A sophism is a bad argument presented as if it were a good one to deceive, mislead, or cheat someone; sophistry is the practice of doing this. In Ancient Greece, the sophists were itinerant teachers of the fourth and fifth centuries

B.C., some of whom, such as Protagoras and Gorgias, Socrates criticized vigorously. His negative view was based on the empiricism, relativism, and skepticism of their teachings; on the fact that they took a fee; and on the fact that they taught argument for the sake of persuasion and manipulation of others, rather than for the pursuit of truth.