Forms and Names: On Cratylus 389a5â390a10

Anna Pavani

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Chapter 5 Forms and Names

On Cratylus 389a5â390a10

äºPlatoâs Cratylus

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Anna Pavani

Anna Pavani
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Page Range:: 90â106

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004473027_006

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Abstract

In discussing the way âthe artisan of namesâ works, Socrates introduces the puzzling notion of the âpephykos onomaâ (Crat. 389d4â5). What is usually downgraded to a âghostly nameâ (R. Robinson) is to be understood within its argumentative context. Within the framework of the âtool analogyâ, Socrates defines both the kerkis (a weaving tool to be identified not with a âshuttleâ, but rather, as I argue, with a kind of comb) and the name as instruments whose specific function is to differentiate. As the structural and terminological parallels testify, producing a name is presented as strictly analogous to producing a kerkis. To refute Hermogenesâ conventionalism as unfolded in the first part of the dialogue, Socrates shows that producing a name, just as producing a kerkis, entails two non-arbitrary components. There is room for arbitrariness when it comes to the actual choice of the phonetic material and this is the reason why lawgivers from different places can produce names that are equally correct. By contrast, there is no room for arbitrariness for the Ideal Name, which the artisan has to look at, and for the pephykos onoma, which the artisan has to put into sounds and syllables. What different concrete names share, if they are to be equally correct, is the same pephykos onoma. This does not correspond to a âPlatonic Formâ nor to a âlinguistic typeâ nor to a âmeaningâ, but rather, as I argue, to a concept.

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Platoâs Cratylus

Proceedings of the Eleventh Symposium Platonicum Pragense

ä¸ç¼ï¼ Brill's Plato Studies Series, å·ï¼ 8

ISBN:: 9789004473027

åºçç¤¾:: Brill

å°å·åºçæ¥æ:: 16 Nov 2021

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Chapter 5 Forms and Names

On Cratylus 389a5â390a10

Abstract

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Platoâs Cratylus