Lycophron (sophist)

Lycophron ( ancient Greek Λυκόφρων Lykophron ) a Greek ancient philosopher of the first half of the fourth century BC was within the history of philosophy, he is one of the sophists. He held at least temporarily, in Syracuse.

Lycophron writings are lost. Reported are only short sections to Lycophron views on the role of law for use of the word "is" in statements to the definition of knowledge as well as his view that innate nobility was something trivial.

Life

About Lycophron life little is known. Aristotle seems to imply that he was a pupil of the famous sophist Gorgias. From a point in Plato is also concluded that he, like other philosophers wrong at the court of Dionysius II in Syracuse.

Teaching

The law ( nomos ) is by Lycophron no means to make the citizen to righteous people. Its function is rather to be a mutual legal guarantee to mutually guarantee citizens their right. Aristotle, who has this view Lycophron narrated Lykophron moved into the vicinity of the opinion that the law was a social contract ( synthḗkē ).

According to Aristotle Lykophron has advocated in declarative sentences the copula "is" ( ESTI) omit. Man has this place so interpreted that Lycophron was of the view the subject of the statement would. Due to the assignment of a non-identical predicate of a unit to a multiplicity According Themistocles Lykophron has asked to use the term only for existential statements such as " Socrates is ". Instead of declarative sentences like " Socrates is pale " but should say " Socrates pale ".

Since Aristotle, a statement is narrated in the Lykophron knowledge as a compound ( synousian ) of knowledge ( epistasthai ) and soul ( psyches ) determines has been closed to employment Lycophron with the definition of knowledge. This is also due because even Gorgias had tried in his lost font Glossary of terms to demarcate terms of each other.

In a fragment of the view Lycophron has received, that nobility of birth is totally inconsequential something and in reality there is no difference between noble and non- noble -born.

Tradition

Main source of Lycophron views are several brief details in various writings of Aristotle. More can be found for example in Plato, Johannes Stobaeus, Themistius and Damascius.

Reception

Aristotle calls in his rhetoric Lycophron, Gorgias and Alcidamas as representatives of a turgid and colloquial style.

Karl Popper, the Lykophron against Plato and Aristotle, using it as a representative of his own liberal views, denies, the immorality of the concern of the weaker ones. On the other hand, he sees the strength of Lycophron formulation is that this social contract not historically derived, as such derivations failed regularly. For Popper is Lycophron political theory " the most appropriate expression of the humanitarian and egalitarian movement of the Periclean age. "