Name
The song that comes to mind when you say "name" is Godiego's "Beautiful Name". The lyrics are "one of him on one earth". Speaking of "one for each person", the dolphin's "well-rounded life". Speaking of "each person has a different seed", SMAP's "Only one flower in the world".
"name" in English. If you forget to switch "hiragana" to "alphanumeric" and type it, it will be "name". I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought, "Name, name? They look alike." "nōmen (noun)" in Latin. "nāman" in Sanskrit. "nómn̥." in Old Indo-European. Given that not only Indo-European languages but also Japanese are similar, I think it's common for human beings to call "names" "names" (or similar sounds) (laughs). In the original Japanese, it is "na". It is said that it is not known why "before" was added ("Shinmeikai Etymology Dictionary").
Cratylus - On the Correctness of Names-
The subtitle is "On the Correctness of Names".
Two young men, Hermogenes and Cratylus, came to consult Socrates. Hermogenes was the son of a distinguished family, but he was not the son of his legal wife, so he seems to have been poor. Cratylus is also the son of a somewhat wealthy family who owns land in the countryside, and is about to leave Athens to take control of that land.
It seems that Hermogenes is being bullied by Cratylus because of his name. It must have been "Kira Kira Name". He was told by Cratylus, "No, at least for you, 'Hermogenes' is not your name, even if that's what people all over the world call you" (383, p.4). Cratylus argues that
The correctness of a name is inherently fixed for each thing. (383, P.4)
. Parents who give a sparkling name, so the child's Hermogenes is free. He
because there is no such thing as a name that is inherently fixed to each thing. Rather, it seems to me, that names are made up of the conventions and customs of those who use and call them. (384, P.7)
Hermogenes thinks that names are given arbitrarily, and Cratylus thinks that names represent the nature of things. As the Japanese proverb says, “Your name reflects your body.”
Does the name describe the body?
"Inu" in Japanese is "dog" in English. Isn't it obvious that the name does not represent the essence of the thing? But Socrates
Indeed, perhaps there is a point in what you say, O Hermogenes. (384, P.8)
Start the discussion.
Thus, even when we name things--if we are to agree with what has been said--we should not name them as we please, but rather that the act of naming things and the things Shouldn't it be named in a way that suits the nature of the named action, with tools that suit it? And if we do so, we shall have succeeded and named it; otherwise, shall it not be the opposite? (387, P.17)
You can choose whatever name you want, but the correct way to name it is to match it with your nature.
As for various tools, it is said that the proper name is given by a professional (legislator), just as it is appropriate for the nature of the tool to be created by a professional in the field. .
Classical Greek Ogiri
From here Socrates derives the names of various great men, gods, the sun, the moon, air, beauty, goodness, justice, etc. Nouns, common nouns, adjectives, etc.) will show how they express their nature. It's like watching Ogiri, Riddle, or classic rakugo. For how good it is, I'd love for him to read it.
Socrates' (Plato's) way of thinking seems like a pun. Even if it's not a pun, thoughts are often pulled by words (words). Words carry concepts, but they are basically "sounds", so I think words with the same or similar sound values will pull the meaning of each other. It's a nuance or an association.
If a picture is drawn correctly with paints, it captures the essence of the object. What about those who copy [essence]? Again, by the same reasoning, if he ascribes all that is proper to a thing, the copy, or name, will be good; If I had to add, I would probably be able to make a copy, but I doubt that I would be able to make a good one. And wouldn't the result be that some names are well made and some are badly made? (431, p.145)
But the pictures and names do not tell the whole story.
Yeah, anyway, if a name is similar in every way to what the name is it's name, the latter is a joke for the name because you'll be forced to meet Because everything would end up in twos, and you wouldn't be able to tell which one was the original and which one was the name. (432, P.148)
This story is also connected to Benjamin's "reproduction art." The relationship between what is written and what is written is also the relationship between Saussure's signifier and signifier. Humans tend to get it wrong. That's why we can do a program called "anything appraisal team" and also something like "VR (virtual reality)". VR is enjoying the misunderstanding, and it is also an escape from reality (existence, existence).
On the other hand, in the case of the qualitative and all kinds of imitations, the correctness On the contrary, if we want to obtain a copy, we are allowed to attribute to it [reproduce] all the traits that the original has. I don't think it's even possible. (432, p. 146)
We must not accept that names are spelled and written representations of things. (433, P.149)
It is not ``difficult'' to perfectly express all the characteristics of the original, It is not (cannot),” Socrates seems to think.
