sophistry

The article describes the history of the origin of the theory of legal argument in the philosophy of Ancient Greece, reveals the preconditions and reasons for its appearance and development. The analysis of sophistry and its influence on the practice of legal argumentation in ancient legal proceedings, the contribution of Plato and Aristotle to the formation of general theoretical foundations of reasoning, in particular, in logic and rhetoric, as well as their further development and perfection in Roman law (based on the views of Cicero and Seneca of the Elder).

The essence of sophistic grounds discursive practice in antiquity, analysed sophistry as widespread in V–IV century B. C. in ancient Greece form and means of legal argumentation on the example of judicial conversations, in particular creative in heritance of the famous sophist logograph Lysiasa, which is every reason to call the “godfather” of the legal argument.