The ethical teaching of Protagoras the Sophist about the Promethean education in virtues: Initial paradigm of axiology of social work

Abstract

For the science of social work the anthropological teaching of Protagoras, the Sophist from Abder, opens up an almost inexhaustible anticipation of its philosophical foundation. Complying with the ethical relativism this wise man stresses almost 25 centuries ago the initial paradigm of social work, its ethics and axiology based on the education and reformation of human virtues which makes the basis of overall improvement and humanization of people. Besides, Protagoras sees the dialectic compliance of the activities of an individual with the community in which he exist as defining among the first in the history of philosophy the ethical imperative indicating that what should shouldn’t be done by people in general should not be done by any man at all. The social work humanists can find fertile germ in his teaching according to which the teaching of virtues is inseparable from the familiar framework and falling within the competence of presently actual agents of socialization. Protagoras provokes a series of other issues of importance for presently actual theory and methodology of social work such as rationality, purposefulness and timely usage of human speech, then the purpose of sacrifice as a necessary condition and measure of act of good deed or still not postulated principles of human hoping, endurance, persistence and consistence.