Protagoras of Abdera: The Man, His Measure ed. by Johannes M. van Ophuijsen, Marlein van Raalte, and Peter Stork (review)

Most of our information about Protagoras is due either directly or indirectly to Plato, who features him in an eponymous dialogue and discusses his “man is the measure” doctrine at length in the Theaetetus. Although W. K. C. Guthrie (The Sophists [Cambridge, 1971], 266) said, “I shall prefer to make use of [Plato’s evidence on Protagoras] . . . rather than assume, as we should have to do if Plato’s testimony is rejected, that we know very little indeed about this stimulating and influential figure,” those interested in what the historical Protagoras actually believed will be dissatisfied with Guthrie’s optimistic preference. For even though he treats Protagoras with respect, Plato is not a neutral witness and his philosophical (as opposed to historical) interest, particularly in the Theaetetus, in exploring philosophical theses may well have led him to read into Protagoras’ statement a position different from what Protagoras himself intended.

Nevertheless, Protagorean relativism, whatever its relation to the historical Protagoras, has remained a subject of fascination and rightly occupies an important place in this collection of papers on Protagoras, even though none of the authors operates on the assumption that the interpretation of the “man is the measure” doctrine assigned to Protagoras there was in fact his (A. Macé, “Privatising Perception: Plato’s Protagoreanism [Theaetetus 154b-157c]”; J. van Eck, “Perceptual Relativism and Change in the Secret Doctrine in Plato’s Theaetetus 152-160”; U. Zilioli, “Protagoras through Plato and Aristotle: A Case for the Philosophical Significance of Ancient Relativism”). However, the majority of the papers cover a wide range of other issues: a survey of how Protagoras was viewed by ancient authors and a review of ancient interpretations of the “man is the measure” thesis (N. Notomi, “A Protagonist of the Sophistic Movement? Protagoras in Historiography”); a careful analysis of the literal meaning of “man is the measure,” focusing on its unusual use of “measure” (metron) (T. van Berkel, “Made to Measure: Protagoras’ metron”); a treatment of the meaning of “making the weaker argument stronger” in the context of Protagoras’ rhetoric and educational program (M. Corradi, “Τὸν ἥττω λόγον κρείττω ποιεν: Aristotle, Plato and the ἐπάγγελμα of Protagoras”); the role of orthoepeia in his teaching (A. Rademaker, “The Most Correct Account: Protagoras on Language”); a discussion of medical analogies in Protagoras and Theaetetus in the light of Hippocratic texts, pointing to the sophist’s role in improving people’s souls and thus making them effective citizens (P. Demont, “L’efficacité en politique selon le Protagoras de Platon”); a discussion of the Protagoras myth of the origins of animal life and human society, which holds that the myth (as well as the subsequent logos) is based on Protagoras’ own views, and that according to the myth morality is not the product of a social contract, but is a part of human nature which enables us to survive (A. Beresford, “Fangs, Feathers & Fairness: Protagoras on the Origins of Right and Wrong”); another discussion of the Protagoras myth that argues that the myth originated with Protagoras and was intended as an epideixis, an advertising speech that demonstrates the importance of sophists for the city (B. Manuwald, “Protagoras’ Myth in Plato’s Protagoras: Fiction or Testimony?”); and a philosophical reconstruction of the virtue euboulia, “good judgment,” which Protagoras identified as the central point of his teaching (P. Woodruff, “Euboulia as the Skill Protagoras Taught”).

Particularly useful is the 46-page bibliography on Protagoras and related topics (in addition to the bibliographies for the papers contained in this volume). The result is a carefully edited and nicely produced volume written by a strong team of scholars that brings us up to date on Protagorean scholarship—an important contribution which should be a reference point for future work on Protagoras and the Sophists.