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Cratylus (dialogue)

Overview

Cratylus ( KRAT-il-əs; Ancient Greek: Κρατύλος, Kratylos) is the name of a dialogue by Plato. Most modern scholars agree that it was written mostly during Plato's so-called middle period. In the dialogue, Socrates is asked by two men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, 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.

Cratylus was Plato's first known intellectual influence. Aristotle states that Cratylus influenced Plato by introducing him to the teachings of Heraclitus.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Philosophers who discussed Cratylus (dialogue)

• Heraclitus
• Marsilio Ficino
• Plato
• Proclus
• Prodicus
• Cratylus

Related ideas

• Epicurus
• Ferdinand de Saussure
• Homer
• Heraclitus
• Ionic Greek
• Language
• Louvre
• Latin
• Plato
• Socrates
• Theory of forms
• Aristotle
• Martin Litchfield West
• Cambridge University Press
• English language
• Cratylus

Place in the tradition

Part of Conventionalism.

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