Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  • Cited by 89
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
September 2009
Print publication year:
2003
Online ISBN:
9780511482649

Book description

Plato's Cratylus is a brilliant but enigmatic dialogue. It bears on a topic, the relation of language to knowledge, which has never ceased to be of central philosophical importance, but tackles it in ways which at times look alien to us. In this reappraisal of the dialogue, Professor Sedley argues that the etymologies which take up well over half of it are not an embarrassing lapse or semi-private joke on Plato's part. On the contrary, if taken seriously as they should be, they are the key to understanding both the dialogue itself and Plato's linguistic philosophy more broadly. The book's main argument is so formulated as to be intelligible to readers with no knowledge of Greek, and will have a significant impact both on the study of Plato and on the history of linguistic thought.

Reviews

'… an extraordinarily rich book, providing both a main thesis and a number of intelligent readings of single passages … Sedley's book has struck me as an intensely humane and - if I may say so - Platonic piece of writing. His prose is admirably terse and vivid, the very answers he gives to the problems posed by the Cratylus raise issues and questions on a higher level, so that one has always the exciting impression of having embarked on a true philosophical journey.'

Source: Journal of Hellenic Studies

‘Every page of this book is characterized by the sanity of judgement and depth of knowledge of ancient thought which are the hallmarks of the author. It is a model of clarity and of austere stylistic elegance. The volume inaugurates C. U. P.'s new series Cambridge Studies in the Dialogues of Plato, under the general editorship of M. M. McCabe; it sets a high standard for subsequent contributors.‘

