By Sophia Rodríguez
In ancient Greece, in the lifetime of Democritus, there was a group called the Sophists. The attribution of the term "Sofist" is derived from the greek word "Sophia" that means "Wisdom" and the adjetive "Sophos" that means "wise". The Sophist were itinerant teachers who during their travels offered instruction in different subjects. They taught many different subjects, such as mathematics, astronomy, music, history, literature, mythology but also different crafts. They would teach a few subjects each, but what they all had in common was that they all were skilled rhetoricians, and that has been comsidered the most important of what was shared by the Sofist. The are also well known as the first philosophers who would charge their students for the lessons.
Their teachings were mainly concerned with a form of reasoning different from Socrates and so-called philosophers of ancient Greece who were in the search for truth and the absolute definition of the cosmos and material things. The sophists introduced instead relativism in philosophy, they considered that something could have a whole and complete value in a certain circumstance, and a completely different value in another.
The sophists held a spiritual revolution, shifting the axis of philosophical reflection from the cosmos to man, and everything about his life as a member of society. Therefore, the dominant themes in Sophism are ethical, political, rhetoric, art, language, religion, education, ie what we today call human culture. It is thanks to the sophists the humanist period of ancient philosophy began.
Until today the term sophism has come to mean "lie” or “fallacy" because Plato and Socrates heavily criticized, in their dialogues, the practice of receiving money to educate and give wisdom only to those who were able to pay. They spread notorious lies which have remained popular belief until the present.
Currently used to describe those people who have an intelligent but unsubstantiated reasoning, and based on contemporary interpretation of Sophism, the term Sophism of Distraction was born.
The fallacies of distraction is a term usually used in the political arena, they happen in a social context where a figure of power uses his position to create a political scenario that serves as a smoke screen, a distraction from the real agenda, which only benefits their ideology, select group or himself . This term is most commonly used in Latin American politics, we could provide an example that clearly shows its use: In the dictatorship of Videla in Argentina, the country was experiencing a severe economic crisis and a series of mass killings. During Videla’s dictactorship in 1978, the government organized the Argentinian World Cup. During the football games intellectuals, leftists and opponents of the dictatorship were killed under the stadiums, while gunfire and cries of pain mingled with the euphoric songs of tribute from the fans.
On the other hand, there is a contemporary esoteric stream using the term, defining it as fake reasonings which induce to error, and are made up by the ego in the subconscious.
According to the esoteric stream of Samael Aun Weor, the sophism of distraction happens in the human mind. The ego creates a first stage in the subconscious based on desires and needs. Parallel to that a reasoning is made up in order to support and justify the action, which just benefits ones ego.