Putting the Cratylus in its Place

Bibliographic Data

ID9666283
AuthorsMary Margaret Mackenzie (corresponding author)
Year1986
Volume36
Issue1
Pages124-150
Publication date1986-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0009838800010600
OpenAlexW2141339727
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited19

The Cratylus begins with a paradox; it ends with a paradox; and it has a paradox in between. But this disturbing characteristic of the dialogue has been overshadowed, not to say ignored, in the literature. For commentators have seen it as their task to discover exactly what theory of language Plato himself, despite his declared perplexity, intends to adopt as he rejects the alternatives of Hermogenes and Cratylus. A common view, then, has been to suppose that the ⋯πορίαι of the dialogue are mere camouflage for the hidden dogma, whatever that may be. A favoured candidate, of course, has been the theory of transcendent forms, in some preliminary version. As a consequence, the dialogue has often been seen as a precursor to the great metaphysical works of Plato's middle period such as the Phaedo or the Republic . Not so, I shall argue. My case is that this dialogue centres upon a series of paradoxes which are both powerful and unsettling. Their final effect is to attack the theory of forms, not to defend it. They are, I suggest, genuine proposals of philosophical difficulty, rather than mere artifice to disguise an idealist truth. As such, they belong, and may clearly be seen to belong, with works of the critical period which subject the theory of forms to scrutiny. Thus the ⋯πορίαι of the Cratylus have their counterparts in the Parmenides , the Theaetetus and the Sophist . I propose, then, that the dialogue was written during the late, critical period of Plato's philosophical activity

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Metaphysics · Period (music · Perplexity · Philosophy of language · Reflexive pronoun · Scrutiny · Sophist · Subject (documents · Theology · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History

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