In this work, I feel the impossibility of ``knowing (targeting)'' ``existence (itself)'', the Greeks' sense of awe toward nature, and the influence of Greek natural philosophy.
That is, that things should be learned and explored by themselves, not by their names, but much more so than by their names. I know. (439, P.166)
To give a name, or to give a name, is related to human recognition itself.
Does everything change?
Then, if it were to constantly slip away little by little, would we speak to it by its right name? ] Will it be possible? First, to be that, and then to be like that. Or is it inevitable that the moment we say it, it will be something else, it will dodge and run away, and it will no longer be what it says it is? (439, P.167-168)
If, like Heraclitus, "everything is in flux" (moving and changing), can we recognize it? I have a question. "Everything changes" is the "impermanence of all things" at the beginning of The Tale of the Heike, and it may be an idea that is easy for Japanese to accept, but Socrates says that it will not be possible to recognize (define, conceptualize) it.
No, not only that, but something like that would be unrecognizable by anyone. For the moment the one who seeks to know approaches it, it becomes something else and of a different nature, so that what it is or what state it is in is not known. , it will no longer be recognized. And no cognition would know if the object it intended to cognize had no definite character. (439, P.168)
Furthermore, if all things are in flux,
and even claim that there is no cognition. would make sense. O Cratylus, if all things are changing, and nothing stays the same. For if this thing itself--i.e., cognition--does not change from being cognition, then cognition will always remain and will be cognition. (440, P168-169)
And Socrates presents a solution to this.
But if, on the one hand, there is always the perceiving [subject of cognition], and on the other the perceiving [object], there is always beauty. , if there is good, and if each of the things that are there [always] exist, then these things we have just mentioned bear nothing at all like flow or movement. One thing is clear to me. (440, P.169)
Beauty and goodness (ideas, etc.) exist as "immutable" things as long as we perceive them. Here Socrates says that there is also the "perceived", but what is in front of it is "obviously" changing. If we call the former the ``ideal world'' and the latter the ``phenomenal world'', then this is Kant's ``phenomenal world/wisdom world,'' and Buddhism's ``color/name,'' ``substance (body)/spirit,'' and ``objective world. There are various (philosophical and epistemological) problems such as (object)/subject, or "this world/the other world" (that's crazy).
Finally, Socrates says,
So, O Cratylus, the facts may or may not be so. So you must be brave and considerate enough. It should not be accepted lightly. (440, P.170)
Cratylus,
Let it be so, O Socrates. However, I ask you to continue to make an effort to think about this problem next time. (440, P.170)
and leave.
I have read some of Plato's works, but this is the first time that Socrates finished without convincing his opponent, or without his opponent running away (?). Cratylus is believed to belong to Plato's early works (translator's commentary, p.424), so it may be said that it was a work of a period when "theory of ideas" had not yet matured.
Linguistics?
What is strange to me is that Socrates tells the story of "words" on the same level as the story of "writing", that is, "writing". Phonology is about "words" and "pronunciation," but if you spell it out, it's about letters.
Socrates is famously opposed to letters.
Actually, Phaedrus, there is, I think, the following difficulty in writing, and the circumstances seem to be very similar to those in painting. is. That is to say, when you look at the creation of a painting, it stands as if it were alive, but when you ask it something, it is arrogant and silent and does not answer. The written word is the same. . . . And any word, once written down, wanders from one place to another, whether to those who understand it or to those who are utterly inadequate. . And it is not possible to speak only to those who must be spoken to and remain silent to those who are not. (『Phaedros ``Plato Vol. If, like the Egyptians, they had created the art of writing to symbolize ideas, writing would have become a kind of art, like speaking, and would have been respected accordingly. It would have been natural and not conventional. In this way, the relationship between spoken language and written language would have become, to an even degree, clear. That there is a necessary connexion between words and ideas has been asserted by a school of Greek thinkers. A name was conceived as an exact image of what it is, an imitation with sound--the perfect correspondence between sound and meaning. However, although the theory of pictorial language as an expression of thought has often been recognized, the idea that writing itself may have come from pictorial symbols, which were originally artistic imitations of objects, has long been recognized by the Greeks. did not come to mind. They have learned from the Ponyceans that their meaning is not readily apparent, their use is mechanical, and their relationship with others is at first almost purely commercial, a mark of their success in a set that is stereotyped. I received a hard letter. Therefore, written letters were for them from the very beginning stamped with utilitarianism, and kept as far away from art as possible. (Bucher, Aspects of the Greek Spirit, Iwanami Bunko, December 14, 1940, P.159-160) and between words and ideas (or between words and objects) letters enter.
