Cratylus
Cratylus (/ˈkrætɪləs/ KRAT-il-əs; Ancient Greek: Κρατύλος, Kratylos) was an ancient Athenian philosopher from the mid-late 5th century BC, known mostly through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue Cratylus. He was a radical proponent of Heraclitean philosophy and influenced the young Plato.
Life
[edit]Little is known of Cratylus beyond his status as a disciple of Heraclitus of Ephesus, Asia Minor. Modern biographers have not reached consensus on his approximate date of birth, arguing alternately for an age comparable either to Plato or Socrates.[1] Cratylus is mentioned in Aristotle's Metaphysics in a passage which seems to imply that he was an established and active philosopher in Athens during the mid-late 5th century,[1] and that Plato was briefly interested in his teachings prior to aligning with Socrates.
Philosophy
[edit]In Cratylus' eponymous Platonic dialogue, the character of Socrates states Heraclitus' claim that one cannot step twice into the same stream.[2] According to Aristotle, Cratylus went a step beyond his master's doctrine and proclaimed that it cannot even be done once.[3]
Influence
[edit]The contemporary philosophy Cratylism is based on a reconstructed version of Cratylus' theories of flux and language as they appear in Plato's dialogue. It has been influential to Eastern thinkers, including Buddhist semioticians.[4] The Australian poet, academic, and literary critic Professor A. D. Hope published in 1979 a book of essays on poetry titled The New Cratylus..[5]
Cratylus is mentioned twice in Emmanuel Levinas's 1961 book, Totality And Infinity.[6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Debra Nails. The People of Plato: A prosopography of Plato and other Socratics. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2002, p. 105
- ^ Plato, Cratylus, 402a
- ^ Aristotle, Metaphysics, 4.5 1010a10-15
- ^ Fabio Rambelli. A Buddhist Theory of Semiotics. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013, p. 179
- ^ The New Cratylus: Notes on the Craft of Poetry, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1979
- ^ Levinas, Emmanuel (1969). Totality And Infinity. Translated by Lingis. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Duquesne University Press. pp. 60, 92. ISBN 978-0-8207-0245-2.
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