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Single Idea 13791
[filed under theme 5. Theory of Logic / F. Referring in Logic / 1. Naming / a. Names
]
Full Idea
If things cannot be learned except from their names, how can we possibly claim that the name-givers or rule-setters have knowledge before any names had been given for them to know?
Gist of Idea
Things must be known before they are named, so it can't be the names that give us knowledge
Source
Plato (Cratylus [c.375 BCE], 438b)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Complete Works', ed/tr. Cooper,John M. [Hackett 1997], p.153
A Reaction
Running through this is a hostility to philosophy of language, so I find it very congenial. We are animals who relate to the world before language takes a grip. We have full-blown knowledge of things, with no intervention of words.
Related Idea
Idea 13789
Anyone who knows a thing's name also knows the thing [Plato]
The
19 ideas
from 'Cratylus'
13776
|
Truths say of what is that it is, falsehoods say of what is that it is not
[Plato]
|
13772
|
Is the being or essence of each thing private to each person?
[Plato]
|
13774
|
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
|
Good people are no different from wise ones
[Plato]
|
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
|
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
|
How can beauty have identity if it changes?
[Plato]
|
13792
|
There can't be any knowledge if things are constantly changing
[Plato]
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