Mimetic Images in Plato’s Cratylus: The Role of Convention in Language and Art

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The topic of the Cratylus is on the correctness of names. Names are regarded as a kind of mimetic images in Plato’s Cratylus. As the dialogue proceeds, readers are introduced to the idea that language is mimesis. Socrates in the dialogue appeals to this idea when he discusses with either side in the dispute between Hermogenes’ conventionalism and Cratylus’ naturalism. Eventually he refutes both. In his refutations, names are compared to paintings (423d, 424d-425b, 430b-432d). Despite the differences between linguistic expressions and sensible representations (423c-e, 430b-d), both names and paintings are products of mimesis, sharing some common features of mimetic images. Although it is controversial whether Socrates endorses conventionalism or naturalism on the correctness of names, he consistently regards names as mimetic images throughout the dialogue.
Mimesis plays an important role in Plato’s aesthetics. The Cratylus is probably the first dialogue where mimesis starts to take on its role in Plato’s philosophy. It is worth exploring the dispute on language in the dialogue in terms of mimetic images. In this paper, the first section will investigate into the analogy of names and paintings to elucidate the common features which are shared by the two kinds of mimetic images. The famous “Two Cratyluses” argument (432a-c) declares clearly that images are images, and an image must not reproduce all details which are like what it is an image of. This entails that in every mimetic image, one may always find some elements like the original, and some elements unlike the original as well. The co-existence of like and unlike elements leads to the dependency on convention, which is introduced in determining names to their meanings, or assigning paintings to their presumed originals. The second section will go along the line and focus on the dependency on convention. The paper will argue that the correctness of mimetic images depends on convention on all occasions, albeit to different extents, as Plato conceived. With Socrates’ refutation of Cratylus’ naturalism on language, Plato draws our attention to the influence of convention in all cases of mimesis. The linguistic issue turns out to be the question how “convention” has its impact on mimesis in general. Convention works in our communication through images. These mimetic images, in language, in art, in all the surroundings, become Plato’s battlefield, when the philosopher is going to argue against the conventional views.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Abstract
• 1. Analogy of names and paintings
• 2. Dependency on convention in mimetic images
• Bibliography