Plato's Cratylus (Cambridge Studies in the Dialogues of Plato)

Sedley, David

Cambridge University Press（2003/11発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 204 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780521584920
• DDC分類 184

基本説明

Presents a global reinterpretation of the Cratylus, which bears on the relationship of language to knowledge, a topic that has never ceased to be of central philosophical importance.

Full 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.

Contents

Preface; 1. Author and text; 2. Plato the etymologist; 3. Linguistic science; 4. Etymology at work; 5. The dominance of flux; 6. The limits of etymology; 7. A Platonic outcome; References; Index locorum; General index.