Arguing over Texts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Camper
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Ambiguous Words ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Textual Meaning

Arguing over Texts presents a rhetorical method for analyzing how people disagree over the meaning of texts and how they attempt to reconcile those disagreements through argument. The book recovers and adapts a classification of recurring types of disagreement over textual meaning, invented by ancient Greek and Roman teachers of rhetoric: the interpretive stases. Drawing on the rhetorical works of Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and Hermogenes, the book devotes a chapter to each of the six interpretive stases, which classify issues concerning ambiguous words and phrases, definitions of terms, clashes between the text’s letter and its spirit, internal contradictions, applications of the text to novel cases, and the authority of the interpreter or the text itself. From the dispute over Phillis Wheatley’s allegedly self-racist poetry to the controversy over whether some of Abraham Lincoln’s letters provide evidence he was gay, the book offers examples from religion, politics, history, literary criticism, and law to illustrate that the interpretive stases can be employed to analyze debates over texts in virtually any sphere. In addition to its classical rhetorical foundation, the book draws on research from modern rhetorical theory and language science to elucidate the rhetorical, linguistic, and cognitive grounds for the argumentative construction of textual meaning. The method presented in this book thus advances scholars’ ability to examine the rhetorical dynamics of textual interpretation, to trace the evolution of textual meaning, and to explore how communities ground their beliefs and behaviors in texts.

The Periodic System

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Scerri
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Platonic Solid ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Platonic Solids ◽  
System P ◽  
Chemical Inertness ◽  
Dimensional Shape ◽  
The Many

In ancient Greek times, philosophers recognized just four elements—earth, water, air, and fire—all of which survive in the astrological classification of the 12 signs of the zodiac. At least some of these philosophers believed that these different elements consisted of microscopic components with differing shapes and that this explained the various properties of the elements. These shapes or structures were believed to be in the form of Platonic solids (figure 1.1) made up entirely of the same two-dimensional shape. The Greeks believed that earth consisted of microscopic cubic particles, which explained why it was difficult to move earth. Meanwhile, the liquidity of water was explained by an appeal to the smoother shape possessed by the icosahedron, while fire was said to be painful to the touch because it consisted of the sharp particles in the form of tetrahedra. Air was thought to consist of octahedra since that was the only remaining Platonic solid. A little later, a fifth Platonic solid, the dodecahedron, was discovered, and this led to the proposal that there might be a fifth element or “quintessence,” which also became known as ether. Although the notion that elements are made up of Platonic solids is regarded as incorrect from a modern point of view, it is the origin of the very fruitful notion that macroscopic properties of substances are governed by the structures of the microscopic components of which they are comprised. These “elements” survived well into the Middle Ages and beyond, augmented with a few others discovered by the alchemists, the precursors of modern-day chemists. One of the many goals of the alchemists seems to have been the transmutation of elements. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the particular transmutation that most enticed them was the attempt to change the base metal lead into the noble metal gold, whose unusual color, rarity, and chemical inertness have made it one of the most treasured substances since the dawn of civilization.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Grethlein ◽  
Luuk Huitink ◽  
Aldo Tagliabue
Keyword(s):  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Reading Habits ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Individual

This volume aims to pursue a new approach to ancient Greek narrative beyond the taxonomies of structuralist narratologies, focusing on the phenomenal and experiential dimension of our response to narrative and triangulating ancient narrative with ancient criticism and cognitive approaches. The introductory chapter offers an overview of the theoretical frameworks in play and briefly encapsulates how each chapter seeks to contribute to a multifaceted picture of narrative and aesthetic experience. Immersion and embodiment emerge as central concepts and common threads throughout, helping to establish a more comprehensive understanding of ancient narrative and ancient reading habits, as manifested in Greek criticism and rhetorical theory, though the individual chapters tackle a wide range of narrative genres, broadly understood, from epic, historiography, and the novel to tragedy and early Christian texts, and other media, such as dance and sculpture.

From Dalton to the Discovery of the Periodic System

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Scerri
Keyword(s):  
Periodic System ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Quantitative Characteristic ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
System P ◽  
Quantitative Property ◽  
To Come ◽  
First Time

