Name: FABRICIO SOARES SANTOS FONTES
Publication date: 18/12/2025
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ALDO LOPES DINUCCI | Presidente |
| ALEXANDRE DA SILVA COSTA | Examinador Externo |
| GABRIELE CORNELLI | Examinador Externo |
| JORGE AUGUSTO DA SILVA SANTOS | Examinador Interno |
| LUIS FELIPE BELLINTANI RIBEIRO | Examinador Externo |
Summary: This thesis aims to investigate how the controversy
between phýsis and nómos, the duality of nature and law/custom/convention, can be
understood as the central element of the philosophical theories of the Greek Sophists, the
unifying theme that underpins, permeates, and interweaves a great part of their ideas,
constituting the basis for an ongoing dialogue around central questions and common
premises. The issue is initially addressed with greater generality, defining the sophist in
comparison to the philosopher, in order to consider the sophists from the perspective of
their theoretical production, distinct from their practice (where the themes of teaching and
rhetoric are primarily situated), thereby establishing a fundamental theme that sufficiently
congregates them philosophically. From this perspective, shared elements among the
sophists are investigated to substantiate the primacy and predominance of
the phýsis and nómos duality in their thought. The problem is then circumscribed to four
individuals, representative of the diversity that characterizes sophistry and the variety of
its sources: Protagoras, Callicles, the Anonymous of Iamblichus, and Antiphon. Through
the exegesis of their four “discourses”, the internal debate surrounding the distinction and
opposition between phýsis and nómos is explored—the established relationships,
inspirations, similarities, reformulations, criticisms, and refutations—demonstrating this
to be the guiding thread of their ideas.
