Cratylism: Difference between revisions
(Created page with "'''Cratylism''' as a philosophical theory reflects the teachings of the Athenian Cratylus (also transliterated as Kratylos), fl. mid to late 5th century BC.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Scissors of Meter: Grammetrics and Reading|last=Wesling|first=Donald|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=1999|isbn=0472107151|location=Ann Arbor|pages=[https://archive.org/details/scissorsofmeterg0000wesl/page/66 66]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/detai...") |
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Cratylus is more popularly known as [[Socrates]]' antagonist in [[Plato]]'s dialogue ''Cratylus''.<ref name=":0" /> | Cratylus is more popularly known as [[Socrates]]' antagonist in [[Plato]]'s dialogue ''Cratylus''.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
Cratylism is distinguished from | Cratylism is distinguished from linguisticiy by the problematic status of style: in a natural language, where a perfect connection is found between word and things, variations of style are no longer conceivable.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Language and the Renewal of Society in Walt Whitman, Laura (Riding) Jackson, and Charles Olson: The American Cratylus|last=Billitteri|first=Carla|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2009|isbn=9781349375240|location=New York|pages=7}}</ref> | ||
Gérard Genette divided the theory into primary and secondary Cratylism. The former is said to involve a general attempt to establish a motivated link between the signifier and the signified by inventing emotional values for certain sounds while the latter admits that language has fallen and that the signifier enjoys an arbitrary relation to the signified.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Assimilation/generation/resurrection: Contrapuntal Readings in the Poetry of José Lezama Lima|last=Heller|first=Ben|publisher=Bucknell University Press|year=1997|isbn=0838753477|location=Lewisburg|pages=44}}</ref> | Gérard Genette divided the theory into primary and secondary Cratylism. The former is said to involve a general attempt to establish a motivated link between the signifier and the signified by inventing emotional values for certain sounds while the latter admits that language has fallen, and that the signifier enjoys an arbitrary relation to the signified.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Assimilation/generation/resurrection: Contrapuntal Readings in the Poetry of José Lezama Lima|last=Heller|first=Ben|publisher=Bucknell University Press|year=1997|isbn=0838753477|location=Lewisburg|pages=44}}</ref> | ||
Cratylism reaches similar conclusions about the nature of reality and communication that [[Taoism]] and [[Zen Buddhism]] also confronted: how can a mind in flux, in a flowing world, hold on to any solid "truth" and convey it to another mind? [[Pyrrhonism]] is also similar with respect to its "undogmatic and relaxed use of words."<ref>Sextus Empiricus, "Outlines of Pyrrhonism", Book I, Chapter 34, Section 239</ref> | Cratylism reaches similar conclusions about the nature of reality and communication that [[Taoism]] and [[Zen Buddhism]] also confronted: how can a mind in flux, in a flowing world, hold on to any solid "truth" and convey it to another mind? [[Pyrrhonism]] is also similar with respect to its "undogmatic and relaxed use of words."<ref>Sextus Empiricus, "Outlines of Pyrrhonism", Book I, Chapter 34, Section 239</ref> | ||
Revision as of 19:57, 2 January 2023
Cratylism as a philosophical theory reflects the teachings of the Athenian Cratylus (also transliterated as Kratylos), fl. mid to late 5th century BC.[1] Cratylism holds that there is a natural relationship between words and what words designate.[2] Cratylus is more popularly known as Socrates' antagonist in Plato's dialogue Cratylus.[1]
Cratylism is distinguished from linguisticiy by the problematic status of style: in a natural language, where a perfect connection is found between word and things, variations of style are no longer conceivable.[3]
Gérard Genette divided the theory into primary and secondary Cratylism. The former is said to involve a general attempt to establish a motivated link between the signifier and the signified by inventing emotional values for certain sounds while the latter admits that language has fallen, and that the signifier enjoys an arbitrary relation to the signified.[4]
Cratylism reaches similar conclusions about the nature of reality and communication that Taoism and Zen Buddhism also confronted: how can a mind in flux, in a flowing world, hold on to any solid "truth" and convey it to another mind? Pyrrhonism is also similar with respect to its "undogmatic and relaxed use of words."[5]
A fellow-Greek sophist, Gorgias, expressed an equally ironic cul de sac conclusion about the nature of human epistemological understanding:
"Nothing exists. Even if something did exist, nothing can be known about it; and even if something can be known about it, knowledge about it cannot be communicated to others. And, finally, even if it can be communicated, it cannot be understood."[6]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wesling, Donald (1999). The Scissors of Meter: Grammetrics and Reading pp. 66. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472107151
- ↑ journal|last=Attardo|first=Salvatore|date=2002|title=Translation and Humour: An Approach Based on the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH)|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13556509.2002.10799131%7Cjournal=The Translator|language=en|volume=8|issue=2|pages=173–194|doi=10.1080/13556509.2002.10799131|s2cid=142611273 |issn=1355-6509
- ↑ Billitteri, Carla (2009). Language and the Renewal of Society in Walt Whitman, Laura (Riding) Jackson, and Charles Olson: The American Cratylus pp. 7. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781349375240
- ↑ Heller, Ben (1997). Assimilation/generation/resurrection: Contrapuntal Readings in the Poetry of José Lezama Lima pp. 44. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. ISBN 0838753477
- ↑ Sextus Empiricus, "Outlines of Pyrrhonism", Book I, Chapter 34, Section 239
- ↑ John Burnet, Greek Philosophy (1914), §96.