Sophists & Socrates: Physis vs. Nomos in Ancient Athens

Sophists: Common Features

The Sophists were a group of educators from 5th century BC Athens who taught young people various arts, finance, law, and linguistics for a fee. They possessed great eloquence and were masters of language. This, combined with their broad understanding of laws and societies, prevented them from forming unified schools of thought. While each Sophist had unique ideas, they shared common traits:

• Experts in education and language instruction.
• Great speakers.
• Skeptical, ranging from moderate to radical.
• Advocates of relativism due to their skepticism.
• Agnostic regarding religion.
• Believers that societies should be governed by positive laws based on human will, not unknowable natural law.

Physis and Nomos: Socrates and the Sophists

In the 5th century BC, the conceptual opposition between the natural and necessary order of Physis (Nature) and human will emerged. This is the opposition between physis and nomos.

Understanding Physis

Physis (Nature) was understood as the reality of all things, making them what they were, independent, necessary, and universal.

Understanding Nomos

Nomos refers to all laws established by a human society to develop standards and create institutions that regulate life within that society. Social norms, the nomos, were not necessarily the product of natural or divine intent but could be explained by human intention. The nomos is based on human thought and creation, responding only to human advantage. This view was advocated by the Sophists and criticized by Socrates.

The Sophist View

The Sophists opposed physis with nomos, meaning that the source and foundation of all law is reduced to customs or practices caused by mere convention, not derived from nature. They are human creations.

The Socratic Critique

Socrates concluded that all laws, social norms, moral values, political institutions, and even culture in general (nomos) are the result of human convention and not derived from nature (physis), which exists for its own purpose and not as the result of an agreement.