We are used to understanding things with letters. I'm also used to moving emotions with letters. Not only in movies and news, but also in variety shows, variously decorated telops are displayed, amplifying the emotions of fear, anger, and laughter.
The "crying woman" at a funeral and the "audience's laughter" in a variety show convey the "intent" of the producer (organizer), just like BGM. The intention is to "cry here" and "laugh here".
Recently, when I read a book, I feel that I am reading a lot of letters in my head. How about you? Especially when "unreadable kanji" comes out, when the alphabet comes out. When I say "sound", I don't mean the actual sound. It is clear from the fact that I feel uncomfortable when the works I read in novels and comics become movies and dramas.
Then, I'm not sure if words are sounds. I don't think deaf people (I don't know about handicapped people) are communicating through sound when they are conversing in sign language. Communication without sound (reading) is not a matter of course. I have heard that until the Middle Ages, the Bible was written in Latin with "only consonants". At that time, "reading" meant "vocalizing," so readers were always inserting vowels as they read. "Silent reading" is a much later habit. However, if it becomes commonplace for letters to be sounds, it may become difficult to know whether you are reading with sound. I think it's similar to the difference between understanding English as it is when you hear it, and understanding it after translating it into Japanese. That's about all I can come up with.
The difference, or rather, the misconception that "words represent consciousness itself" leads to the "misunderstanding" that "characters represent words themselves". increase.
In the incident that is said to have been caused by SNS, there is a commentator (expert) who says, "The evils of the network society," but he has the experience that "I got my thoughts through a love letter." I guess The idea that you can (possibly) objectify your thoughts, whether it be through SNS or letters, is the same as Socrates' idea that a name can (possibly) express the nature (essence) of a thing. it might be.
Is there an idea (exists)? Thinking of words in terms of letters (spellings) means that the object of recognition can be fixed (identity). In other words, it is the same as being able to stand still. Plato's theory of ideas and Aristotle's logic, which criticized and elaborated on it, also stand on this premise.
Socrates had to say that along with beauty and goodness, the ``concrete flower'' is also recognizable, so that it is taken as immutable.
However, taking the ``beauty of flowers'' as an object in addition to the ``beautiful concrete flowers'' is the same as taking God as an object of thought. I think it is to misunderstand (things that come to mind, things that you imagine, things that you feel) as "the object itself."
After accumulating the number of things and devising everything, you should know the place where the flower does not disappear.” There is a beautiful “flower”, there is no such thing as the beauty of a “flower” . The modern aesthetist who worries about the ambiguity of his notion of "flower" is just being made a fool of. He says that it is better to modify the movement of ideas according to the movement of the body, because the former movement is much more subtle and profound than the latter movement. (Hideo Kobayashi "Toma" Chikuma Shobo Complete Works of Japanese Literature 42 "Collection of Hideo Kobayashi" 1970/11/01 P.366)
I always want to paint "girls' cuteness" I think. But I can only draw "pretty girls". I also know that the paintings of famous painters convey femininity and the misery of war. But it's just a "bump of paint" for a dog. "People on TV" are not "humans". The incidents broadcast on television are not “incidents”. Books are "paper and ink stains".
It is only because you are in such a "culture" that you find "life lessons", are moved, and are lustful. The reason why I can't get anything out of a book written in Sanskrit is because I can't read Sanskrit. It's just because you're growing up.
I can understand the haiku of Basho Matsuo. The 17-syllable haiku, "An old pond and the sound of water when a frog jumps in," evokes a certain scene in me. In Japan's humid climate, there is an old pond among the plants (probably unaffected by pesticides), and the sound of a frog jumping into it. Maybe there are no human voices. I feel like a momentary event in the stillness of the night. Summer is the season. But the nights are filled with cool air. It feels heavy with moisture. plants and air. It may not be "quiet". Other frogs may be crying loudly. But what you hear is the popping sound of a frog jumping in. The scene may differ from person to person.
