Protagoras was a Greek philosopher, thinker and teacher.

He is considered as the most famous of

Greek Sophists. In fact, he is attributed for inventing the role of a professional Sophist. He is the one
who introduced the contemporary dialogue on morality and politics to Athens and taught on subjects
like, how human beings ought to manage their personal affairs and manage their household in the
most efficient way, how to run the social affairs and most importantly, how to contribute to the society
in general through ones words and actions. In his role as a Sophist, which he continued for over 40
years, he continually raised the questions whether or not virtue is something that can be taught. He
also professed relativism, which meant that truth is an individual based concept as what is true for one
person can be false for another, depending on their varied perceptions. He was also a propagator of
agnosticism and got into trouble with the Athenians as he claimed his skeptic thoughts over the
existence of God in his book On the Gods.
Childhood & Early Life
Protagoras was born in Abdera, Thrace, in Ancient Greece. It is said that he was a porter and
earned his living through shifting objects for others. He was once seen by philosopher Democritus
while he was carrying some load.
Democritus was amazed at the defined technicality with which Protagoras had tied the load
together. His faultless geometric precision bound Democritus to recognize him as a mathematics
genius. He took him under his wings and introduced him to philosophy.
Life & Philosophy
Protagoras became a teacher and used to teach and profess the ideals related to politics and
virtue. He was occupied with the matter of whether virtue can be taught or not throughout this
philosophical career.
He was not like the other educators of his times, (who were involved with definite teaching in
public speaking and oratory); rather he was more interested in teaching his students to reason the
various phenomena one faces in human life.
Protagoras taught how human beings ought to manage their personal affairs and household in
the most efficient way, how to run the social affairs and most importantly, how to contribute to the
society in general through ones words and actions.
Protagoras was interested in the matter of orthoepeia, which means that he believed in the
most accurate use of words and grammar. It is also said that he invented taxonomy of speech acts
like assertion, question, answer, command, etc.
He wrote The Technique of Eristics - the book suggests that he was a teacher of public
speaking and debate. It is also said that he was the first philosopher to take part in the oratory
contests in the Olympic Games.
His famous work Truth, establishes him as a philosopher of relativism. He said in the book--
"Man is the measure of all things, of the things that are that they are, of the things that are not that
they are not."
His philosophy of relativism meant that truth is relative and depends on the individual who
perceives it as every individual has a different perception and criteria of identifying with the situation.
His theories tend to contradict the objective truth.
Plato credits relativism to Protagoras and used his teachings as testing material for his own
dedication to objective and transcendent realities and values. He attributes him to phenomenalism,
where truth differs for each individual.
Protagoras was a promoter of skepticism. In On the Gods, a work now lost, he wrote that he
was skeptic about existence of god. This caused anger among Athenians and he was exiled; all the
copies of his work were destroyed.
 Some of Protagoras works that was preserved through the centuries are: Antilogiae, Truth,
On the Gods, Art of Eristics, Imperative, On Ambition, On Incorrect Human Actions, on Virtues,
On the Original State of Things and Trial over a Fee, etc.
Major Works
The most prominent work from Protagoras, the work that Socrates extensively used in his
later studies and philosophies, is his philosophy of relativism, in which he revealed that truth is
relative and depends on how each individual perceives it.
Personal Life & Legacy
Protagoras is said to have died at the age of 70 and it is assumed that his death occurred
circa 420.
Trivia
Protagoras practiced as a Sophist for 40 years.
He was famous in Athens and was a friend of Pericles.

