A Justification of Sophistry

The article examines the very first efforts to justify ancient sophistry made by G. W. F. Hegel and by G. Grote in the middle XIX century. The objective of the present article is to examine these early justifications of sophistry, with particular attention to the processes of reification of sophistry and the establishment of sophistry’s relationship with modern philosophy and modern society. In order to achieve this objective, the article seeks to address several issues: firstly, to identify the social institutions with which the authors of its justifications associate sophistry; secondly, to demonstrate the extent to which the very existence of sophistry is influenced by the regularities of the social circulation of philosophy; and thirdly, to establish a connection between the justification and rejuvenation of sophistry and a novel definition of the role of rhetoric in philosophical reasoning. Moreover, when taking into consideration two distinct rationalizations of sophistry, a comparative analysis between them is naturally inevitable.