Abstract

Accounts of the Cratylus' historical sources, which focus typically on philosophers and sophists, have yet to explain why etymology has such a pivotal role in the dialogue. Based on extant evidence one may treat Plato's discussion of etymology as a critical response to techniques and assumptions that were of central importance to a non-philosophical, literary tradition. Plato's initial positing of $\tau\acute\varepsilon\chi\nu\eta$ status for naming, based on criteria advanced in the Gorgias, is followed by a sustained challenge thereto. Recognition of this dynamic goes a long way toward addressing scholars' persistent concern with the Cratylus' apparent lack of cohesion. Though the dialogue's emphasis is negative, at the end Plato offers hints of his own metaphysical theory and associated view of appropriateness in naming. ;He develops these clues in the Phaedo, where the notions of naturalness and appropriateness are tied directly to Platonic metaphysics. The literary tradition's handling of eponymy constitutes a precedent for Plato's use of it to treat questions of appropriateness. Having rejected etymology in the Cratylus, in the Phaedo Plato revises eponymy based on his metaphysical theory. The most fundamental and closest links between the two dialogues do not rest on the use of Forms per se; they center instead on the notions of naturalness and appropriateness, whose treatment in the Phaedo is closely tied to Forms. ;In the Sophist and Politicus, Plato concentrates on mutual relations between Forms. Connections between the Cratylus and these dialogues do not rest on a shared interest in $\delta\iota\alpha\acute\iota \rho\varepsilon\sigma\iota\varsigma$, which plays no significant role in the former. Instead, issues of naturalness and appropriateness link the Cratylus closely to writings in which $\delta\iota\alpha\acute\iota \rho\varepsilon\sigma\iota\varsigma$ is a prominent methodology and the framework for Plato's handling of both concepts. This study depicts the Cratylus as playing an important role in the development of notions which are key to Platonic metaphysics and semantics in the middle and late dialogues. As a result, it permits the Cratylus to be incorporated differently and more solidly than before in the Platonic corpus as a whole