Dear Friends,
It seems to me… there is little to no difference between the philosophies of the Greek Sophists and post modernists. The two schools of thought are nearly identical. There is more difference between Thrasymachus and Callicles, than between them and Derrida or Heidegger. Extreme cynicism and indeed nihilism sit at the cores of both post modernism and sophistry. Both are only interested in winning power for power’s sake. Neither care the least about objective truth…. only subjective wants. Which reduces everything to a political expedient. History, justice, culture, media, logic, our emotions, etc… all become mere tools to manipulate us. Making the two philosophies essentially the same. In the interests of simplifying language then, we should call post modernism… modern sophism.
The modern sophist is every bit as arrogant as the Greek sophist. Standing on a pile of other people’s inventions, and without having contributed an iota… Modern sophists believe themselves more worthy, because we have light at night, instant gratification, clean water, adequate food, automobiles and smart phones, all of which they could not have devised or could even replicate on their own. The arrogance of those who never come in contact with reality is astounding. Modern sophists survey the world as it is and believe it is because of them. They don’t know how, but it must be, since the world revolves around them. As it did ancient sophists. Justice to the ancient sophist was a tool, not a goal, or a philosophy. To modern sophists justice is a tool of oppression as Thrasymachus argued it should be.
Both deny objective for subjective justice. Our intuitive idea of “Justice” is objective justice. Where all circumstances being equal, two people would be treated equally… regardless of any attribute they might or might not have. Dogs have the same sense of justice. Subjective “justice” is not interested in the situation but the outcome. In other words, all circumstances being equal, two people would be treated two different ways, and five people would be treated five different ways. Depending on the desired outcome of the judge. One person might face the death penalty, for doing the same thing under the same circumstances as another, who would be lauded instead. Depending on their political favor. Based on skin color, religion, politics, caste, or any arbitrary attribute that suits the modern sophist’s needs.
Both modern sophists and Greek sophists only care about power. Listen to Thrasymachus in Plato’s Republic, and you hear the post modernist message, that the end of all interactions is power over the other. Modern sophists openly admit everything is about power. They claim that science and mathematics are racist, because they further the white supremacist patriarchal hegemonic power structure. They don’t argue this, then fear to get on a plane, because they only believe it as far as it gains them leverage over you and I. They buy mansions on Nantucket Island, a few inches above high tide, not because they fear global warming and rising sea levels, anthropogenic climate change is only a means to more power. We know this, because if they believed their own rhetoric… they would act it.
As it turns out, post modernism is not modern at all. Even the narcissistic self aggrandizing name, “post modern,” is a lie. Sophistry was the dominant thought before Socrates, Plato and Aristotle discredited it around 300 BC. What an indictment of our schools that they do not teach the classics. Only the self taught know them anymore. Modern sophists sell the same snake oil sophists have sold for millennia, by re-branding it new and improved snake oil… it’s so new, it’s post modern! When even the name itself is a swindle… you know the people selling it have no good intentions. Nevertheless, the snake oil that modern sophists sell is swilled by millions of democrats. Who, God forbid, if they win, will awake, hung over, in a true dystopia and like all marks, ask themselves, “What have I done!?”
Sincerely,
John Pepin
