Sophist

Sophist (Greek, “wise men”), name given to certain teachers in Greece in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., the most famous of whom were Gorgias and Protagoras. They taught rhetoric and the qualities needed for success in political life. Plato attacked them for taking fees; for teaching skepticism about law, morality, and knowledge; and for concentrating on how to win arguments regardless of truth—attacks still reflected in the modern word sophistry.

See also: Greece, Ancient.