Made to Measure: Protagoras’ metron

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates how the method of substitution has somehow impoverished our understanding of both Protagoras' measure and its earliest extant interpretation in Plato's Theaetetus . It argues that, although the meaning of the word μἐΤρον may be perfectly accessible to us, in the context of Man-Measure (MM), we feel free to substitute, because we know it is 'only a metaphor'. The substitution of criterion for μέτρον can easily be traced back to Sextus Empiricus' interpretation of MM . The chapter explores several cultural fields to enable reconstruction of the significance of MM . Plato, when interpreting ἂνθρωπος individually, seems to be concerned with epistemological relativism from a first person's point of view - which is radically different from an externalistic problematization of the nature of human knowledge. Keywords: Man-Measure (MM); metaphor; Plato'; Protagoras'; Sextus Empiricus; Theaetetus