A investigação imediata: o papel da linguagem na investigação filosófica segundo Platão

Abstract

This research was dedicated to the discussion of a point of contention in Plato's philosophy of language. In effect, it delas with the final question of the Cratylus when Socrates exhorts his interlocutors to investigate things through themselves and not through their names (439b). This quite enigmatic position promptly raises the question of the participation of language in this type of investigation: is there really any participation at all in it or should one resort to some kind of linguistic intuition of things? In order to answer this question, we begin by reconstructing the immediate context of the linguistic discussion in which Cratylus is inserted. Then, in the second chapter, we sought to observe how the question of the investigation of things through themselves arises within the dialogue, making use of an analysis of the positions of the interlocutors. Finally, 3 models for its interpretation present in the various consulted authors were exposed. And in this exposition, we sought to derive the strengths and weaknesses of each model as they attempt to resolve the issues raised in the analysis of the dialogue. Once that was completed, the possibility of a fourth model able to remedy many of the deficiencies observed in other models was presented. If this reading hypothesis is correct, the investigation without names deals with a return to the formal aspect of the discourse that is to be found within the investigator in a silent manner