What are Socrates ’ aims and strategies in the Cratylus? Does Socrates seek to convince his interlocutors that there is a source of linguistic correctness, which goes beyond human agreement, and which really determines whether the name of something is the correct name? Or does Socrates seek to achieve the opposite? What strategies does Socrates use, and why? These questions are central to my thesis, which offer s a new interpretation of Plato’s Cratylus . In the thesis I argue that Socrates really does seek to convince his interlocutors that there is a “natural correctness of names” , but that he does so in a very special way, which is closely linked to the specific characters and views of his interlocutors.