The Virtues of Everyday Talk: The Enduring Significance of John Milton’s Theory of Expressive Liberties

2020 ◽  
pp. 009059172096626
Author(s):  
Chloé Bakalar
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Free Expression ◽  
Nonverbal Expression ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Everyday Talk

The system of free expression John Milton defends in Areopagitica, a pamphlet against prior restraint in publishing, is often characterized as merely a proto-liberal, truth-based marketplace of ideas theory. But this represents a misunderstanding of Milton’s views on the freedoms of conscience, speech, and the press. The tendency in political theory, philosophy, and law to reduce the “free speech Milton” to Areopagitica, and the reduction of that essay to several soundbites, has meant sidelining both the significant exceptions to expressive liberties that Milton calls for and also the role of the social in his theory. This incomplete characterization has enabled Milton’s misuse in First Amendment discourse and jurisprudence, where he is made to support hierarchical approaches to free speech that privilege public political speech and are therefore ill-equipped to address the full range of communicative experiences. More comprehensive readings of Milton, however, reveal both certain limits to free expression, and also deep consideration for a wide range of speech acts. By reading Milton’s theory of expressive liberties in light of the justifications he provides for those freedoms—i.e., virtue-building and Truth-seeking—this essay provides a fuller account of his views. What emerges is a distinctly Miltonian, virtue-driven “political theory of everyday talk” that locates value in even the most ordinary communicative acts. This theory—embracing both verbal and nonverbal expression—not only complements existing political theories of the everyday but can also help illuminate contemporary free speech concerns, many of which stem from the libertarian approach to expressive liberties that Milton (inadvertently) helped inspire.

On Declining an Invitation in Homer and in Everyday Talk: Context, Form, and Function

Antichthon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Minchin
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Western World ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Common Structure ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
Everyday Talk ◽  
Everyday World ◽  
And Function ◽  
Single Set

Speech-act theory starts from the premise that the minimal unit of spoken communication is not the word or sentence but the production of words or sentences in the performance of certain kinds of acts, such as challenging, entreating, apologising, thanking, or rebuking. Some speech acts may be expressed quite economically, in a few words (for example, ‘I congratulate you’); others require a sequence of sentences or syntactic chunks to achieve their illocutionary function—that is, to fulfil the intention of the speaker. In a recent paper, drawing on two fields of study outside Classics—cognitive psychology and discourse analysis—I examined a single set of speech acts recorded in the Homeric epics: the rebukes which Homer's characters address to one another in the course of theIliadand theOdyssey. In that paper I demonstrated that all speeches in Homer which we identify as rebukes share a common structure, or format, and that this format is remarkably similar to the format to which we ourselves—in middle-class communities in the Western world—refer when, for example, we chastise a child. And I proposed that this notion of format-based speech may be extended perhaps even to the full range of speech acts observable in this everyday world and in the Homeric epics, of which apologies, challenges, words of consolation, and refusals of invitations are examples.

scholarly journals A Discourse on the Contemporary Relevance of the Educational Underpinning of Plato’s Political Philosophy

2021 ◽  
pp. 35-44
Author(s):  
Olaiya Olajumoke Olufunmilola
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Social Ordering ◽  
Plato's Political Philosophy ◽  
Better Than

The journey towards social ordering and the need to make life much better than it used to be is one of the principal motivations for political philosophy. Hence, there are as much political theories to this effect as there are political philosophers and scientists. Whereas the aim of the present research is to consider what kind of political theory can assist in social ordering, it does this, taking cognizance of the pedagogical postulates of the political scholar, Plato. In other words, this research reconsiders the educational underpinning of Plato’s political philosophy for use in the quest toward the agenda of attaining nationhood in Nigeria. This comes as a consequence of the urgency to correct the ugly trend(s) that have greeted the educational system of the country as well as the failure of the social sciences to provide the much sought succor. This approach is sacrosanct because of the undue but accentuated emphases that have been given to the social sciences as the domain from which development and nationhood can spring. Incidentally, the journey toward nationhood for Nigeria, continues to be one of the most disturbing dilemmas that continues to haunt the country. Via the method of critical analysis, this essay argues that Plato’s political philosophy has some educational ideals that present implications for contemporaneous nature or character of contemporary Nigeria. By giving emphasis on his reflections on the principle of specialization, this study is able to argue that the spirited application of this ideal for contemporary Nigeria via pedagogy will go a long way to birth the much sought nationhood. Political philosophy needs pedagogy to be able to realize its ideals. Unless this initiative is underscored, this essay submits, the quest for nationhood will continue to lament in the labyrinth of folly and backwardness.

