A Sophisticated Education

Here’s what your teachers probably never taught you in school.

In ancient Greece, the name Sophist was given to teachers who specialised in the teaching of philosophy and rhetoric. Since Athenian democracy gave every citizen the opportunity to speak on national affairs, advancement in politics was largely dependent upon an individual’s rhetorical skills and their ability to speak persuasively. Many Sophists were well-paid for their services by students who wished to learn the practical art of persuasion and consequently improve their status in Athenian society. The Sophists were also the world’s first lawyers as a result of their highly developed argumentation skills.

The School of Athens by Raphael

Many Sophists were non-Athenian travelers who saw the gods as man-made creations and believed in the principles of nature rather than the divine. Their questioning of established authority and beliefs, as well as their wealth, eventually stirred resentment from the public against their practices and ideas. Philosophy and rhetoric eventually parted ways, so that Sophists became known as teachers of persuasion and popular public speakers by the time of the Roman empire.

Thus, the modern definition (from Wikipedia) of sophism is rather derogatory and often associated with deception:

“A sophism is taken as a specious argument used for deceiving someone. It might be crafted to seem logical while actually being wrong, or it might use difficult words and complicated sentences to intimidate the audience into agreeing, or it might appeal to the audience’s prejudices and emotions rather than logic. The goal of a sophism is often to make the audience believe the writer or speaker to be smarter than he or she actually is.”

Does this sound familiar? It’s because the art of sophism and rhetoric lives on in our politicians and advertising agencies, not that anyone ever calls it that or admits to practicing it (because persuasion doesn’t work if someone knows you’re doing it to them). It’s also because our schools no longer teach anything of the sort, preferring instead to train our young minds in the infallible laws of science and logic. Yet we are bombarded by sophism in every aspect of our lives and its effects can be devastating especially if we don’t even know that we were hit in the first place, let alone what we were hit with.

Firstly, it is necessary to understand that our behaviour can often be predicted (and consequently influenced) by the following factors:

• Coercion – involuntary change in behaviour that requires the presence of a threat
• Persuasion – induces temporary behaviour change through communication
• Education – behaviour change is persistent and sometimes influenced by values and attitudes
• Faith – indoctrinated beliefs by religion and propaganda that is highly resistant to change

By now you are either wondering what these techniques are or wanting to learn and use them in tomorrow night’s plan to conquer the world. The following theories and techniques are persuasive and therefore won’t make somebody your slave for life, but they can be useful in many situations when you need that extra little nudge. Or to catch out the weasel who’s trying to rip you off.

*** I’ve decided to postpone the rest of this post until I receive enough interest from readers of my blog. So get in touch with me if you’d like to read the rest of this post.

In the meantime, I recommend Rory Sutherland’s entertaining TED talk to help digest what you’ve just read. Yes he’s an Ogilvy ad man, but that’s also why you should listen and learn.