Source: British Journal for the History of Philosophy

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
×

Contents

References
Ackrill, J. L. (1997) ‘Language and reality in Plato's Cratylus’, in A. Alberti (ed.) Realtà e ragione (Florence, 1994), 9–28; repr. in Ackrill, Essays on Plato and Aristotle (Oxford, 1997), 33–52 (page numbers are cited from the latter)
Ademollo, F. (forthcoming) ‘Per un’interpretazione del Cratilo di Platone’, in V. Celluprica (ed.), La logica nel pensiero antico, Naples
Adomenas, M. (2001) ‘Nature in flux. Plato's reception of Presocratic theories’. Cambridge Ph.D. thesis
Ahl, F. (1985) Metaformations: Soundplay and Wordplay in Ovid and Other Classical Poets. Ithaca and London
Allan, D. J. (1954) ‘The problem of Cratylus’, American Journal of Philology 75: 271–87
Allen, J. (1994) ‘Failure and expertise in the ancient conception of an art’, in T. Horowitz, A. Janis (eds.) Failure in Science. Lanham, Md.: 83–110
Annas, J. (1982) ‘Knowledge and language: the Theaetetus and Cratylus’, in Schofield and Nussbaum (1982), 95–114
Annas, J. (2002) ‘What are Plato's “middle” dialogues in the middle of?’, in Annas and Rowe (2002), 1–23
Annas, J., C. Rowe (eds.) (2002) New Perspectives on Plato, Modern and Ancient. Cambridge, Mass. and London
Barney, R. (1997) ‘Plato on conventionalism’, Phronesis 42: 143–62
Barney, R. (1998) ‘Socrates agonistes: the case of the Cratylus etymologies’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 16: 63–98
Barney, R. (2001) Names and Nature in Plato's Cratylus. New York and London
Baxter, T. M. S. (1992) The Cratylus: Plato's Critique of Naming. Leiden
Benardete, S. (1993) The Tragedy and Comedy of Life: Plato's Philebus. Chicago
Bett, R. (1989) ‘The sophists and relativism’, Phronesis 34: 139–69
Blondell, R. (2002) The Play of Character in Plato's Dialogues. Cambridge
Bonitz, H. (1870) Index Aristotelicus. Berlin
Boyancé, P. (1941) ‘La “Doctrine d’Euthyphron” dans le Cratyle’, Revue des Etudes Grecques 54: 141–75
Burkert, W. (1959) ‘Στοιχ∊ον. Eine semasiologische Studie’, Philologus 103: 167–97
Burnyeat, M. (1997) ‘First words’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 43: 1–20
Burnyeat, M. (2002) ‘Plato on how not to speak of what is not: Euthydemus 283a–288a’, in M. Canto-Sperber, P. Pellegrin (eds.), Le Style de la pensée: receuil de textes en hommage à Jacques Brunschwig. Paris: 40–66
Calvert, B. (1970) ‘Forms and flux in Plato's Cratylus’, Phronesis 15: 26–47
Cooper, J. M. (ed.) (1997) Plato, Complete Works. Indianapolis/Cambridge
Cornford, F. M. (1937) Plato's Cosmology. London
Dalimier, C. (1998) Platon, Cratyle. Paris
Denyer, N. (1991) Language, Thought and Falsehood in Ancient Greek Philosophy. London
Derbolav, J. (1972) Platons Sprachphilosophie im Kratylos und in den späteren Schiften. Darmstadt
Dorandi, T. (2000) Le Stylet et la tablette. Paris
Duke E. A., W. F. Hicken, W. S. M. Nicoll, D. B. Robinson, J. C. G. Strachan (eds.) (1995) Platonis Opera, tomus Ⅰ. Oxford (cited as ‘OCT2’)
Emonds, H. (1941) Zweite Auflage in Altertum. Leipzig
England, E. B. (1921) The Laws of Plato. Manchester
Fine, G. (1977) ‘Plato on naming’, Philosophical Quarterly 27: 290–301
Fine, G. (1979) ‘Knowledge and logos in the Theaetetus’, Philosophical Review 88: 366–97
Fine, G. (1993) On Ideas. Aristotle's Criticism of Plato's Theory of Forms. Oxford
Fowler, H. N. (1926) Plato: Cratylus, Parmenides, Greater Hippias, Lesser Hippias (Loeb Classical Library). Cambridge, Mass
Frede, D. (1996) ‘The philosophical economy of Plato's psychology: rationality and common concepts in the Timaeus’, in M. Frede, G. Striker (eds.) Rationality in Greek Thought. Oxford: 29–58
Frede, M. (1992) ‘Plato's arguments and the dialogue form’, in J. C. Klagge, N. D. Smith (eds.), Methods of Interpreting Plato and his Dialogues (Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy suppl. vol. 1992), 201–19
Gaiser, K. (1974) Name und Sache in Platons Kratylos. Heidelberg
Gifford, M. (2001) ‘Dramatic dialectic in Republic book Ⅰ’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 20: 35–106
Grintser, N. (1994) ‘Structura i smysl dialoga Platona “Kratil”’ [‘Structure and Meaning of Plato's Cratylus’], Znaki Balkan I (Moscow), 76–107
Grote, G. (1865 and subsequent editions) Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3 vols. London
Heinimann, F. (1945) Nomos und Physis. Basle
Heyworth, S. J., Wilson, N. G. (1997) ‘Auflage, Zweite’, in Der neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike. Stuttgart: vol. II, 271–5
Irwin, T. (1977) ‘Plato's Heracliteanism’, Philosophical Quarterly 27: 1–13
Irwin, T. (1992), ‘Plato: the intellectual background’, in Kraut (1992), 51–89
Isnardi Parente, M. (1981) Senocrate-Ermodoro, frammenti. Naples
Kahn, C. H. (1973) ‘Language and ontology in the Cratylus’, in E. N. Lee, A. P. D. Mourelatos, R. M. Rorty (eds.), Exegesis and Argument. New York: 152–76
Kahn, C. H. (1979) The Art and Thought of Heraclitus. Cambridge
Kahn, C. H. (1986) ‘Les mots et les formes dans le “Cratyle” de Platon’, in Philosophie du langage et grammaire dans l’antiquité (Cahiers de Philosophie Ancienne 5, Brussels and Grenoble), 91–103
Kahn, C. H. (1996) Plato and the Socratic Dialogue. Cambridge
Kahn, C. H. (2002) ‘On Platonic chronology’, in Annas and Rowe (2002), 93–127
Ketchum, R. J. (1979), ‘Names, Forms and conventionalism: Cratylus 383–395’, Phronesis 24: 133–47
