The word "sophist" has a number of conflicting, epoch-dependent definitions. It can, for example, identify a pre-Socratic philosopher in an entirely neutral way. Or again it can, as it does in Plato's eponymous dialogue, describe a rogue philosopher.
"Sophistry" and its analogues in the other major European languages--'sofista' in Italian, 'sophiste' in French, 'Sophismus' or ''Scheinbeweis' in German--are not ambiguous in this way. A sophistry is an appealing, plausible, often intricate argument that is, finally, fallacious. It typically makes use of analogies that are at best imperfect, but not obviously so. (Interestingly, a 'vino sofisticato' is in Italian a wine that has been adulterated, deprived of its native simplicity, not a refined one that appeals [only] to sophisticated tastes.) Its applicability as a description of this SMP/E usage is thus not at all obvious to me. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
