Some guidelines for the use of names of characters according to Plato’s Cratylus 392b-397b

• Main Author: Celso Vieira
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Coimbra University Press 2016-12-01
• Series: Humanitas
• Subjects: Nomes, Platão, Etimologia, Genealogia, linguagem.
• Online Access: http://impactum-journals.uc.pt/index.php/humanitas/article/view/2894
• ISSN: 0871-1569; 2183-1718

<p>In this paper we follow some arguments of the beginning of the Cratylus<br />(392b-397b) in order to extract some guidelines for making and using names of characters according to Plato. We will show how names may inform, which information they should safely convey and how to deal with the problem of the particularity of proper names in a philosophical investigation. The constitution of names goes hand in hand with the constitution of characters. Therefore, the guidelines will also serve to understand the essential characteristics of a character in a platonic<br />philosophical dialogue. We will see that names should inform about the local and intellectual origins of the characters. This will allow us to understand names as functional-hereditary terms. They inform about the origins of a character in order to show how he must think and act. We will also see a preference for avoiding the particularity implied in proper names and the advantage of putting them in the condition of a foreigner. These criteria would compose a perfect character to take part in a philosophical dialogue.</p>