Explain What Did Protagoras Mean When They Say Man Is The Measure Of All Things

What did Protagoras mean when he said, “Man is the measure of all things?” Compare and contrast the interpretations of the artists and natural scientists and of Plato.

In 485 BCE, one of the great greek sophist named Protagoras was born. Protagoras was a tutor to subjects of rhetoric, politics and logic. One of his famous findings was “Man is the measure of all things.” The statement was revolutionary and disturbed many people.

Plato interprets Protagoras “Man is the measure of all things,” and point out that people use themselves as the standard of all measurements. The common test for it’s validity is the temperature perception test where two people have to test their sense of touch. They both have to touch the same object with the same temperature measured in Celsius and say whether it is hot or cold. One may say it is cold while the other may say its hot. Even though the results may contradict each other, but it does not mean that they are not valid. Both of the results are true if they were not lies because the degree of hotness and coldness is subjective to the individual. For

Socrates himself did not have a mentor but learned from discussions with young men. This sort of initiative did not have to be taught. Babies could learn to walk without having to be instructed because in their chromosome they contain an order which give them the idea to walk regardless of the number of times they fall. Babies inherit the chromosomes from their parents. These starting-up ideas come from the inside and are drawn out rather than drawn in. Richard Branson, a successful entrepreneur said, “Successful entrepreneurs tend to be insatiably curious about almost everything, and often they are good at learning by doing. Their open-minded, can-do attitude is among their best assets.” If a mentor was compulsory to create ideas for people, the wise Socrates would have not