Sophism

Sophism can mean two very different things. In Ancient Greece, sophism was practiced by sophists, who were a group of teachers of rhetoric. In modern usage, a sophism is a confusing or slightly incorrect argument used for deceiving someone.

The word sophism derived from the Greek word σόφισμα ("sophisma" from σοφίζω). The similar Greek word σοφιστής ("sophistēs") means "wise-ist, one who does wisdom, one who makes a business out of wisdom," while σοφός ("sophós") means a "wise man".

The ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras (c. 490 – 420 BC) is often said to be the first of the sophists. Other sophists include Gorgias, Prodicus, Hippias, Thrasymachus, Lycophron, Callicles, Antiphon and Cratylus. Plato opposed those sophists as they abused wisdom for self-interest and refused truth or justice.

Nowadays, sophism, sophist and sophistry are derogatory words due to the influence of many philosophers in history. Sophism and Platonism were rival schools of thought. A sophism is a statement to deceive someone in a debate or conversation to make themselves look right when they are wrong. It sometimes involves difficult words and complicated sentences to coerce the audience into agreeing with them. Ad hominem is an example of sophistry. A sophist is a person engaging in sophism. Sophistry means employing sophism for deceptive reasoning.^[1]

The English Wiktionary has a dictionary definition (meanings of a word) for: sophistry