sophimoret

An obsolete spelling of sophosophish (sof'ish), a. Characteristic of a soph. sophism (sof'izm), n. [ sophism a, a sophism, pecially applied to certain ancient tricks of reasoning, which before the systematization of logic and grammar had a real value, and were treated as important secrets. For the various kinds of sophism, see fallacy. This day ne herde I of your tonge a word, I trowe ye studie aboute som sophy me . Chaucer, Prol. to Clerk's Tale, 1. 5. Some other reasons there are which seem to have for the exercise of men's wits in disbeen objected solving sophisms . Hooker, Eccles. Polity, viii. 4. The litigious sophism. See litigious . =Syn. A sophism is an argument known to be unsound by him who uses it; a paralogism is an unsound argument used without knowledge of its unsoundne . Paralogism is a strictly technical word of logic; sophism is not. Sophistry applies to reasoning as sophism to a single argument. See fallacy. sophist (sof'ist), n. [In ME. sophister , q. v.; sophiste = Pr. sophist a = Sp. sofista = Pg. sophist a , sofista = It. sofista = D. sofist = G. 80 phist = Sw. Dan. sofist , sophist a , a sophist, σοφιστής , a master of one's craft, a wise or prudent man, a teacher of arts and sciences for money, a sophist (see def. 2), σοφίζειν , make wise, instruct, in pa . be or become wise, dep. deal or argue subtly, be a sophist, σοφός , skilled, intelligent, learned, clever, wise; cf. σαφής , clear; perhaps akin to L. sapere , taste, > sapiens , wise: see sapient .] 1. One who is skilled or versed in a thing; a specialist.-2. An ancient Greek philosophic and rhetorical teacher who took pay for teaching virtue, the management of a household or the government of a state, and all that pertains to wise action or speech. Sophists taught before the development of logic and grammar, when skill in reasoning and in disputation could not be accurately distinguished, and thus they came to attach great value to quibbles, which soon brought them into contempt. Love teacheth a man to carry himself better than the sophist or preceptor. Bacon , Advancement of Learning, ii. The Sophists did not profe to teach a man his duty as distinct from his interest, or his interest as distinct from his duty, but Good Conduct conceived as duty and interest identified. H. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 94. Hence-3. A captious or fallacious reasoner; a quibbler. Dark-brow'd sophist , come not anear; All the place is holy ground; Hollow smile and frozen sneer Come not here. Tennyson, The Poet's Mind.