Affixes, Austronesian and iconicity in Malay

2009 ◽  
Vol 165 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 291-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Verbal Prefixes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Source Orientation

Explanations are offered for the puzzling differences between the forms and meanings of the Malay affixes and those of the broader Austronesian affixal system from which they derive. Oral-gesture iconicity is involved in the encoding of meanings that have both language-internal and social significance. The various verbal prefixes can be analysed both historically and iconically as different combinations of (1) a labial series (m , b , p ) indicating ‘source orientation’ with (2) r ‘iterative’ and (3) ( )N ‘process marker’. The full range of forms becomes apparent only if a sufficiently wide range of Malay and Malayic speech-varieties, both ancient and modern, are brought to bear on the discussion. The different meanings and functions associated with the various prefixes are motivated by the different semantic concerns engendered by the social and cultural circumstances peculiar to each of the speech-varieties.

Realism and Idealism in Avicenna's Political Philosophy

1979 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-577
Author(s):  
Miriam Galston
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Complete Form ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Political Decisionmaking

The legitimate goals of political communities and the proper objectives of law have been themes of political philosophy since its inception. Philosophers' disagreements about the nature of political life and law have occasioned divergent accounts of the best or ideal government and have generated an even deeper controversy as to whether the best case should be the measure of political phenomena in the first place. For the purpose of analysis, three kinds of political theories can be distinguished. Characteristic of the first kind is the belief that people can attain a wide range of excellences and that the function of a political community is to foster in a direct manner the best or most complete form of human excellence, regardless of how rare the individuals who profit from this guidance. Accordingly, a central concern of “idealistic” or “utopian” political philosophy is elaborating the nature of the absolutely best political order and the conditions of its emergence. Among the central activities of governments so conceived are moral and intellectual education, as presented, for example, in the works of Plato and Aristotle. A second kind of political theory shares the belief in a multiplicity of hierarchically ranked human ends but denies that the highest possibility for human development should serve as the foremost principle determining political institutions and governing political decisionmaking.

scholarly journals Religion as the “art of being an object”: Some modern cryptotheological approaches

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-563
Author(s):  
Dmitry R. Yavorsky ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Status Characteristic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Object Status ◽  
Object Relationship ◽  
Incomplete Picture ◽  
Object Behavior

In the article, the author proceeds from the assumption that the obsession with the subject status, characteristic of the New European man, devalued the “art of being an object”. The article deals with intellectual strategies for the rehabilitation of the “object” status: the social grammar of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and the cybernetic epistemology of Gregory Bateson. Rosenstock-Huessy draws attention to the fact that in speech acts the speaker appears not only as the subject-source of speech, but also as the object to which the listener’s reaction is directed. Moreover, the condition for the formation of the subject of speech is the listener’s object position. This statement captures a wide range of interpretations: from psychological and pedagogical to theological. Bateson criticizes Cartesian epistemology, which, without reflexive grounds, places a person in the position of a subject, thinking, acting, that is ultimately controlling, and ignores or critically treats the position of the object. However, such epistemology gives an incomplete picture of the cognitive or practically transformative act, since it does not register the moments when the cognizing and acting subject receives feedback from the known or transformed reality — becomes an object. The “art of being an object” is proposed as an essential characteristic of religion as such. In fact, a religious situation (at least in theistic religions) is a situation of being in a complex subject-object relationship with the Absolute, where a person, as a rule, does not control the situation, but voluntarily or forcibly becomes the object of influence, control. At the same time, a religious person is not indifferent to the field of a certain power he finds himself in, therefore he is forced to use art or the “gift of discerning spirits”. In the article’s conclusion, secular forms of object behavior are criticized.

