Sophism - The philosophy of the sophists

Definition: Sophism was a philosophy that started around the fifth century B.C. and was made famous by Plato, Aristotle, and Aristophanes. Sophists were looked down upon, by these three, as teaching anything for a price. Their teaching was practical instead of ethical and they emphasized rhetoric rather than virtue. In The Clouds, Aristophanes mocks the sophistry of Socrates, who is elsewhere not critiqued as a sophist. Sophism was thought capable of perverting the truth because the sophists taught students to argue any side of an issue. Despite the detractors, for a short time, sophism was well paid and regarded, and sophists held certain civic privileges.