Quote: "Like King Oedipus, we achieve wisdom only through deception, not knowing what we do know. But without this confidence, we cannot act, cannot govern wisely." (Gorgias)
Question: How can make decisions merely based off of our own perceptions? Why do sophists think this is the main reason for our judgment? How do doubt and deception determine the decisions we make?
The Sophists likely believed perception is the basis for decisions because this is how we seemingly take in all knowledge. And since reasoning is based on knowledge, thus our reasoning is based on our perceptions. In accepting that, we have to believe that we are forced to make all decisions based off of our perceptions. Because the Sophists believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth, only probable, we can be deceived into doubting what we may think in the probable truth. In changing our beliefs or opinions, our ultimate decisions are affected and consequently changed.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that decisions based off of perceptions don’t seem like such a radical idea. Our own perceptions on reality and certain situations truly do govern our thought process. Although we do have the opportunity to gain knowledge and different perceptions from others our ultimate decisions are made with our original perceptions in mind. Doubt and deception play big roles in every day decision making. Doubt and deception have the ability to completely alter our original beliefs or perception on a certain topic or situation. I believe that deception would have the most impact on a decision compared to doubt because the art of trickery is utilized in such a way to permanently or shortly alter someone’s perception for another’s personal gain.
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