Orientalist Speech-acts and Israeli Middle East Studies: Cautions and Criticisms of Edward Said Beyond the Battle of Ideas

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-237
Author(s):  
Eyal Clyne
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Academic World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Middle East Studies

Drawing on speech acts theory, this article discusses the illocutionary and perlocutionary forces of discursive practices with which certain academic circles seek to discredit the Saidian ‘Orientalism’ framework. Identifying the unusual value attached to Said as object of attachment or detachment, desirability and exceptionality, this analysis turns away from deliberations about ‘orientalism’ as a party in a battle of ideas, and studies common cautionary statements and other responses by peers as actions in the social (academic) world, that enculture and police expectations. Cautioning subjects about this framework, or conditioning its employment to preceding extensive pre-emptive complicating mitigations, in effect constructs this framework as undesirable and ‘risky’. While strong discursive reactions are not uncommon in academia, comparing them to treatments of less-controversial social theories reveals formulations, meanings and attentions which are arguably reserved for this ‘theory’. Conclusively, common dismissals, warnings and criticisms of Said and ‘Orientalism’ often exemplify Saidian claims, as they deploy the powerful advantage of enforcing hegemonic, and indeed Orientalist, views.

Satu Kahkonen and Anthony Lanyi. Institutions, Incentives, and Economic Reforms in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000. 516 pages. Hardback. Price Indian Rs 595.00.

2001 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-74
Author(s):  
Attiya Y. Javed
Keyword(s):  
Reform Process ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Rural Governance ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Economic Landscape ◽  
Number Of Authors

The economic reform process began in India in 1991. However, the reform agenda is still far from its goals as is evident from low per capita income. Thus, this reform effort has not produced the desired outcome of a faster rate of economic and social development in a meaningful way. It is the premise of this volume that to transform the social and economic landscape, the proposed reforms should be broadbased and multi-pronged which take into account incentives for the stockholders in both the private and public sectors. The institutions are the rules that govern economy and include the fundamental legal, political, and social rules that establish the basis for production, exchange, and distribution. The two editors of this volume have received contributions from a number of authors and the wide range of papers are grouped under five main headings: political economy of reforms, reforming public goods delivery, reform issues in agriculture and rural governance, and reforming the district and financial sector.

Collaboration supports successful outcomes

Impact ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (9) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Author(s):  
Antonio Loprieno
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Science Research ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Learned Societies ◽  
Framework Conditions

ALLEA (All European Academies) is the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities. It was founded in 1994 and brings together almost 60 Academies of Sciences and Learned Societies from over 40 countries in the Council of Europe region. ALLEA is financed by annual dues from its member academies and remains fully independent from political, religious, commercial or ideological interests.<br/> Member Academies operate as learned societies, think tanks, or research performing organisations. They are self-governing communities of leaders of scholarly enquiry across all fields of the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities. ALLEA therefore provides access to an unparalleled human resource of intellectual excellence, experience and expertise. Furthermore, its integrative membership structure comprises Academies from both EU and non-EU member states in Europe.<br/> ALLEA seeks to contribute to improving the framework conditions under which science and scholarship can excel. Jointly with its Member Academies, ALLEA is in a position to address the full range of structural and policy issues facing Europe in science, research and innovation. In doing so, it is guided by a common understanding of Europe, bound together by historical, social and political factors as well as for scientific and economic reasons.

