321 
5. Errors of the Conventional (. Anomalistic ) and Con - 
nexional ( Analogistic ) Theories of Language . 
The foregoing line of thought will serve to clear the mind 
from any traces of the errors of the conventional and con- 
nexional theories of language. In the Kratylos Hermogenes, on 
the one hand, contends that “ There is no name given to any- 
thing by nature ; all is convention and habit of the users. The 
name of anything is that which any one affirms to be the name. 
Hellenes differ from Barbarians in their use of names, and the 
several Hellenic tribes from one another.” Aristotle is of this 
opinion, though how people could make agreements and con- 
ventions without language he does not explain. This crude 
a priori view which, as Prof. Jowett excellently remarks, “is 
one of those principles which explains everything and nothing,” 
when applied to the canine terms we have been considering, 
asserts that different men arbitrarily chose the names kwan , 
kalb , tesem , and lik , as appellations for the dog. But if kalb 
mean “ barker,” and dog “ runner,” then it is obvious that these 
names were not chosen arbitrarily ; and we are aware that all 
onomatopoetic names, and local * names, and very many personal 
names were given for reasons more or less obvious, and hence 
are not arbitrary. We should thus be at once driven to say 
that some words only were originally arbitrary ; and, in affirm- 
ing this unprovable proposition, we should be aware that we 
were doing no more than stating our ignorance of the particular 
principles which obtained in the formation of them. Sokrates, 
however, knowing no language but his own, and being etymolo- 
gically ignorant of the meanings of words (about which, how- 
ever, either in earnest or jest, he can, of course, guess to any 
extent), is compelled to disprove the absurd position of Her- 
mogenes by an abstract argument which comes to this : — 
Things have their distinct natures, and are independent of 
our notions about them. 
Actions also have distinct natures. 
There is a natural way of cutting or burning : any other way 
will fail 
This is true of all actions. 
But speaking is a kind of action, and naming a kind of 
speaking. 
We name, then, according to a natural process.f 
Therefore, names are not given by artificial convention. 
* “ Local names are never mere arbitrary sounds ” (Rev. Isaac Taylor, 
Words and Places, 1). 
t Vide Jowett, The Dialogues of Plato, ii. 174. 
