# Cratylus — Dialogues character guide

> Cratylus in Dialogues by Plato.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the real Cratylus

**First appearance:** 0021-cratylus

## Snapshot

A Heraclitean who insists names are not agreements but natural truths, and who will not let Socrates settle for the easy answer.

## Who they are

Cratylus holds that names belong to things by nature, the same for Greeks and barbarians, and that correctness in language is a real standard rather than a convention. His position is uncompromising and a little unnerving: if everything flows and words must capture it, then even speaking becomes precarious. He matters because he pushes Socrates past ordinary definitions into the question of whether language can be true at all, setting the stakes for the whole inquiry.

## In the story

### [Cratylus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/cratylus)

Defends the natural correctness of names.

### [Cratylus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/cratylus)

Defends the natural correctness of names and Heraclitean flux.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/cratylus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters