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Single Idea 13775
[filed under theme 7. Existence / E. Categories / 2. Categorisation
]
Full Idea
If we undertake to cut something and make the cut in whatever way we choose and with whatever tool we choose, we will not succeed. If we cut according to the nature of cutting and being cut, and with the natural tool, we'll succeed and cut correctly.
Gist of Idea
We only succeed in cutting if we use appropriate tools, not if we approach it randomly
Source
Plato (Cratylus [c.377 BCE], 387a)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.104
A Reaction
I take this passage to be the creed for realists about the physical world - a commitment not merely to the existence of an external world, but to the existence of facts about it, which we may or may not be able to discover.
Related Ideas
Idea 7953
Reasoning needs to cut nature accurately at the joints [Plato]
Idea 13777
A name is a sort of tool [Plato]
Idea 3123
Science is in the business of carving nature at the joints [Segal]
The
19 ideas
from 'Cratylus'
13776
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Truths say of what is that it is, falsehoods say of what is that it is not
[Plato]
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13772
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Is the being or essence of each thing private to each person?
[Plato]
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13774
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Things don't have every attribute, and essence isn't private, so each thing has an essence
[Plato]
|
13775
|
We only succeed in cutting if we use appropriate tools, not if we approach it randomly
[Plato]
|
13777
|
A name is a sort of tool
[Plato]
|
13778
|
A dialectician is someone who knows how to ask and to answer questions
[Plato]
|
13779
|
The natural offspring of a lion is called a 'lion' (but what about the offspring of a king?)
[Plato]
|
13780
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Good people are no different from wise ones
[Plato]
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13781
|
Soul causes the body to live, and gives it power to breathe and to be revitalized
[Plato]
|
13783
|
Even the gods love play
[Plato]
|
13785
|
'Arete' signifies lack of complexity and a free-flowing soul
[Plato]
|
13786
|
Wisdom is called 'beautiful', because it performs fine works
[Plato]
|
13787
|
Doesn't each thing have an essence, just as it has other qualities?
[Plato]
|
13788
|
If we made a perfect duplicate of Cratylus, there would be two Cratyluses
[Plato]
|
13789
|
Anyone who knows a thing's name also knows the thing
[Plato]
|
13790
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A name-giver might misname something, then force other names to conform to it
[Plato]
|
13791
|
Things must be known before they are named, so it can't be the names that give us knowledge
[Plato]
|
2063
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How can beauty have identity if it changes?
[Plato]
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13792
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There can't be any knowledge if things are constantly changing
[Plato]
|