Cratylus
contributor: Eric Lease Morgan (Infomotions, Inc.)
creator: Plato
date: 0000-00-00
extent: 131888
format: text/plain
language: en
publisher: Eris Etext Project
rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/GPL/2.0/
source: 2
subject: names
subject: name
subject: crat
subject: word
subject: natural
subject: conventional
subject: plato
subject: cratylus
subject: western
subject: philosophy
type: text
local mirror: plato-cratylus-338.txt
concordance: http://infomotions.com/alex/cgi-bin/concordance.pl
plain html: plato-cratylus-338.htm
sort title: Cratylus
full text: 360 BC CRATYLUS by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett CRATYLUS PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES, HERMOGENES, CRATYLUS Hermogenes. Suppose that we make Socrates a party to the argument? Cratylus. If you please. Her. I should explain to you, Socrates, that our friend Cratylus has been arguing about names; he says that they are natural and not conventional; not a portion of the human voice which men agree to use; but that there is a truth or correctness in them, which is the same for Hellenes as for barbarians. Whereupon I ask him, whether his own name of Cratylus is a true name or not, and he answers "Yes." And Socrates? "Yes." Then every man's name, as I tell him, is that which he is called. To this he replies- "If all the world were to call you Hermogenes, that would not be your name." And when I am anxious to have a further explanation he is ironical and mysterious, and seems to imply that he has a notion of his own about the matter, if he would only tell, and could entirely convince me, if he chose to be intelligible. Tell me, Socrates, what this oracle means; or rather tell me, if you will be so good, what is your own view of the truth or correctness of names, which I would far sooner hear. Socrates. Son of Hipponicus, there is an ancient saying, that "hard is the knowledge of the good." And the knowledge of names is a great part of knowledge. If I had not been poor, I might have heard the fifty-drachma course of the great Prodicus, which is a complete education in grammar and language- these are his own words- and then I should have been at once able to answer your question about the correctness of names. But, indeed, I have only heard the single-drachma course, and therefore, I do not know the truth about such matters; I will, however, gladly assist you and Cratylus in the investigation of them. When he declares that your name is not really Hermogenes, I suspect that he is only making fun of you;- he means to say that you are no true son of Hermes, because yo…