Is it possible to translate Basho's haiku into English? Seventeen syllables probably won't do it, but I think I can explain the sound of a frog jumping into an old pond. However, I think that the scene that comes to mind is different. The scene may not come to mind for those who live in the desert. It's an oasis in the desert if you can think of it. But I think it's arrogant to say that it is possible, should be, and should be the same for people from all cultures and countries. But isn't that the theory of ideas?
Idea (concept) and materialization
Deriving the “beauty of flowers” from various “beautiful flowers” is what we call mathematics. This is the "induction method" that I learned (it is different from "mathematical induction method"). And it is (later) "deductive thinking" to think that "beauty" makes each flower beautiful. My image is that the former is ascending thinking approaching the world of ideas (Aristotle's ἐπαγωγή, ἐπί leads upward + ἄγω), and the latter is descending thinking toward the real world (Cicero's deductio, leading +duco from de). is. What can be obtained by ascending thinking is "idea" and "(abstract) concept" or "kind". As symbolic in Euclidean geometry, downward thinking begins with definitions, postulates, and axioms, from which various propositions (theorems) are derived. The same picture can be found in the way laws are made and applied in different cases. Science derives laws from various observations and experiments (induction), and then applies those laws to concrete cases (deduction). This is what is called reductionism. It breaks down the whole into its parts, and if you understand the parts, you can understand the whole.
These (inductive and deductive) usages were used by Plato and Aristotle in classical Greece, and after they were transmitted to Rome, they were further influenced by Christianity in the Middle Ages, and have been passed down to modern times. And it looks like there have been some changes. I don't know who used it because I didn't study enough, but there is no doubt that such a rising and falling scheme continues to this day. And the above-mentioned "Spirit-Material Schema" was created in this ascending and descending Schema.
They can be symbolized in ideology. I'll give you an example. Suppose that the idea (appearance) of "girl's cuteness" is inducted from various girls. Individual girls can be seen and touched (although they get angry). However, the “cuteness of girls” cannot be seen or touched. As soon as it is expressed as a concrete "certain girl", it ceases to be an idea (form). Because other girls are different from "certain girls", so they are not ideas (forms). society as a whole. When we decompose it into individual human beings, the idea (form) of society does not exist in individual human beings.
The voices of the characters in a novel are an idea that no one else has. Therefore, as soon as a translator who has a concrete sound acts, it becomes "someone's voice" and ceases to be an idea.
The gulf between ideas (forms/concepts) and concrete things is decisive. The aforementioned distance between objects, letters, words, and ideas is decisive. In order to overcome this "interval (distance)", we use "induction and deduction", but the "induction and deduction scheme" itself creates that "interval (distance)". The "inductive/deductive schema" converges with "the observer/consider and the thing (object) that is observed/considered", that is, the "subject/object schema". The true nature of "between" (distance, groove, wall) is the absolute space between "human and nature" and "I and you". In other words, as long as I make you “you” and you make me “you,” it is an insurmountable space.
Socrates Plato is easy to understand
Socrates Plato is very easy to understand if you try to understand it, if you consider it. It's hard to say "difficult", but if you read it, you'll understand. There are a lot of manuals, so if you read it, you will understand. If there is something I don't understand, it's because of the "era (history)", which is on par with the difficulty of The Tale of Genji.
The reason why I know is because the way of thinking is the same. This is because the method of creating and considering the self and the object is the same. People say things like, "Philosophy is difficult," "I don't understand mathematics," and "I don't understand science." There may be various reasons for that, but there is no change in thinking in the same way.
And as long as you are filming with that way of thinking, you will never know anything about nature, including yourself. I can never understand you and you can never understand me.
So we must shout to each other "love" and "mercy" and "compassion". I never know what they are, but I've been taught to think of them as important things that shouldn't be denied (or lost). This is because we have been taught that thinking that way is “correct” and “justice.” This is because I was born and raised in a society where such a scheme is dominant.
There are two reasons for reading Socrates Plato now. The first is to instill this “main-customer scheme” into one’s own body. The other is to capture the modern society caused by the "subject-object scheme" as a "subject-object scheme" and envision "another society" and "another way of thinking."
I don't think so. It makes me want to think that modern society is the pinnacle that humans have reached. However, it is to think that "I" is the best, to think that modern Western society is the best, and to think that human beings are the best. I regret every day that this is very arrogant, and that it is to pretend not to see other people in trouble, developing countries, savages, and nature being destroyed.
I feel that the fact that Socrates was unable to refute Cratylus is a hint.