Our story begins, somewhat arbitrarily, in the English city of Manchester around the turn of the nineteenth century. There, a child prodigy by the name of John Dalton, at the tender age of fifteen is teaching in a school with his older brother. Within a few years, John Dalton’s interests have developed to encompass meteorology, physics, and chemistry. Among the questions that puzzle him is why the various component gases in the air such as oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide do not separate from each other. Why does the mixture of gases in the air remain as a homogeneous mixture? As a result of pursuing this question, Dalton develops what is to become modern atomic theory. The ultimate constituents of all substances, he supposes, are hard microscopic spheres or atoms that were first discussed by the ancient Greek philosophers and taken up again by modern scientists like Newton, Gassendi, and Boscovich. But Dalton goes a good deal further than all of these thinkers in establishing one all-important quantitative characteristic for each kind of atom, namely its weight. This he does by considering quantitative data on chemical experiments. For example, he finds that the ratio for the weight in which hydrogen and oxygen combine together is one to eight. Dalton assumes that water consists of one atom of each of these two elements. He takes a hydrogen atom to have a weight of 1 unit and therefore reasons that oxygen must have a weight of 8 units. Similarly, he deduces the weights for a number of other atoms and even molecules as we now call them. For the first time the elements acquire a quantitative property, by means of which they may be compared. This feature will eventually lead to an accurate classification of all the elements in the form of the periodic system, but this is yet to come. Before that can happen the notion of atoms provokes tremendous debates and disagreements among the experts of Dalton’s day.

Translation semantic variability: How semantic relatedness affects learning of translation-ambiguous words

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 783-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENNIFER BRACKEN ◽  
TAMAR DEGANI ◽  
CHELSEA EDDINGTON ◽  
NATASHA TOKOWICZ
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Ambiguous Word ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
Unique Variance ◽  
Ambiguous Words ◽  
One To One ◽  
Dichotomous Classification

Translations often do not align directly across languages, and indirect mappings reduce the accuracy of language learning. To facilitate examination of this issue, we developed a new continuous measure for quantifying the semantic relatedness of words with more than one translation (hereafter translation-ambiguous words). Participants rated the similarity of each translation to every other translation, yielding a Translation Semantic Variability (TSV) score, ranging from 1.00 (unrelated) to 7.00 (related). Then, we determined how relatedness between translations affects translation-ambiguous word learning from German to English. German words with low TSV scores were recognized as translations more slowly and less accurately than German words with high TSV scores. TSV explains unique variance beyond the previously-used dichotomous classification of words as form vs. meaning ambiguous. We propose that the relatedness of the translation alternatives influences learning because it affects the ease with which a one-to-one mapping can be established between form and meaning.

Rhetoric and Literary Criticism

2014 ◽  
pp. 340-352
Author(s):  
Rita Copeland
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Critical Dimensions ◽  
Rhetorical Tradition ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Literary Thought ◽  
Scholastic Philosophy ◽  
The Middle Ages

Rhetoric was aimed at textual composition, but literary criticism was also always part of its remit. This chapter surveys the application of rhetorical thought to textual interpretation in the Middle Ages. This process was important for the interpretation of Scripture as well as literary works. The chapter considers the intersections between invention and hermeneutics, the relevance of theories of arrangement to analysis of narrative structure, and how rhetorical theories of genre and style (including figurative language) were transplanted into interpretive contexts. The chapter engages closely with the classical tradition, especially Ciceronian works, in order to demonstrate the value of classical thought for medieval theorists and literary exegetes. It explores the critical dimensions of the preceptive rhetorics of the Middle Ages, and it also considers how scholastic philosophy absorbed the rhetorical tradition and contributed to literary thought. Major medieval authors considered include Augustine, Geoffrey of Vinsauf, and Dante.

scholarly journals Screen Self-Reflection: Classification of Species

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Maria V Solovyova
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Principal Tool ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
Angel Of Death ◽  
Wild Strawberries

This article is devoted to the phenomenon of filmic self-reflection and its variations basing on I. Bergmans Wild Strawberries / Smultronstllet, Hour Of The Wolf / Vargtimmen, The Seventh Seal / Det sjunde inseglet. The differentiation between the notions of the authors filmic self-reflection and the characters self-reflection is marked. The author of the article draws out the notion of the helmers self-reflection and the characters one through the examples from other disciplines (philosophy, psychology, literary criticism). The analysis of the authors filmic self-reflection and the characters reflection is carried out basing on the films by I. Bergman and in the context of his subsequent statements. Since Bergman is both director and scriptwriter of majority of his films, he grounds them on his personal experience and emotional baggage. Notwithstanding this fact the scenes of these films are not precise reproduction of the reality. Based on sensual experience they are meticulously developed in its dramatic aspect. The characters self-reflection in the plots of Wild Strawberries, Hour Of The Wolf and The Seventh Seal is considered as a screenwriting tool that could help to expose the versatility of their interior worlds. Three kinds of characters selfreflection are pointed out: retrospective, introspective and prospective. Retrospective self-reflection is described on the example of Wild Strawberries. Permanent reference of the protagonist Isak Borg to the different milestones of his life becomes the principal tool of the plotting. Such kind of film narration gives an opportunity to highlight the emotional state of the hero and to unfold his way of thinking. As an example of introspective self-reflection Hour of The Wolf is analyzed. Here self-reflection of the protagonist also serves as the basis of the story. However Uhan Borg (unlike his namesake Isak Borg) does not do a journey through all his life lived but wanders in the labyrinths of his creative consciousness. Prospective filmic self-reflection is clarified on the example of The Seventh Seal. Fear of upcoming death of Knight Block is personified in the image of Angel of Death. Such the tool allows to reveal the thoughts of the characters about their future, to express their fears and dreams.