ANALISIS UNSUR EKSTRINSIK NOVEL SANG PEMIMPI KARYA ANDREA HIRATA

Jurnal KATA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Erlina Erlina
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Social Values ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Educational Value ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
The Social ◽  
Data Source

<p><strong>            </strong><em>This research is motivated by the analysis extrinsic elements novel </em><em>Sang Pemimpi</em><em>. This study aimed to describe the social values, cultural values, moral values, and religious values in the novel </em><em>Sang Pemimpi</em><em>. The research is a qualitative study using descriptive methods. The data in this study is a form of social values, cultural values, </em><em>religius </em><em>values and moral </em><em>on Sang Pemimpi</em><em> novel by Andrea Hirata. Data source is </em><em>Sang Pemimpi</em><em> novel by Andrea Hirata. Data collection techniques in this study are: (1) to read and understand the Novel </em><em>Sang Pemimpi</em><em> by Andrea Hirata, and (2) give coding by underlining sentences containing social values, cultural values and political values in the note of the novel </em><em>Sang Pemimpi</em><em> by Andrea Hirata all data regarding speech acts in a novel study. While the steps in analyzing data are: (1) read data that has been </em><em>record</em><em>ed, (2) classify or record data for the purpose for researchers based on the novel </em><em>Sang Pemimpi</em><em> by Andrea Hirata, (3) interpreting or interpretation of data for the purpose of research is to analyze the novel Sang </em><em>Pemimpi</em><em> by Andrea Hirata, and (4) make the conclusion of the study. The results of this study stated that extrinsic elements contained in </em><em>Sang Pemimpi</em><em> novel by Andrea Hirata is the value of cultural education, where cultural rights set forth in the novel The Dreamer ie when they are a teenager then it started to work for money. Social educational value, namely the attitude of helping each other like Arai and Mak Cik, and as pastor and Jimbron. the value of religious education that is visible on the pastor and Jimbron, although Jimbron raised by a pastor, but the pastor did not impose his religion on Jimbron. moral and political education value seen in a leader who has no morals and honesty.</em></p><p> </p><p><em>            Penelitian ini dilatarbelakangi oleh analisis unsur ekstrinsik novel Sang Pemimpi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan nilai sosial, nilai budaya, nilai politik, nilai moral, dan nilai religius dalam novel Sang Pemimpi. Jenis penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif dengan menggunakan metode deskriptif. </em><em>Data dalampenelitian iniadalah bentuk nilai sosial,  nilai budaya, nilai realigi dan moral dalam novel Sang Pemimpi karya Andrea Hirata. Sumber datanya adalah novelSang Pemimpi karya Andrea Hirata.Teknik pengumpulan data dalam penelitian ini adalah: (1) membaca dan memahami Novel Sang Pemimpi karya Andrea Hirata</em><em>, dan (2) </em><em>memberi pengkodean dengan menggarisbawahi kalimat-kalimat yang mengandung nilai sosial, nilai budaya, dan nilai politik dalam Mencatat Novel Sang Pemimpi karya Andrea Hirata  semua data mengenai tindak tutur dalam novel yang diteliti. Sedangkan langkah-langkah dalam menganalisis datanya adalah: (1) membaca data yang sudah dicatat, (2) mengklasifikasikan atau mencatat data sesuai tujuan peneliti berdasarkan novel Sang Pemimpi karya Andrea Hirata, (3) menginterprestasikan atau penafsiran data dengan tujuan penelitian yaitu menganalisis novel Sang Pemimpi karya Andrea Hirata, dan (4) membuat simpulan penelitian.</em><em>Hasil penelitian ini menyatakan bahwa unsur ekstrinsik yang dapat dalam novel Sang Pemimpi karya Andrea Hirata adalah nilai pendidikan budaya, di mana budaya yang tercantum dalam novel Sang Pemimpi yaitu apabila sudah beranjak remaja maka sudah mulai bekerja untuk mencari uang. nilai pendidikan sosial, yaitu adanya sikap saling tolong menolong seperti Arai dan Mak Cik, dan seperti pendeta dan Jimbron. nilai pendidikan religius yaitu terlihat pada pendeta dan Jimbron, walaupun Jimbron diasuh oleh seorang Pendeta, tetapi pendeta tersebut tidak memaksakan agamanya pada Jimbron. nilai pendidikan moral dan politik terlihat pada seorang pemimpin yang tidak mempunyai moral dan kejujuran.</em></p>

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