scholarly journals Traditional and Modern Concepts of Rhetoric: Six Peculiarities

wisdom ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-27
Author(s):  
Hovhannes HOVHANNISYAN

The article explores the common denominators and differences of traditional and modern understandings of rhetoric. It reveals main tendencies of development of rhetoric as a field of theoretical knowledge and transformations of the problematics. The issue of interrelation between logical-content and extra-logical (psychological, aesthetic, ethical, linguistic, ritual) factors in traditional and modern concepts of rhetoric is discussed. The following thesis is substantiated that in modern concepts of rhetoric both the arsenal of tricks used and the area of operation are expanded to include other forms and manifestations of human communication in line with the individual-to-audience model. It is argued that, unlike traditional rhetoric, which is largely monologue-based, modern concepts mostly implement rhetoric tricks in negotiation, debate, and competition situations. The article analyzes the issue of correlation between oral public and direct speech on the one hand, and, on the other, written speech and mediated means of communication in the traditional and modern concepts of rhetoric. The view is substantiated that in the modern system of rhetoric, much importance is attached to ethical questions, to the issues whether the means used are permissible or inadmissible in terms of effective communication norms. The relations between the philosophical theory of rhetoric (general rhetoric) and its individual spheres are discussed.

2020 ◽  
pp. 56-65
Author(s):  
Юлія Бродецька

The article focuses on the ontological aspects of the being ethics. Ethical knowledge as the fundamental mechanism for the reproduction of human being-together is implemented in universals such as values, norms, and customs. These structural elements of ethics, therefore, are responsible for the reproduction and translation of the coherence mechanisms of human co-existence both at the individual and social levels.It has been revealed that among all ethical universals, each element is focused on its functional predetermination. However, it is values that play a special role in the formation of human co-existence and the realization of the spiritual potential of the individual as well. In its historical perspective, the problem of values is formulated in the framework of the ancient tradition as the “philosophy of values” (axiology). A “philosophy of values” or ethics arises as a doctrine of good manners, that is, mechanisms and methods of forming a harmonious social personality and harmonious social relations.Socrates, like Plato, equates value with good. Good, in turn, is correlated by philosophers with the knowledge that forms our virtues. Therefore, the main thing for a person, according to most ancient philosophers, is the spiritual state of a person, his virtues, which are the essence of the human happiness condition. In this regard, the good cannot be defined as pleasure, because there are bad pleasures. One cannot call good that only benefits, because the same can harm another person. Good is what improves the inner nature of human.The sacred nature of value, its relation to transcendental being indicates that this phenomenon is a carrier of meanings. Meanings, essence, truth is that which fills, directs and organizes human being-together. Therefore, on the one hand, the ontological purpose of value is to fill a person with meanings, and thus, on the other hand, to form his involvement in co-existence, the common good. This task of values reflects their nature, in which these ethical universals (values-benefits, values-goals, self-worth), on the one hand, reveal the nature of the ontology of being (and this is its difference from non-existence), and on the other, reflect the existential potential of a person. It is about spiritual values.The mystery of this ethical element is that the nature of spiritual values, their assimilation and development exclude any manifestation of consumerism, appropriation, selfishness. Good cannot be only for me, cannot be personal, useful, cannot be relative. Good cannot be manipulated, cannot be used. Therefore, reflecting the essence, meaning, goals of human life, spiritual values cannot be a means of evaluation, that is, an instrument for achieving lofty goals. Value and appreciation is a binary opposition that reflects the pole aspects of life and existence. Otherwise, it is no longer a question of good, but of its simulations, which lead to the predominance and prosperity of evil - their own mercantile interests, goals, selfish aspirations, and hence the suffering of others.Spiritual values need internalization of their experience. Therefore, the way to reach the values-goals can only be an intuitive immersion (in meaning, essence), unity and involvement in this experience. As a result, there is a feeling of inner fullness, realization, happiness. So, it is in this immersion, acceptance, completeness, that our personal experience of harmonious being is laid, together, an order is formed that determines the contribution of each of us in realizing the value of the common good, being We. Thus, reflecting the meaning, goals of human existence, spiritual values cannot be means of human life, creativity, realization, that is, an assessment tool. Their metaphysical purpose requires going beyond pragmatic perception, liberation from the consumer desire to colonize the world around me.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 88-99
Author(s):  
Andrey A. Lukashev

The typology of rationality is one of major issues of modern philosophy. In an attempt to provide a typology to Oriental materials, a researcher faces additional problems. The diversity of the Orient as such poses a major challenge. When we say “Oriental,” we mean several cultures for which we cannot find a common denominator. The concept of “Orient” involves Arabic, Indian, Chinese, Turkish and other cultures, and the only thing they share is that they are “non-Western.” Moreover, even if we focus just on Islamic culture and look into rationality in this context, we have to deal with a conglomerate of various trends, which does not let us define, with full confidence, a common theoretical basis and treat them as a unity. Nevertheless, we have to go on trying to find common directions in thought development, so as to draw conclusions about types of rationality possible in Islamic culture. A basis for such a typology of rationality in the context of the Islamic world was recently suggested in A.V. Smirnov’s logic of sense theory. However, actual empiric material cannot always fit theoretical models, and the cases that do not fit the common scheme are interesting per se. On the one hand, examination of such cases gives an opportunity to specify certain provisions of the theory and, on the other hand, to define the limits of its applicability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-57
Author(s):  
See Seng Tan