scholarly journals General Tendencies in Creating Terms with Greek and Latin Elements in the Forestry Field

2017 ◽  
pp. 155-161
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Marchuk
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Initial Point ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Forest Industry ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Genetic Classification ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Latin Term

According to the genetic classification of borrowings, one of the largest groups of foreign language vocabulary in European languages is formed by lexemes of Latin origin. They are the result of interaction between languages, which are often characterized by a significant degree of genetic and temporal distances. In the article the terminology of Forest industry with the most common terminological elements of Latin and Greek origin is analyzed. Element – is not a word, but a part of the word (prefix, suffix, root), which is being in grammatical relationship with the other elements, forms independent words-terms. Thus, the element “micro” has no complete meaning of the words but it has the specific semantic loading, which is transferred by the concept “small, not big one”. In words-terms, it indicates the correlation of those words and constant objects, phenomena. And the precise scientific definition is received by term in the process of studying the specific scientific discipline. Knowledge of the structure of term’s elements explains the meaning of foreign language term, it helps in better understanding. It is well-known that the terms reflects either one dominant or secondary, or occasional feature, underlying the phenomenon, which reflects, such as color, shape etc. Terminology concept with elements of Greek and Latin origin in the Forest field, can be grouped into major thematic sections. The initial point for placing elements is a substantive concept, followed by an element that expresses this concept, the indicator of the origin of element, its importance in translation. Elements are usually placed according to antonymous meaning (micro – macro). Due to the polysemy some elements get into different sections. The group of terms, in which ancient Greek and Latin term elements are distinguishes is very numerous. Terms, formed with the help of classical elements, reflect the process of adaptation (in bigger or less degree) by modern languages. Thus, the group of terms with the initial parts, the etymons of which are Greek and Latin languages, get into synonymous relations, varying, intersecting or overlapping each other . The doublet terms – are the words or phrases that are combined by special terminological correlation with the same scientific concepts and object of reality. Thus, a large part of Greek and Latin elements in the terms and terminological combinations function as units of scientific style (root words, derivation and other elements) have the ability to influence the linguistic and cultural nature of language, and, thanks to aesthetically complete words, they intellectualize both speech and a speaker, the a specialist of the field.

Text and Document in Dante’s Vita nova

2021 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-23
Author(s):  
Dario Del Puppo
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
Literary Culture ◽  
Critical Reception ◽  
Giovanni Boccaccio ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Cultural Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Print Edition ◽  
Textual Meaning

Abstract This article considers the importance of material philological features of the early manuscripts of Dante’s Vita nova for the work’s critical reception. Over the centuries, editors (most notably Giovanni Boccaccio) have recast textual meaning in the work mainly by marginalizing the poet’s glosses and by reformatting the poems. Attention to the material features of the earliest extant manuscript of the Vita nova (MS Martelli 12) with respect to later copies, however, prompts us to consider the creative interplay between Dante’s prosimetrum and the material features of the manuscript. To interpret a text critically is to acknowledge and to examine also how a manuscript or print edition orients textual interpretation. The editorial history of the Vita nova teaches us about the cultural processes and discourses of literary culture and about Italian literary history.

Metaxy

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-166
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Alloa
Keyword(s):  
Specific Form ◽  
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek thinking harbours surprising insights into the logics of mediation, especially when it focuses on the various figures of elementary media. Among all the Greek authors, however, the most consistent attempt to systematize a reflection on media was arguably made by Aristotle. The chapter sets out a classification of the various figures of mediation that reoccur throughout the philosopher’s body of work, singling out three main figures: the mesotês in ethics, the meson in logic, and—the most revolutionary one—the metaxy in Aristotle’s theory of perceptual environments. Given that the metaxy has no specific form (it is literally formless), it constitutes a pure potentiality to take on any form. The analyses of the diaphanous medium and the potentiality of vision point in the direction of a true philosophy of mediacy, whose central axiom can be summarized as follows: mediacy indicates the capacity to take on the form of something without being (it).

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