Plato’s dialogue Cratylus focuses on being and human dependence on words, or the essential truths about the human condition. Arguing that comedy is an essential part of Plato’s concept of language, S. Montgomery Ewegen asserts that understanding the comedic is key to an understanding of Plato’s deeper philosophical intentions. Ewegen shows how Plato’s view of language is bound to comedy through words and how, for Plato, philosophy has much in common with playfulness and the ridiculous. By tying words, language, and our often uneasy relationship with them to comedy, Ewegen frames a new reading of this notable Platonic dialogue.
Table of Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. First Words
2. Marking the Limits
3. A Question of Inheritance
4. The Nature of Nature
5. Technological Language
6. A Homeric Inheritance
7. What Words Will
8. The Tragedy of Cratylus
Conclusion: The Comedy of the Cratylus
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
S. Montgomery Ewegen is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College.
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