Plato and the Origins of Linguistic Philosophy

Subject Areas : Epistemological researches

سیدحمید طالب زاده ¹ , مالک شجاعی جشوقانی ²

1 - دانشیار گروه فلسفه دانشگاه تهران
2 - دانشجوی دکتری فلسفه معاصر دانشگاه تهران

Received: 2015-05-22 Accepted : 2015-05-22 Published : 2012-06-21

Keywords: Etymology, Plato, Cratylus, naturism, conventionalism,

Abstract :

In comparison to existence-based and cognition-based philosophy, contemporary philosophy, especially analytical philosophy, is known as language-based philosophy.  However we can trace the origins of philosophical views on language to the early history of philosophy. The first serious philosophical reflection on language could be found in Socratic dialogues, especially in Cratylus. In this dialogue Plato, by adopting etymological approach particularly based on his own theory of forms, criticizes the two main views on language and reality, i.e. the views based on extremist naturism and extremist conventionalism. Cratylus argues that the names of things always indicate the nature of the things, Plato rejects this idea and believes that it is not a linguistic way but it goes beyond that. This way is completely different from the Wittgenstein’s proposition: “the limits of my language mean the limits of my world”.

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