The Enemy To Philosophy

They say that the enemy to philosophy, is not ignorance, although ignorance is surely the opposite: the real enemy to philosophy is sophistry. While sophistry resembles philosophy in it's outward demeanor, the inside is radically different. Sophistry is different, and is inimical to philosophy. While the goal of philosophy is to find truth, and to speak it despite how others feel about the truth, sophistry wishes to speak the truth others want to hear. The end of philosophy is to find truth and to promote the best way in which to style our lives after truth. The philosopher finds the truth, and then styles his life after it. The sophist finds his lifestyle, and then models his truth after it. Truth and lifestyle are noncommutative, though the sophist would try to make it so.

When therefore, we talk of liberty, we seems to stumble into a mist of confusion, and we are confounded. This is because amongst us in the conversation is a mix of philosophers and sophists. The philosopher wishes to legitimately find truth and to build his life upon the foundation of truth. The sophist wishes to live however he wants, and then builds his "truth" upon his whimsical lifestyle. When the two meet in the public square therefore, the philosopher tries to preach truth, and the sophist tries to preach justification. 

Words have different meanings, as we all know. To the philosopher, liberty is where a person can live after truth. To the sophist, liberty is merely license to live at whim. The word "equal" also changes depending on it's interpretation. To the philosopher, equality is where we all suffer or succeed with exact accordance to our works and the works of the people around us. When the philosopher form a common wealth, he tries to make the law reflect the physical order in that no matter who jumps off a cliff, that person falls. Likewise is a person breaks the law, no matter the person, they receive the same punishment as any other person. Whereas to the sophist, equality is just a trick he uses to steal from the rich and give to him. For the sophist, equality is something he constructs to better his lifestyle. 

This phenomena spreads through every human interaction, and we must learn to distinguish between the two. When we try to judge the merit of something or some idea, we must not be swayed by personal interest, but try to divine the truth independently of ourselves, and let our lives follow accordingly. If we do this, we will succeed and prosper far better than the sophist, for, while we take responsibility and live after natural laws such as laws of wealth, liberty, and happiness, the sophist hoists responsibility on others so his lifestyle is blameless; he lives after counterfeit laws that the physical universe does not respect; and his lifestyle is a delusion.