「假新聞」之亂：論智術師Protagoras修辭觀的啟發

The Disorder of “Fake News”: From the Perspective of Protagoras

古希臘時期智術師，特別是Protagoras的觀點，無論是「人是萬物的尺度」、「凡事皆可從兩面論證」、「強論證變為弱論證；弱論證變為強論證」等，皆可與當前假新聞影響民主政治運作的爭議相關。智術師的修辭觀事實上作為古希臘民主政體的政治理論，提供有別於柏拉圖式哲人政體的政治主張。這種修辭觀，雖然與當代民主政體若合符節，但是同樣也埋下民主政體中充滿動盪之因。除了緊扣Protagoras的修辭觀與當前假新聞分析的關係，指出民主規範的根源，其實也埋下修辭能動性的不確定因子。本文最後指出藉由Protagoras觀點的啟發，當代對於民主體制過於推崇，往往導致負面結果後，而產生對於民主體制的徹底失望。因此，倒不如認清民主政治的侷限，承認優缺，這樣反而會以更中庸與務實的方式看待民主。倘若動輒高舉民主大旗，譬如一昧神聖化民主投票，而無視專業與知識，最後就只能對這些呼風喚雨的政客或煽動家恣意的蠱惑民眾而感到無奈，甚至因而放棄民主。所以，藉由分析Protagoras的觀點，可以幫助我們務實看待民主。

On understanding and thinking about the contemporary democratic disorder and predicament, the controversial issue of fake news, this paper contends that appealing to the ancient Greek sophist, Protagoras, might get contribution to this controversy. Protagoras’s famous quotation, ''men is the measure of everything,'' ''everything can be argued on both sides, '' and ''the stronger comes to the weaker, and vice versa,'' are all relating to the thinking of fake news. The sophists’ doctrine of rhetoric is in fact based as the theory of ancient Greek democracy, which is quite different from Plato’s philosophical regime. However, the author argues that the rhetorical theory also corresponds to democracy mostly, but also embeds the source of democratic chaos. This paper focuses on Protagoras’ idea of rhetoric and the relationship with contemporary analysis of fake news and mentions that rhetorical ideas are also dangerous for stable democratic process. Finally, this paper, on Protagoras’s inspiration, argues that people who live in democratic regimes usually apprise their own systems too much and thus, they are always frustrated with the inevitable failure outcome. Therefore, the author contends that the better way to support democratic regimes is to know the limits of democracy and admit both the advantages and dangerous parts. Under this situation, people might regard democracy with moderation and reality. If someone, such as a populist or politician, emphasizes the perfection of democracy, he/she usually becomes the flattery of the majority or to folk society. This leads to horrifying results of democracy and makes people not trust in democracy consequently. Hence, this paper argues that we can have a better democracy by understanding Protagoras’ view of democratic rhetoric.