Protagoras and Antiphon on justice and law
Keywords:
Protagoras, Antiphon, justice, lawAbstract
This paper presents the ideas of law and justice of two sophists, Protagoras and Antiphon. The aim is to show that their positions on the nómos-phýsis controversy, although often seen as opposed, can be understood simply as different answers to the same question. Antiphon does not despise the law, nor does embrace a natural law distinct from the positive one. Like Protagoras, he starts from the conventionality of justice and expresses interest in the advantageous decisions of the State. But while Protagoras assumes democratic deliberation as a criterion to define the utility established by the laws, Antiphon criticizes the agreements that, instead of benefiting citizens, limit the possibilities of action and produce harms.
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