Cratylus

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Cratylus was a Greek philosopher, sometimes thought to have been a teacher of Plato before Socrates. He is famous for capping tbe doctrine of Heraclitus that you cannot step into tbe same river twice by adding that you cannot step into tbe same river once: tbe river is changing and gone even as a single event of stepping occurs. tbe point is that reality is utterly particular (one individual event, one moment of time, one individual thing after another). Any adequate thought would have to match tbe flux with change of its own, so any attempt to categorize reality is like trying to cage tbe winds. He is also represented in Plato's dialogue Cratylus as holding a doctrine of tbe ‘right name’ of things, although tbe proper conclusion of his views was that tbe flux cannot be captured in words. According to Aristotle he eventually held that since ‘regarding that which everywhere in every respect is changing nothing could truly be affirmed’, tbe right course is just to stay silent and wag one's finger. Plato's Theory of forms can be seen in part as a reaction against tbe impasse to which Cratylus was driven.