s of Hermogenes, Socrates, and Cratylus, the three theories of
language which are respectively maintained by them.

The two subordinate persons of the dialogue, Hermogenes and Cratylus,
are at the opposite poles of the argument. But after a while the
disciple of the Sophist and the follower of Heracleitus are found to be
not so far removed from one another as at first sight appeared; and both
show an inclination to accept the third view which Socrates interposes
between them. First, Hermogenes, the poor brother of the rich Callias,
expounds the doctrine that names are conventional; like the names of
slaves, they may be given and altered at pleasure. This is one of those
principles which, whether applied to society or language, explains
everything and nothing. For in all things there is an element of
convention; but the admission of this does not help us to understand
the rational ground or basis in human nature on which the convention
proceeds. Socrates first of all intimates to Hermogenes that his view of
language is only a part of a sophistical whole, and ultimately tends to
abolish the distinction between truth and falsehood. Hermogenes is very
ready to throw aside the sophistical tenet, and listens with a sort of
half admiration, half belief, to the speculations of Socrates.

Cratylus is of opinion that a name is either a true name or not a name
at all. He is unable to conceive of degrees of imitation; a word is
either the perfect expression of a thing, or a mere inarticulate sound
(a fallacy which is still prevalent among theorizers about the origin of
language). He is at once a philosopher and a sophist; for while wanting
to rest language on an immutable basis, he would deny the possibility
of falsehood. He is inclined to derive all truth from language, and in
language he sees reflected the philosophy of Heracleitus. His views are
not like those of Hermogenes, hastily taken up, but are said to be the
result of mature consideration, although he is described as still
a young man. With a tenacity characteristic of the Heracleitean
philosophers, he clings to the doctrine of the flux. (Compare Theaet.)
Of the real Cratylus we know nothing, except that he is recorded by
Aristotle to have been the friend or teacher of Plato; nor have we any
proof that he resembled the likeness of him in Plato any more than the
Critias of Plato is like the real Critias, or the Euthyphro in this
dialogue like the other Euthyphro, the divin