Note 9 — Chapter XXXI · KRATYLUS.
Reading edition
Plato, Kratyl. p. 388 C. Ὄνομα ἄρα διδασκαλικόν τί ἐστιν ὄργανον, καὶ διακριτικὸν τῆς οὐσίας, ὥσπερ κερκὶς ὑφάσματος. See Boethius ap. Schol. ad Aristot. Interp. p. 108, a. 40. Aristotle (De Interpr. iv. 3) says: ἔστι δὲ λόγος ἅπας μὲν σημαντικός, οὐχ ὡς ὄργανον δέ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ συνθήκην. Several even of the Platonic critics consider Plato’s choice of the metaphor ὄργανον as inappropriate: but modern writers on logic and psychology often speak of names as “instruments of thought”.