Euathlos

Euathlos was a student of the ancient Greek sophist Protagoras , who lived in the 5th century BC. Lived.

According to an anecdote handed down by Diogenes Laertios , Euathlos refused to pay his teacher the agreed fee. As a justification, he stated that he had not yet won a lawsuit. He has not yet been able to successfully use the skills that Protagoras taught him in class and therefore does not have to pay for them yet. Apparently he assumed that it was a contingency fee; Protagoras had promised to enable him to win trials. Protagoras then threatened him with a lawsuit. The sophist argued with regard to the threatened legal proceedings: “If I win, I will get money (from you) because I won the trial. If you win, you will also give me money because you won (and my lessons were therefore successful). "According to a version of the anecdote told by Aulus Gellius , Euathlos replied:" If I win, you give me money because I won have. But if you win, I won't give you any money because then you weren't a good teacher to me. "

This paradox is known as the sophism of Euathlos .

literature

• Richard Goulet: Euathlos. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 3, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-271-05748-5 , pp. 244-245