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Single Idea 13791

[catalogued under 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.377 BCE], 438b)

Book Reference

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]