Who said 'man is the measure of all things'?

• A. Socrates
• B. Plato
• C. Aristotle
• D. Protagoras

Answer: (C)

This statement expresses a view of truth as relative to the individual. It means that what is true or valuable depends on each person’s perspective, senses, and judgments, rather than on an objective, universal standard.

Protagoras, a pre-Socratic sophist, argued that human beings are the measure of all things—the things that are, and the things that are not. In other words, truth and norms are determined by each person’s point of view. This idea contrasts with later calls for universal or absolute truths and is a defining example of early relativism in philosophy. The discussion of this view appears in Plato’s dialogues about Protagoras, where the idea is used to explore the tension between subjective perception and universal knowledge.

Socrates and Plato are associated with questions about knowledge and virtue from a more universal or methodological standpoint, while Aristotle develops a framework that seeks more objective explanations. So the attribution sits with Protagoras, reflecting his relativist stance on truth and measure.