Thus in these first four [phrase omitted] Aristotle induces doubt about his (and his reader's) ambitious project, following which doubt he steadily descends, as we will see, from Platonism to
Protagorean relativism and subsequently into metaphysical despair.
Although they cannot be affirmed as
protagorean texts, they are considered later receptions of doctrines of this sophist and, therefore, as allusions to his thought.
These are but two ways in which our contemporary way of thinking is "
Protagorean."
Previously accepted answers to basic questions in these areas have been rejected, as seen in the quote by Nietzsche: "Our contemporary way of thinking is to a great extent Heraclitean, Democritean, and
Protagorean: it suffices to say
Protagorean, because Protagoras represented a synthesis of Heraclitus and Democritus." (4) This rejection has led to widespread skepticism, an accepted naturalism, and ethical relativism with implications for legal pragmatism in our day.
(62) Ornegin bkz., Friedrich Kratochwil, "The
Protagorean Quest: Community, Justice, and the 'Oughts' and 'Musts' of International Politics", International Journal, Cilt 43, No.2, 1988, s.205-240; Jutta Weldes, "Constructing National Interests", European Journal of International Relations, Cilt 2, No.3, s.275-318; Jens Bartelson, A Genealogy of Sovereignty, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Whilst the motivation for Socrates' digression has its roots in the discussion on the expanded form of the
Protagorean Measure Doctrine (hereafter called [EPD]) between 166a-171c,1 I contend that the digression does not directly address [EPD]; rather, I argue that the immediate motivation for the digression occurs during the 'New Formulation' (2) between 171d-172b.
Isocrates incorporated
Protagorean dissoi logoi into synerchesthe, a broader concept that he used flexibly to express interlocking senses of:
In this respect, Arendt concludes, Kant falls back into a problem that Plato had diagnosed in the famous
Protagorean saying that "man is the measure of all use things (chremata)." He saw that "if man is the measure of all things, then man is the only thing outside the means-end relationship, the only end in himself who can use everything else as a means"; and this is why he replied--though Arendt will not join him in this response--that "not man ...
In this way, the thesis that Thrasymachus' position logically implies
Protagorean relativism comes to be decisive, although on separate grounds it is not wholly convincing.
But this is not relativism of the
Protagorean sort according to which 'Each individual is the measure of all things'.
This was of course more
Protagorean than Socratic in the sense that Socrates would have expected Question-Answer-Question.
Christopher Herbert finds it ironic that Mansel should base his critique of "the philosophy of absolutes" squarely on
Protagorean principles of relativity.