西方哲学史（影印第8版）

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• …they forced the Athenians to consider whether their ideas and customs were founded upon truth or simply upon conventional ways of behaving. Was the Athenian distinctions between Greeks and barbarians, as well as that between masters and slaves, based on evidence or simply on prejudice? Not only had the Sophists lived in different countries with their different customs, but they had gathered a wide fund of information based on their observation of a multitude of cultural facts. Their encyclopedic knowledge of different cultures made them skeptical about the possibility of attaining any absolute truth by which society might order its life. They forced thoughtful Athenians to consider whether Hellenic culture was based on artificial rules (nomos) or on nature (physis). They had them question... (查看原文)

  NewmanLoathesU 2013-03-26 19:32:17

• Under the leadership of Pericles (490-429 BCE), the old aristocracy of Athens had been replaced by a democracy. This, in turn, intensified political life by drawing free citizens into political discussion and making them eligible for leadership roles. But the old aristocratic educational system——based mainly on family tradition——did not prepare people for the new conditions of democratic life. There was no disciplined and theoretical training in the areas of religion, grammar, and the careful interpretation of the poets. The Sophists moved into this cultural vacuum, and their practical interest in teaching filled an urgent need. They became popular lecturers and were the chief source of new education. What made them particularly sought after was that they professed, above all, to teach the... (查看原文)

  NewmanLoathesU 2013-03-26 19:32:17

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