Protagoras(ca.490420BC)wasapreSocraticGreekphilosopherandis
numberedasoneofthesophistsbyPlato.InhisdialogueProtagoras,Plato
creditshimwithhavinginventedtheroleoftheprofessionalsophistorteacher
ofvirtue.
ProtagoraswasborninAbdera,Thrace,inAncientGreece."InPlato's
Protagoras,beforethecompanyofSocrates,Prodicus,andHippias,hestates
thatheisoldenoughtobethefatherofanyofthem.Thissuggestsadateofnot
laterthan490B.C."
IntheMeno(91e)heissaidtohavediedatabouttheageofseventyafterforty
yearsasapracticingSophist.Hisdeath,then,maybeassumedtohaveoccurred
circa420."HewaswellknowninAthensandbecameafriendofPericles.
Plutarchrelatesastoryinwhichthetwospendawholedaydiscussingan
interestingpointoflegalresponsibility,thatprobablyinvolvedamore
philosophicalquestionofcausation."Inanathleticcontestamanhadbeen
accidentallyhitandkilledwithajavelin.Washisdeathtobeattributedtothe
javelinitself,tothemanwhothrewit,ortotheauthoritiesresponsibleforthe
conductofthegames?"
Protagoraswasalsorenownedasateacherwhoaddressedsubjectsconnected
tovirtueandpoliticallife.Hewasespeciallyinvolvedinthequestionof
whethervirtuecouldbetaught,acommonplaceissueof5thCenturyB.C.
Greece(andrelatedtomodernreadersthroughPlato'sdialogue).
Ratherthaneducatorswhoofferedspecific,practicaltraininginrhetoricand
publicspeaking,Protagorasattemptedtoformulateareasonedunderstanding,
onaverygenerallevel,ofawiderangeofhumanphenomena(forexample,
languageandeducation).Healsoseemstohavehadaninterestinorthoepeia,
orthecorrectuseofwords(atopicmorestronglyassociatedwithhisfellow
sophistProdicus).
Hismostfamoussayingis:"Manisthemeasureofallthings:ofthingswhich
are,thattheyare,andofthingswhicharenot,thattheyarenot"Likemany
fragmentsofthePresocratics,thisphrasehasbeenpasseddowntouswithout
anycontext,anditsmeaningisopentointerpretation.Platoascribesrelativism
toProtagorasanduseshispredecessor'steachingsasafoilforhisown
commitmenttoobjectiveandtranscendentrealitiesandvalues.Platoalso
ascribestoProtagorasanearlyformofphenomenology,inwhichwhatisor
appearsforasingleindividualistrueorrealforthatindividual.
Protagoraswasalsoafamousproponentofagnosticism.Inhislostwork,On
theGods,hewrote:"Concerningthegods,Ihavenomeansofknowing
whethertheyexistornotorofwhatsorttheymaybe,becauseoftheobscurity
ofthesubject,andthebrevityofhumanlife"(80B4DK).
VeryfewfragmentsfromProtagorashavesurvived,thoughheisknownto
havewrittenseveraldifferentworks:AntilogiaeandTruth.Thelatteriscited
byPlato,andwasknownalternativelyas'TheThrows'(awrestlingterm
referringtotheattempttoflooranopponent).Itbeganwiththe"manthe
measure"pronouncement.
TheProtagorascraterontheMoonwasnamedinhishonor.
Protagorasandthescientificmethod
EventhoughProtagoraswasacontemporaryofSocrates,thephilosopherof
Abderaisconsideredapresocraticthinker.HefollowedtheIoniantraditionthat
distinguishestheSchoolofAbdera.Thedistinctivenoteofthistraditionis
criticism,asystematicdiscussionthatcanbeidentifiedas"presocratic
dialectic",analternativetotheAristoteliandemonstrativemethodwhich,
accordingtoKarlPopper,hasthefaultofbeingdogmatic.Themain
contributionofProtagoraswasperhapshismethodoffindingabetterargument
bydiscardingthelessviableone.Thisisknownas"Antilogies",andconsistsof
twopremises;thefirstis"Beforeanyuncertaintytwooppositethesescan
validlybeconfronted",thesecondisitscomplement:theneedto"strengthen
theweakerargument".
Protagorasknewthatthelessappealingargumentcouldhidethebestanswer,
whichiswhyhestatedthatitwasconstantlynecessarytostrengthenthe
weakestargument.HavingbeenbornbeforeSocrateshimself,thisprogressive
viewpointinthedevelopmentofconsensualtruthcouldconceivablyhave
contributedtotheprogressivestylesofmanyoftheothergreatmindswhich
followedhim.HismostrecentdefenderisJosephMargolis,especiallyinthe
latter'sTheTruthAboutRelativism(Blackwell's,1991).
ProtagorasDialogue
ProtagorasisthetitleofoneofPlato'sdialogues.Thetitlereferstothemain
characterProtagoras,aphilosopherwhobelongedtotheSophists.Inthis
dialogue,PlatoplaceshimselfinoppositiontotheSophistsandtheirstyleof
philosophicalinquiry,whichhebelievesfavorsdisingenuouswordgamesover
substantiveandearnestthought.Theworkconsistsofadiscussionbetween
SocratesandProtagoras,mainlydealingwiththeteachabilityofarete,orvirtue.
Protagorasarguesthatsocietyiscapableofinstillingasenseofjusticeinthe
individual.Thisisachievedthroughinstruction(asinschools)orpunishment
(asinprisons).Hefurtherarguesthatifanindividualisawareofwhatisgood
andwhatisbad,theywillnevercommitevil.
Platotriestoshowthatthisisanoverlysimplisticnotion,firstby
demonstratingthedifficultlyofdefiningareteandisolatingitfromsimilar,but
notidenticalnotionssuchas"courage"or"wisdom",andsecondlybygetting
Protagorastoadmitthatpeoplesometimeswillinglycommitbadorevilacts
eveniftheyareawarethattheyarewrong.Healsoadvancesanideasimilarto
JeremyBentham'sPrincipleofUtility,arguingthattruewisdomistheabilityto
accuratelydeterminewhichactionswillproducethegreatestpleasureandthe
leastpainandtoactaccordingly.Platoconcludesthatpeoplecommitevilacts
becausetheylackthewisdomtoassesstheirimpactaccurately.Ultimately,
PlatoandProtagorasagreethatareteisaformofknowledgeorwisdomwhich
isthereforecapableofbeingtaught,althoughtheyareinsubstantial
disagreementabouthowtogoaboutdoingso.