Protagoras and Logos: A Study in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION A new full-length study of Protagoras and his contribution to early Greek thought is long overdue. Although there is a sizable amount of excellent scholarship concerning Protagoras, much of it tends to be hobbled by one or more problems. Many studies begin with such hostile assumptions about the Sophists that a reasonably productive picture of Protagoras is impossible. Too many studies have relied exclusively on Plato for their understanding of Protagoras, thereby privileging Plato's dramatic interpretations over the Sophist's surviving fragments. Studies that attempt to examine Protagoras' own words, his ipsissima verba, have typically focused only on one or another of his surviving fragments and hence have missed the larger picture. Few studies of Protagoras have taken seriously the fact that Greece in the fifth century BCE was in transition from a predominantly oral to a predominantly literate culture. As a result, many translations and interpretations of Protagoras' fragments have missed the influence of changing syntax and word usage. The purpose of this book is to defend a reconstruction of Protagoras' contributions to ancient Greek philosophy and rhetoric that is more complete than is currently available. In order to accomplish that purpose it is necessary to construct a picture of Protagoras' world view based on all of his significant fragments, using the assumption that Protagoras and his fellow Older Sophists were serious and important thinkers. It is my hope that what follows will encourage resistance to the Platonic tradition of treating the Sophists of the fifth century BCE as rarely-if evercapable of philosophically important ideas or of a morally acceptable rhetoric, and will stimulate future full-length studies of the Older Sophists . It is through such efforts that these interesting figures of the Greek enlightenment can be more fully appreciated for the depth and breadth of their contributions to the history of philosophy and rhetoric. Xll ...