The relevance of the topic is motivated by the importance of using historical and pedagogical knowledge in solving the problem of educating students, which will ensure the protection and preservation of traditional values and virtues in society. The author refers to the doctrine of the sophists on virtue. Protagoras, putting forward the concept of a person as the measure of all things, establishes the “throne of relativity” in the world: a measure, a criterion for everything is a person, his/ her opinion, or arbitrary behaviour. The recognition by the sophists that everything in the world is relative leads them to recognize good and evil as relative as well. At the same time, the existence of an absolute manifestation of goodness — the virtue of a person — is pointed out. It is revealed that virtue, understood as the utmost skill in activity, in morals, in relations between people, is recognized as a means of living together. This purpose of virtue, its social nature predetermines the importance of cultivating virtue, which, being common for all members of society, cements relations between people, makes people better.