In modern usage sophist and sophistry are redefined and used disparagingly. In modern usage, "sophism", "sophist" and "sophistry" are used disparagingly. This school did not thrive because the Chinese regarded sophistry and dialectic as impractical. Wordsworth sought to write directly and forcefully, without sophistry or wordplay. Is this not the most absurd sophistry? It just remains loose philosophical talk, sophistry or "petitio principii", uncommitted to any particular consequence. Hume, however, held that such unobservable metaphysical concepts should be rejected as "sophistry and illusion". Is it possible that anyone in our cynical world credits a self-serving sophistry like this? Walker described the book as "grandiloquent", and accused Sullivan of "elegant sophistry". Sophistry was then the art of misleading. Calder said that climate change science has been invaded by sophistry about man-made global warming. His principal method is to contrast his ways of teaching with Sophistry. Jack Grant of "Motion Picture News" gave the film high praise, titling it "Delightful Sophistry". For these advancements, Gorgias has been labeled the "father of sophistry" (Wardy 6). Much of "The Friend" was "sophistry".