The Relevance of Sophistic Arguments in the Teaching of Philosophy

Abstract

This article proposes a classroom intervention using an interdisciplinary approach  that connects the three types of sophistical arguments, as defined by Aristotle, to the notion of scientific knowledge found in his treatises. Aiming to work with high school students on the problem of scientific explanation — in order to establish more rigorous criteria for distinguishing scientific arguments from fallacious ones — an interdisciplinary approach between Philosophy and Physics was adopted. The proposal consists of students hypothetically assuming the role of the sophist and constructing convincing fallacious arguments on topics in Physics, based on Aristotle’s classification of sophistical reasoning. Consequently, the Philosophy and Physics teachers would jointly analyze aspects of these arguments, such as formal structure and content, in order to develop the ability to identify appropriate scientific explanations from those that merely appear to be scientific, but in fact are not.