sophism

English

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek σοφισμός (sophismós, “wisdom, learnedness”), derived from σοφία (sophía, “wisdom, learning”) +‎ -ism. The English definition of Sophism was corrupted by Plato condemning Greek sophists who charged for their personal rhetorics, often giving fallacious and deceptive reasoning for young noblemen seeking political office.

Noun

sophism (countable and uncountable, plural sophisms)

1. A method of teaching using the techniques of philosophy and rhetoric.
2. (informal) A flawed argument, superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive.
3. (informal) An intentional fallacy.

Related terms

• sophist
• sophistic
• sophisticate
• sophisticated
• sophistry

Translations

method of teaching

• Finnish: sofistiikka
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

flawed argument superficially correct in its reasoning, usually designed to deceive

• Armenian: սոփեստաբանություն (hy) (sopʻestabanutʻyun)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詭辯／诡辩 (zh) (guǐbiàn), 诡辩 (zh) (guǐbiàn)

• Czech: sofisma n
• Dutch: sofisme (nl) n, drogreden (nl) f or m
• French: sophisme (fr) m
• German: Sophismus (de) m
• Greek: σόφισμα (el) n (sófisma), σοφιστεία (el) f (sofisteía)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: sofisma (it) m
• Japanese: 詭弁 (ja) (きべん, kiben)
• Macedonian: софизам m (sofizam)
• Polish: sofizmat m, sofizm (pl) m (historical)
• Portuguese: sofisma (pt) m
• Russian: софи́зм (ru) m (sofízm)
• Spanish: sofisma (es) m

See also

• half-truth

Etymology 2

Noun

sophism (uncountable)

1. Archaic spelling of Sufism.