CratylusThe Cratylus, Plato's sole dialogue devoted to the relation between language and reality, is acknowledged to be one of his masterpieces. But owing to its often enigmatic content no more than a handful of passages from it have played a part in the global evaluation of Plato's philosophy. This new English translation by C D C Reeve is the first since 1926, and incomparably the most helpful and accessible now available. It opens up the Cratylus to all philosophically interested readers, as well as to cultural historians and to those whose primary concern is the history of linguistics. The full and lucid introduction does much to illuminate the internal dynamic of this important text and to explain its place within Plato's oeuvre. |
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Common terms and phrases
accent according admit agree alpha analogy Anaxagoras ancient animals answer appears arete Astyanax beauty Certainly CLEINIAS convention correctness of names CRATYLUS Cronos delta deon derived dialectician dialogue disguised eirein element emera enquiry epsilon etymologies euphony Euthydemus Euthyphro example existence explain expression false falsehood fancies flux foreign give given givers of names Gods grammar Greek Hellenic Hephaestus Heracleitean Heracleitus Hermes HERMOGENES Hesiod Hestia Homer ideas ienai imagine imitation implies instrument iota kakia knowledge laws legislator letter rho meanings of words motion nature noesis nouns observe omicron onomatopea origin origin of language ousia Phaedrus philology philosophy Phronesis Plato poets principle Prodicus Protagoras psuche rest rightly called Scamandrius sense sentence shuttle signifies sklerotes SOCRATES Sophist sort soul sound speaking speech sunesis suppose syllables tell theory of language things thought truth utter verbs wisdom Zeus