Abstract

FLOREZ, Alfonso. Hermeneutic Politics: Some Reflections on Plato's Cratylus. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2011, n.39, pp.119-134. ISSN 0123-885X.

Examining the dialogue in Cratylus from a dramatic perspective allows a new understanding of the work. Accordingly, in intermediating between Hermogenes and Cratylus, Socrates' main task is to overcome the injustice created by his interlocutors' improper use of language. To do so, Socrates must foment a degree of balance in the power relations between the two interlocutors in terms of language. This task will require, from the philosopher, heroic levels of fortitude and perseverance, which can only be reached in a state of divine inspiration. The journey through the so-called "etymological section" can then be understood as the deployment of the hermeneutic action, which is the only way that the relations of justice, as they appear in language, can be reconstituted.

Keywords : Plato; Cratylus; Hermeneutics; Political Philosophy in Classical Antiquity; Philosophy of Language in Classical Antiquity.

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