26. Several derivations of names are given by Sokrates, as founded upon the theory opposed to Herakleitus — i.e., the theory that things were not in perpetual flux, but stationary:—
Ἐπιστήμη — ὅτι ἵστησιν ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς πράγμασι τὴν ψυχήν.
Ἱστορία — ὅτι ἵστησι τὸν ῥοῦν.
Πιστὸν — ἱστᾷν παντάπασι σημαίνει.
Μνήμη — μονὴ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ (437 A-C).
27. We found before that some names of good attributes were founded on the Herakleitean theory. But there are also names of bad attributes founded on it.
Ἀμαθία = ἡ τοῦ ἅμα θεῷ ἰόντος πορεία.
Ἀκολασία = ἡ ἀκολουθία τοῖς πράγμασιν (p. 437 C).
Sokrates contrasts the two theories of στάσις and κίνησις, and says that he believes the first Name-Givers to have apportioned names in conformity to the theory of κίνησις, but that he thinks they were mistaken in adopting that theory (p. 439 C).
These transitions appear violent to a modern reader. They did not appear so to readers of Plato until this century. Modern discovery, that they are intended as caricatures to deride the Sophists.