Cratylus

by Plato, C.D.C. Reeve (Translator)

"It is. . . remarkable that Reeve's is the first new English translation since Fowler's Loeb edition of 1926. Fortunately, Reeve has done an excellent job. His version is not slavishly literal but is in general very accurate. It is also very clear and readable. Reeve is particularly to be congratulated for having produced versions of some of the more torturous passages, which are not only faithful to the text but also make good sense in English. The long and detailed introduction is worth reading in its own right." --R. F. Stalley, The Classical Review

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Nonfiction, Ancient, Linguistics, Language, Ancient History

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 351

About the author

Plato (Greek: Πλάτων), born Aristocles (c. 427 – 348 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy, and was the founder of the Platonic Academy, a philosophical school in Athens where Plato taught the doctrines that would later become known as Platonism.
Plato's most famous contribution is the theory of forms (or ideas), which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. He was decisively influenced by the pre-Socratic thinkers Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides, although much of what is known about them is derived from Plato himself.
Along with his teacher Socrates, and Aristotle, his student, Plato is a central figure in the history of philosophy. Plato's entire body of work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years—unlike that of nearly all of his contemporaries. Although their popularity has fluctuated, they have consistently been read and studied through the ages. Through Neoplatonism, he also greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy. In modern times, Alfred North Whitehead famously said: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato."

Reviews

[Melika Khoshnezhad]

موضوع این رساله‌ی افلاطون واژه‌ها و ریشه‌‌یابی آنهاست. به همین دلیل به نظرم بهترین حالت خواندنش این است که به زبان یونانی خوانده شود. چون نه خواندنش به زبان فارسی و نه انگلیسی به فهم ریشه‌ی واژه‌های یونانی، اسامی خداهای یونانی و غیره کمک نمی‌کند.