The first act in this tragedy was the rise of the Sophists. I’ve written previously about how Sophism took hold in Athens during the middle of the Golden Age, circa 450 B.C, and what it meant to Athenian philosophy. What began as a method to educate the sons of the wealthy grew beyond what anyone could have imagined. The Sophist’s vision was man-centric and not Polis centric – focused on the failures of the old system as proof that a change was needed. Under their influence, the educated Greek became self-confident, cosmopolitan, and a universal man, sharing nature with all other men. The laws of nature (physics) became a dominant philosophy, replacing the laws of gods and men. As Protagoras said, “man is the measure of all things.”
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