Names and Nature in Plato's Cratylus

Names and Nature in Plato's Cratylus PDF

Author: Rachel Barney

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2001-08-09

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1135575703

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This study offers a ckomprehensive new interpretation of one of Plato's dialogues, the Cratylus. Throughout, the book combines analysis of Plato's arguments with attentiveness to his philosophical method.

The Cratylus of Plato

The Cratylus of Plato PDF

Author: Francesco Ademollo

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-02-03

Total Pages: 559

ISBN-13: 1139494694

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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, in both philosophy and classics, but presupposes no previous acquaintance with the subject and is accessible to undergraduates.

Plato's Cratylus

Plato's Cratylus PDF

Author: S. Montgomery Ewegen

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2013-11-14

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0253010519

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Plato's dialogue Cratylus focuses on being and human dependence on words, or the essential truths about the human condition. Arguing that comedy is an essential part of Plato's concept of language, S. Montgomery Ewegen asserts that understanding the comedic is key to an understanding of Plato's deeper philosophical intentions. Ewegen shows how Plato's view of language is bound to comedy through words and how, for Plato, philosophy has much in common with playfulness and the ridiculous. By tying words, language, and our often uneasy relationship with them to comedy, Ewegen frames a new reading of this notable Platonic dialogue.

Plato's Cratylus

Plato's Cratylus PDF

Author: David Sedley

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-11-06

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1139439197

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Plato's Cratylus is a brilliant but enigmatic dialogue. It bears on a topic, the relation of language to knowledge, which has never ceased to be of central philosophical importance, but tackles it in ways which at times look alien to us. In this reappraisal of the dialogue, Professor Sedley argues that the etymologies which take up well over half of it are not an embarrassing lapse or semi-private joke on Plato's part. On the contrary, if taken seriously as they should be, they are the key to understanding both the dialogue itself and Plato's linguistic philosophy more broadly. The book's main argument is so formulated as to be intelligible to readers with no knowledge of Greek, and will have a significant impact both on the study of Plato and on the history of linguistic thought.

Cratylus

Cratylus PDF

Author: Plato

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2019-11-20

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13:

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"Cratylus" by Plato is one of the philosopher's surviving dialogues. The subject of Cratylus is on the correctness of names. In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, to tell them whether names are "conventional" or "natural", that is, whether language is a system of arbitrary signs or whether words have an intrinsic relation to the things they signify. These three men piece together the idea of naming and whether or not it should be done on a broad-spectrum in a thought-provoking and surprisingly relevant way.

Plato: A Very Short Introduction

Plato: A Very Short Introduction PDF

Author: Julia Annas

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2003-02-13

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 019157922X

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This lively and accessible introduction to Plato focuses on the philosophy and argument of his writings, drawing the reader into Plato's way of doing philosophy, and the general themes of his thinking. This is not a book to leave the reader standing in the outer court of introduction and background information, but leads directly into Plato's argument. It looks at Plato as a thinker grappling with philosophical problems in a variety of ways, rather than a philosopher with a fully worked-out system. It includes a brief account of Plato's life and the various interpretations that have been drawn from the sparse remains of information. It stresses the importance of the founding of the Academy and the conception of philosophy as a subject. Julia Annas discusses Plato's style of writing: his use of the dialogue form, his use of what we today call fiction, and his philosophical transformation of myths. She also looks at his discussions of love and philosophy, his attitude to women, and to homosexual love, explores Plato's claim that virtue is sufficient for happiness, and touches on his arguments for the immortality of the soul and his ideas about the nature of the universe. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Plato and the Divided Self

Plato and the Divided Self PDF

Author: Rachel Barney

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-02-16

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 0521899664

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Investigates Plato's account of the tripartite soul, looking at how the theory evolved over the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus.