Abstract

The plot of the Cratylus, like that of the Protagoras, involves a striking contrast between the position which Socrates first appears to be defending, and the position he is maintaining at the end. And the intermediate sections share this mobility. No statement about the doctrine of the Cratylus can be truer than its contradiction, unless it is grounded in a recognition of this primary fact. Accordingly, a brief charting of the dialogue, in what I take to be its major divisions, will be my first task.