The Question of False Lógos in the Euthydemus and its Solution in the Sophist

Abstract

The question of false speech in Plato is raised in the Euthydemus but its fullest elaboration is to be found in the Sophist This paper aims to show that Plato could not, in the context of the Euthydemus, solve the question of false speech, since such a solution depends upon a profound change in his ontology that happens only in the Sophist. In the Euthydemus he conceives of lógos as a combination of names which corresponds to, but is not identical with, the combination that occurs in reality. The distinction between lógos and pragma constitutes one of the keys to a definitive solution of the question of false speech.