The Play of Sophistry and the Play of Philosophy: Παιδιά in Plato’s Sophist

Abstract: In the Sophist, sophistry is called play (παιδιά); in the Republic, the Laws, the Parmenides and the Timaeus, philosophy is referred to as play. This paper purports to examine the difference between the philosopher and the sophist on the basis of this common feature. I first show that the Eleatic Stranger’s characterization of sophistry as play presupposes a pejorative understanding of play which turns on a rigid dichotomy opposing play and seriousness (σπουδή). I then turn briefly to the Laws to demonstrate that Plato – even in the “mature dialogues” – conceived of a more nuanced relationship between these two terms and was aware of the possibility and desirability of something like “serious play.” This reveals that the Eleatic Stranger, unlike the Athenian Stranger or Socrates, practices an unplayful kind of philosophizing, one that deprives philosophy of the potential contained in παιδιά. Reflecting on the limits of the Stranger’s unplayful philosophy, we can distinguish teleologically between philosophic and sophistic play.