Plato: Cratylus

Author: Plato
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: Before Plato, ancient Greek philosophers had already engaged in many discussions about the philosophy of language, but what remains today are only some fragmented fragments. In these scattered discussions on the philosophy of language, some philosophers believed that the correctness of language (or nouns) was due to customs or the common use among people (i.e., the perspective of later linguistic convention theory), the strength of this theory lay in explaining why different nations and countries have different languages; others believed that the correctness of language refers to the essence of the object it describes (i.e., the perspective of later linguistic naturalism theory), its significant meaning lies in recognizing that things have a constant essence, which is expressed by correct language, and different language families can express the essence of the same thing in different languages. The first complete ancient Greek philosophical literature on the philosophy of language is Plato's Cratylus, in which Plato synthesizes the two arguments mentioned above. On one hand, he points out under what conditions the established language is in line with the essence of the object it refers to? Under what conditions is there no correctness that aligns with the essence of the object? On the other hand, he also points out under what meaning the established language can be in line with the commonly recognized correct usage? Under what meaning can it not rely solely on common recognition? Additionally, it provides knowledge of ancient Greek etymology, which, in the field of philosophical hermeneutics, holds extremely important value for European philosophers who study in Chinese.