A contemporary revival of the ancient art of sophistry—using the tools of reason not to find truth, but to defend the indefensible, promote narrow paradigms, or advance positions that common sense rejects. Neo-Sophism deploys logic, science, skepticism, and rational argument as weapons for ideology, not as methods for inquiry. The neo-sophist doesn't seek understanding; they seek victory. They use the language of reason to obscure, the methods of science to mislead, the tools of skepticism to dismiss. Climate denial dressed as scientific skepticism? Neo-Sophism. Corporate interests defended with free-market logic that ignores market failures? Neo-Sophism. Psychiatric labels used to dismiss political dissent? Neo-Sophism. The ancient sophists taught rhetoric for winning arguments, not finding truth. Neo-Sophism updates this for the modern world: reason as rhetoric, science as sophistry.
"He spent an hour citing studies, using logical terms, invoking scientific authority—all to defend a position so absurd that anyone with common sense would laugh. That's Neo-Sophism: reason as a weapon for unreason, logic as a cloak for nonsense. The ancients would be proud; the rest of us should be warned."
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 7, 2026
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