Theaetetus, 182d1-5: Cratylian Semantic Processualism

In Tht. 179d-183c, Plato expounds the view of some Heraclitean zealots (Cratylus is arguably one of them) who claim that everything always flows in every respect. I shall focus my paper to a piece of this passage, namely Tht. 182c-e, esp. 182d1-5. I expect to draw some philosophical lessons from Cratylus’ thesis that semantic processualism (meanings are in flux) follows from ontological processualism (worldly objects are in flux). The first part of this paper will be devoted to an analysis of Plato’s text and its readings in the scholarly literature, and the second to philosophy of language. In this last part, I shall offer a philosophical argument in favour of Cratylus’ semantic processualism based on Quine’s incrustability of reference.