In Defence of the Sophists, was Re: A hostile review of A (hostile) review of Michael Perelman'slatest

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 09:35 AM 6/16/00 -0700, you wrote:
>
>> 
>> The anecdote would be better if the speakers were
>> different. In the historical
>> reality of ancient Athens it was *Socrates* who was
>> the primary spokesperson
>> for the position that wisdom was above the reach of
>> common folk -- it was
>> the Sophists whose central doctrine was that
>> ordinary folks, even artisans
>> and peasants, in fact could understand the truth. 
>
>I've always felt that the sophists were the victims of
>the first smear campaign in recorded history.  A good
>(if non-scholarly) book on the totalitarian aspect of
>Socrates' thought is I.F. Stone's "The Trial of
>Socrates".

Is not it that all we know about Socrates comes from Plato's writings?
Socrates left no writings of his own.  Since Plato was such an idealistic
and reactionary schmuck (he would certainly end up in a reeducation camp if
I had my way), it is likely that he simply attributed his own thoughts to
Socrates.

wojtek