Names and Nature in Plato's Cratylus

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
Introduction: The Argument of the Cratylus......Page 12
I From Convention to Nature......Page 32
I.1 CONVENTIONALISM......Page 33
I.2 SUBJECTIVISM AND PRIVATE NAMING......Page 39
I.3 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CONVENTIONALISM......Page 45
I.4 AGAINST CONVENTIONALISM......Page 50
I.5 THE FIRST STAGE OF NATURALISM: NAMES AS TOOLS......Page 52
II The Second Stage of Naturalism: Function and Genre in the Etymologies......Page 57
II.1 RATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION......Page 60
II.2 THE INSPIRATION EPISODE......Page 65
II.3 THE AGONISTIC DISPLAY......Page 68
II.4 THE ETYMOLOGIES AS AGÔN......Page 77
II.5 PLATO AND PARMENIDES ON THE DECEPTWENESS OF LANGUAGE......Page 81
III The Third Stage of Naturalism: Mimetic Correctness......Page 89
III.1 BEYOND ETYMOLOGY......Page 90
III.2 MIMESIS AND THE ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE......Page 95
III.3 CRAFT AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF CORRECTNESS......Page 105
IV Natural Correctness Re-examined......Page 118
IV.1 THE DIANOMÊ ARGUMENT......Page 119
IV.2 ON THE CORRECTNESS OF IMAGES......Page 122
IV.3 THE TWO CRATYLUSES......Page 125
IV.4 THE SKLÊROTÊS ARGUMENT......Page 130
IV.5 THE NAMES OF THE NUMBERS......Page 138
IV.6 CONCLUSIONS ABOUT CORRECTNESS......Page 141
V From Names to Things......Page 149
V.1 AGAINST THE STUDY OF NAMES......Page 150
V.2 LANGUAGE, KNOWLEDGE AND FLUX......Page 154
VI.1 THE SEVENTH LETTER AND THE WEAKNESS OF LANGUAGE......Page 167
VI. 2 LOGOS AND KNOWLEDGE......Page 173
VII The Cratylus and After: False Statement......Page 181
VII.1 FALSE STATEMENT IN THE CRATYLUS......Page 183
VII.2 THE SOPHIST ON SYNTAX......Page 188
VII.3 THE SOPHIST ON FALSE STATEMENT......Page 192
Bibliography......Page 201
General Index......Page 206
Index Locorum......Page 212