" Furthermore, it is plain that it is
the function of one and the same art to discern the real and the
apparent means of persuasion, just as it is the function of
dialectic to discern the real and the apparent syllogism. What makes a
man a 'sophist is not his faculty, but his moral purpose.

sophist
n.
L sophista < Gr sophistcs, wise man: see prec.6
1 [often S3] in ancient Greece, any of a group of teachers of rhetoric, politics, philosophy, etc., some of whom were notorious for their clever, specious arguments
2 any person practicing clever, specious reasoning