Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The Cratylus, one of Plato's most difficult and intriguing dialogues, explores the relations between a name and the thing it names. The questions that arise lead the characters to face a number of major issues: truth and falsehood, relativism, etymology, the possibility of a perfect language, the relation between the investigation of names and that of reality, the Heraclitean flux theory and the Theory of Forms. This full-scale commentary on the Cratylus offers a definitive interpretation of the dialogue. It contains translations of the passages discussed and a line-by-line analysis which deals with textual matters and unravels Plato's dense and subtle arguments, reaching a novel interpretation of some of the dialogue's main themes as well as of many individual passages. The book is intended primarily for graduate students and scholars, both philosophers and classicists, but presupposes no previous acquaintance with the subject and is accessible to undergraduates.

Plato --- Language and languages --- Langage et langues --- Philosophy. --- Philosophie --- Plato. --- Philosophy --- Greek literature --- Language and languages / Philosophy. --- Plat. Cratylus. --- Plato phil. TLG 0059. --- Plato, --- Plato / Cratylus. --- Arts and Humanities --- History --- Language and languages - Philosophy --- Plato. - Cratylus

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The Cratylus contains Plato’s important, yet ambiguous discussion of language. By studying the reception of this text in antiquity, this book explores the various ideas on language and its relation to philosophy in the Platonic tradition. This discussion provides the backdrop for a detailed analysis of the commentary on the dialogue by Proclus. His, often original, views on language are, it appears, the product of a critical reevaluation of those of his predecessors, whereas his interpretation of the Cratylus throws new light on that dialogue. This book will thus be of interest both to students of Plato and the Platonic tradition, as well as to those working on ancient theories of language.

Cratylus (Plato) --- Language and languages --- Philosophy. --- Plato. --- Proclus, --- Language and languages - Philosophy. --- Proclus, - ca. 410-485. - In Platonis Cratylum commentaria. --- Plato. - Cratylus.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The Cratylus has puzzled many readers with its lengthy discussion of the 'true meanings' of more than a hundred Greek names. This book aims to give a coherent interpretation of the whole dialogue, paying particular attention to these etymologies. The book discusses the rival theories of naming offered by Cratylus, Hermogenes, and Socrates, arguing that Socrates presents a prescriptive theory, laying down what names should be, rather than describing what they are. This distinction between prescriptive and descriptive theories is elaborated and used to illuminate the etymologies themselves. After discussing possible sources for the etymologies, the author argues that the etymological section amounts to a Platonic critique of the muddled attitude of Greek poets and thinkers towards names.

Language and languages --- Names --- Langage et langues --- Noms --- Philosophy --- History --- Philosophie --- Histoire --- Plato. --- History. --- -Names --- -Nomenclature --- Proper names --- Terminology --- Epithets --- Foreign languages --- Languages --- Anthropology --- Communication --- Ethnology --- Information theory --- Meaning (Psychology) --- Philology --- Linguistics --- -History --- Etymology --- Plato --- Aflāṭūn --- Aplaton --- Bolatu --- Platon, --- Platonas --- Platone --- Po-la-tʻu --- Pʻŭllatʻo --- Pʻŭllatʻon --- Pʻuratʻon --- Πλάτων --- אפלטון --- פלאטא --- פלאטאן --- פלאטו --- أفلاطون --- 柏拉圖 --- 플라톤 --- -Philosophy --- Nomenclature --- Philosophy&delete& --- Plato. Cratylus. --- Names - History. --- Language and languages - Philosophy - History. --- Names. --- Philosophy. --- Cratylus (Plato) --- Kratylos (Plato)