Kirk, G. S. (1951) ‘The problem of Cratylus’, American Journal of Philology 72: 225–53
Kraut, R. (ed.) (1992) The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge
Kretzmann, N. (1971) ‘Plato on the correctness of names’, American Philosophical Quarterly 8: 126–38
Laks, A., G. W. Most (eds.) (1997) Studies on the Derveni Papyrus. Oxford
Levin, S. B. (2001) The Ancient Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry Revisited. Plato and the Literary Tradition. Oxford
Lloyd-Jones, H. (1971) The Justice of Zeus. Berkeley/Los Angeles
Luce, J. V. (1964) ‘The date of the Cratylus’, American Journal of Philology 85: 136–54
Mackenzie, M. M. (1986), ‘Putting the Cratylus in its place’, Classical Quarterly 36: 124–50
Méridier, L. (1931) Platon, Cratyle (Budé text and translation). Paris
Montrasio, F. (1988) ‘Le etimologie del nome di Apollo nel “Cratilo”’, Rivista di storia della filosofia 43: 227–59
Mouraviev, S. (1999) Héraclite d’Ephèse. La tradition antique et médiévale, A, Témoignages et citations, 1. D’Epicharme à Philon d’Alexandrie. Sankt Augustin
Notopoulos, J. (1939) ‘The name of Plato’, Classical Philology 34: 135–45
O’Hara, J. J. (1996) True Names: Vergil and the Alexandrian Tradition of Etymological Wordplay. Ann Arbor
Osborne, M. J., S. G. Byrne (eds.) (1994) ‘Attica’, in P. M. Fraser, E. Matthews, A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, 2. Oxford
Owen, G. E. L. (1953) ‘The place of the Timaeus in Plato's dialogues’, Classical Quarterly 47: 79–95; repr. in R. E. Allen (ed.) Studies in Plato's Metaphysics (London, 1965), 313–38; and in Owen, Logic, Science and Dialectic (London, 1986), 65–84
Palmer, J. A. (2000), ‘Aristotle on the ancient theologians’, Apeiron 33: 181–205
Panchenko, D. (2002), ‘Eudemus fr. 145 Wehrli and the ancient theories of the lunar light’, in I. Bodnár, W. Fortenbaugh (eds.) Eudemus of Rhodes (Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities 11, New Brunswick), 323–36
Pradeau, J.-F. (2002) Héraclite, fragments. Paris
Press, G. (ed.) (2000) Who Speaks for Plato? Studies in Platonic Anonymity. Lanham Md.
Reeve, C. D. C. (1998) Plato, Cratylus: translated with introduction and notes. Indianapolis/Cambridge
Riginos, A. S. (1976) Platonica. Leiden
Robinson, D. (1995) ‘Ἐϱ⋯ν, οἘϱ⋯νου and Ἐϱoυν⋯ in Plato's Cratylus’, in L. Ayres (ed.), The Passionate Intellect. New Brunswick/London: 57–66
Robinson, R. (1955) ‘The theory of names in Plato's Cratylus’, Revue Internationale de Philosophie; repr. in Robinson, Essays in Greek Philosophy (Oxford, 1969), 100–73 (page numbers are cited from the latter)
Robinson, R. (1956) ‘A criticism of Plato's Cratylus’, Philosophical Review; repr. in Robinson, Essays in Greek Philosophy (Oxford, 1969), 118–38 (page numbers are cited from the latter)
Ross, W. D. (1955) ‘The date of Plato's Cratylus’, Revue Internationale de Philosophie 32: 187–96
Schofield, M. (1972) ‘A displacement in the text of the Cratylus’, Classical Quarterly 22: 246–53
Schofield, M. (1982) ‘The dénouement of the Cratylus’, in Schofield and Nussbaum (1982), 61–81
Schofield, M., M. Nussbaum (eds.) (1982) Language and Logos. Cambridge
Sedley, D. (1977) ‘Diodorus Cronus and Hellenistic philosophy’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 203: 74–120
Sedley, D. (1996) ‘Aristotle's De interpretatione and ancient semantics’, in G. Manetti (ed.) Knowledge through Signs: Ancient Semiotic Theories and Practices. Brussels: 87–108
Sedley, D. (1998a) ‘The etymologies in Plato's Cratylus’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 118: 140–54
Sedley, D. (1998b) ‘Platonic causes’, Phronesis 43: 114–32
Sedley, D. (1999) ‘The ideal of godlikeness’, in G. Fine (ed.) Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul (Oxford Readings in Philosophy). Oxford: 309–28
Sedley, D. (2002) ‘Socratic irony in the Platonist commentators’, in Annas and Rowe (2002), 37–57
Sedley, D. (forthcoming) The Midwife of Platonism: Text and Subtext in Plato's Theaetetus. Oxford
Silverman, A. (1992), ‘Plato's Cratylus: the naming of nature and the nature of naming’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 10: 25–72
Silverman, A. (2001) ‘The end of the Cratylus: limning the world’, Ancient Philosophy 21: 1–18
Valenti, V. (1998) ‘Una variante d’autore: Plat. Crat. 437 d 10–438 a 2’, Studi Classici e Orientali 46.3: 769–831
Vlastos, G. (1954) ‘The Third Man argument in the Parmenides’, Philosophical Review 63: 319–49; repr. in R. E. Allen (ed.) Studies in Plato's Metaphysics (London, 1965), 231–63
Wardy, R. (1996) The Birth of Rhetoric. London/New York
Weingartner, R. H. (1973) The Unity of the Platonic Dialogue: The Cratylus, the Protagoras, the Parmenides. Indianapolis/New York
West, M. L. (2002), ‘Seventeen distorted mirrors in Plato’, Classical Quarterly 52: 380–1
White, F. C. (1978) ‘Gosling on ta polla kala’, Phronesis 23: 127–32
Wildberg, C. (1993) ‘Simplicius und das Zitat. Zur Überlieferung des Anführungszeichens’, in F. Berger et al. (eds.) Symbolae Berolinenses für Dieter Harlfinger. Amsterdam: 187–99
Williams, B. (1982) ‘Cratylus’ theory of names and its refutation’, in Schofield and Nussbaum (1982), 83–93
Wohlfahrt, P. (1990) ‘L’etimologia del nome Hades nel “Cratilo”. Contributo allo studio della religione in Platone’, Rivista di storia della filosofia 45: 5–35
Young, C. M. (1994) ‘Plato and computer dating’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 12: 227–50

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.