The Difference Between Protagoras And Socrates

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You are in an argument with your friend, would you rather be the one who is winning or the one who actually takes something away from the argument? This was the case for Protagoras and Socrates throughout the text Protagoras. Protagoras represented sophists, while Socrates represented philosophers. A sophist is a teacher of virtue, they twist what is being said to make it positive. They make others into skillful speakers. Philosophers are those who want to know what is true and want to be wise. Both had different points within the argument which is what made them different. While Protagoras wants to win the argument, Socrates wants to learn something from it, that is what exactly virtue is. There is a clear difference between philosophers and sophists, and I think it is better to be a philosophist. Protagoras is a sophist, he is a teacher of wisdom knowledge and virtue and persuades his students that what he is saying is believable. While Protagoras and Socrates get into an argument …show more content…

Socrates challenges Protagoras if virtue is really something that can be taught and he continues to argue with Protagoras because he simply wants to understand the truth about virtue. He knows that Protagoras has the reputation as being the best and he wants to know the answer. Socrates wants to know if all parts of virtue are separate and distinct or all one and the same. As the argument progresses Protagoras does not give Socrates clear answers to his questions, and the conversation is not going where Socrates wished it would. Socrates continued to ask Protagoras questions, that was until Protagoras could no longer answer the questions, he gave up and realized that in the argument he turned into the answerer. This is probably due to the fact that Socrates wanted the answers, and who else go to for those answers than

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