as half-fee litigation.
character introduction
Protagoras (about 490 BC or 480 ~ 420 BC or 4 10 BC).
Greek philosopher in the 5th century BC, the main representative of the school of the wise.
Protagoras was born from 490 BC to 480 BC and lived for about 70 years. Born in the city of Abdullah, he came to Athens, the center of Greek slave-owner democracy at that time, became close friends with Pericles, a democratic politician, and made a code for Tali, an Athenian colony in southern Italy. Living all his life, he was the most respected "wise man" at that time, receiving disciples to teach rhetoric and debate knowledge. It is said that in his later years, he was accused of "disrespect for the gods" and his book about the gods was burned. I was expelled from Athens and died on my way across the sea to Sicily. All the works were lost except some fragments. His thoughts can only be seen in Plato's dialogue.
Philosophical thinking
Protagoras accepted Heraclitus' thought about the change of everything, and thought that the feeling phenomenon of change was real, and everything was constantly moving and changing. But he turned from this simple sentimentalism to relativism and skepticism. Asserting that everyone's feelings are reliable, people make different judgments about everything according to their own feelings, and there is no difference between true and false. So he put forward a famous proposition: "Man is the yardstick of all things", thinking that the existence of things is relative to people's feelings, and things are people's feelings. From this, it is concluded that "knowledge is feeling" and that knowledge can be acquired through feeling. According to this view, he questioned the traditional religious theology: "As for gods, I don't know whether they exist or what they look like." .
Protagoras regards feeling as the standard of truth, which contains subjective idealism. But his original intention is not to deny the objective existence of things, which is different from the typical subjective idealism later. He saw the opposition and difference of different people's feelings, touched on the relationship between subjective and objective, and showed the depth of human understanding. His emphasis on man's position in reality is enlightening to break the traditional theological concept at that time. He regards man as an important philosophical research object, which is an important symbol of the transition from the ancient Greek natural philosophy period to the later period.
Ethical thought
Protagoras's ethical thought also has the characteristics of relativism. His famous proposition "Man is the measure of all things" emphasizes the role and value of man and shows the tendency of individualism, which later became a humanitarian proposition. Protagoras believes that people acquire knowledge through their own feelings, and also regard perceptual desire and the pursuit of their own interests as moral standards. So morality varies from person to person. He believes that morality is not mysterious, just like skills, it is the expression of people's wisdom in private and public affairs, which can mediate family relations and help people better participate in the affairs of the city-state. He pointed out that justice, wisdom and temperance are essential qualities of human beings, and respect and justice should be principles among people. He opposed Socrates' theory of innate morality and advocated that "virtue can be taught", and tried to prove that virtue cannot be born or spontaneously produced, but is a character that can be taught and acquired through painstaking cultivation.
Protagoras's ethical thought strongly supported the democratic politics in Athens at that time, which had certain progressive significance and had an important influence on the development of western ethical thought. Relativism, individualism and liberalism contained in it were also inherited and developed by later thinkers. The school of wise men leads to two opposite development directions, some of which are devoted to moral argumentation for slave nobles, and some draw the conclusion that slavery is unjust.
Works and famous words
It is said that he wrote a lot, but he failed to save it. In fact, his main ideas were recorded through some dialogues of Plato later. "Man is the measure of all things", "As for gods, I can't know whether they exist or not, because there are many obstacles that prevent us from acquiring this knowledge. One is that this question is ambiguous, and the other is that life is too short. " Wait a minute. It is his representative classic language.
anecdote
There is a story about protagoras, which is undoubtedly fabricated, but it can illustrate the relationship between the wise man and the court in people's minds. It is said that protagoras once taught a young man who would not pay his tuition unless he won the first lawsuit. The young man's first lawsuit was that protagoras sued him and asked him to pay the tuition.
He visited Athens twice, and the second visit will be no later than 432 BC. In 444-3 BC, he compiled the code of Tully. There is a legend that he was accused of ungodly, but it doesn't seem to be reliable. Although he wrote a book about gods, he said at the beginning: "As for gods, I am not sure whether they exist or not, and I dare not say what they look like; Because there are many things that hinder our exact understanding, such as the obscurity of the problem and the shortness of life. " During his second visit to Athens, Plato made an ironic description in protagoras, and seriously discussed his theory in Theades. His fame is mainly due to his theory that "man is the yardstick of all things, the yardstick of existing things and the yardstick of non-existent things". This theory is understood that everyone is the measure of everything, so when people disagree, there is no objective truth to say which is right and which is wrong. This theory is skeptical in nature, and it is based on the "deception" of feeling.
Another story is that he had to sign a contract with his disciple when he accepted the lawsuit. Students pay half the tuition fee when they enter school, and the other half when they win the case for the first time after graduation.
Student Otis (who said he loved Vattel) refused to take legal action for others after finishing his studies, and of course he didn't pay the other half of the tuition. Protagoras decided to sue him. In court, the teacher is determined to win: if you win the case, you have to pay the tuition according to the contract; If you lose the lawsuit, you must pay my tuition according to the court's decision. In short, whether you win or lose, you have to pay the other half of my tuition.
Otis replied tit for tat: Teacher, you are wrong. No matter what the outcome of this lawsuit is, I don't have to pay tuition. If I win the case, according to the court decision, I don't have to pay tuition; If I lose, according to the contract, I won the case in court for the first time, so I don't have to pay the tuition.
Both sides proceed from the premise that there is no doubt about the authenticity, but they come to two completely opposite conclusions, which makes it difficult for the judge to make a judgment. This is the famous "protagoras Paradox" in history, also known as "half-fee litigation". This story shows that paradox, as a special form of thinking, is closely related to sophistry. Paradox can not only provide some useful enlightenment for the development of human thinking and the formation of scientific theory, but also provide some theorists with tools for sophistry.
Main idea
The central content of protagoras (48 BC1~ 4 BC1), the main representative of the school of the wise, is: "Man is the scale of all things, the scale of the existence of things, and the scale of the non-existence of things." The existence of all things, the shape and nature of things, all depend on people's feelings. A gust of wind blows, some people feel cold, others feel cold. Whether you are comfortable or not depends entirely on your personal feelings. The proposition that "man is the measure of all things" suddenly puts man at the center of the world and society. This is the first awakening of human self-consciousness under the rule of primitive religion and nature. We have reason to regard the movement of the wise as the source of western humanistic spirit and protagoras as the pioneer of the first ideological emancipation movement in the west.