Abstract: The longstanding effort to develop a people-based regionalism in Southeast Asia has been shaped by an inherent tension between the liberal inclination to privilege the individual and the community under formation, on the one hand, and the realist insistence on the primacy of the state, on the other. This article explores the conditions and constraints affecting ASEAN’s progress in remaking Southeast Asia into a people-focused and caring community in three areas: disaster management, development, and democratization (understood here as human rights). Arguably, the persistent gap in Southeast Asia between aspiration and expectation is determined less by political ideology than by the pragmatic responses of ASEAN member states to the forces of nationalism and protectionism, as well as their respective sense of local and regional responsibility.Resumen: El esfuerzo histórico para desarrollar un regionalismo basado en las personas del sudeste de Asia ha estado marcado por una tensión fundamental entre la inclinación liberal de privilegiar el individuo y la comunidad y la insistencia realista sobre la primacía del estado. Este artículo explora las condiciones y limitaciones que afectan el progreso de la ASEAN en la reestructuración de Asia sudoriental en una comunidad centrada en el cuidado de las personas en: gestión de desastres, desarrollo y democratización (i.e., derechos humanos). La brecha persistente en el sudeste asiático entre la aspiración y la expectativa está determinada por las respuestas pragmáticas de los miembros de la ASEAN sometidos a las fuerzas del nacionalismo y proteccionismo, así como su respectivo sentido de responsabilidad local y regional.Résumé: L’effort historique pour développer un régionalisme fondé sur les peuples en Asie du Sud-Est a été marqué par une tension fondamentale entre l’inclination libérale qui privilégie, d’une part, l’individu et la communauté et, d’autre part, l’insistance réaliste sur la primauté de l’État. Cet article explore les conditions et les contraintes qui nuisent aux progrès de l’ANASE dans le cadre d’une refonte de l’Asie du Sud-Est en une communauté centrée et attentive aux peuples dans trois domaines : la gestion des désastres, le développement et la démocratisation (en référence aux droits humains). Le fossé persistant en Asie du Sud-Est entre les aspirations et les attentes est vraisemblablement moins déterminé par l’idéologie politique que par les réponses pragmatiques des États membres de l’ANASE soumis aux forces du nationalisme et du protectionnisme ainsi que par leur sens respectif de la responsabilité locale et régionale.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Luisa Frick

Against the background of the trend of Islamizing human rights on the one hand, as well as increasing skepticism about the compatibility of Islam and human rights on the other, I intend to analyze the potential of Islamic ethics to meet the requirements for vitalizing the idea of human rights. I will argue that the compatibility of Islam and human rights cannot be determined merely on the basis of comparing the specific content of the Islamic moral code(s) with the rights stipulated in the International Bill of Rights, but by scanning (different conceptions of) Islamic ethics for the two indispensable formal prerequisites of any human rights conception: the principle of universalism (i.e., normative equality) and individualism (i.e., the individual enjoyment of rights). In contrast to many contemporary (political) attempts to reconcile Islam and human rights due to urgent (global) societal needs, this contribution is solely committed to philosophical reasoning. Its guiding questions are “What are the conditions for deriving both universalism and individualism from Islamic ethics?” and “What axiological axioms have to be faded out or reorganized hierarchically in return?”


Author(s):  
Anna Peterson

This book examines the impact that Athenian Old Comedy had on Greek writers of the Imperial era. It is generally acknowledged that Imperial-era Greeks responded to Athenian Old Comedy in one of two ways: either as a treasure trove of Atticisms, or as a genre defined by and repudiated for its aggressive humor. Worthy of further consideration, however, is how both approaches, and particularly the latter one that relegated Old Comedy to the fringes of the literary canon, led authors to engage with the ironic and self-reflexive humor of Aristophanes, Eupolis, and Cratinus. Authors ranging from serious moralizers (Plutarch and Aelius Aristides) to comic writers in their own right (Lucian, Alciphron), to other figures not often associated with Old Comedy (Libanius) adopted aspects of the genre to negotiate power struggles, facilitate literary and sophistic rivalries, and provide a model for autobiographical writing. To varying degrees, these writers wove recognizable features of the genre (e.g., the parabasis, its agonistic language, the stage biographies of the individual poets) into their writings. The image of Old Comedy that emerges from this time is that of a genre in transition. It was, on the one hand, with the exception of Aristophanes’s extant plays, on the verge of being almost completely lost; on the other hand, its reputation and several of its most characteristic elements were being renegotiated and reinvented.


Author(s):  
Sebastian Lecourt

This chapter considers a series of formative debates in British anthropology from the 1840s through the 1860s and uses them to map out the two dominant constructions of religion whose politics the subsequent authors in this study would reinvent. It describes, on the one hand, a liberal and evangelical construction of religion as the common human capacity for spiritual cultivation, and on the other hand a conservative, reactionary model that interpreted religious differences as the expressions of fixed racial identities that neither civilization nor Christianization could erase. In the work of the Oxford philologist F. Max Müller we see how the former model tended to associate religion above all with language. But we can also see the subtle forms of determinism that it contained—an ambiguity that Arnold, Pater, Eliot, and Lang would explore by picturing racialized religion as a resource for liberal self-cultivation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (s2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irmtraud Kaiser ◽  
Andrea Ender

Abstract This paper explores intra-individual variation as a manifestation of language-internal multilingualism in the Central-Bavarian Austrian context. Based on speech data from children and adults in different contexts, we discuss different methods of measuring and analyzing inter-situational variation along the dialect and standard language spectrum. By contrasting measures of dialectality, on the one hand, and proportions of turns in dialect, standard language or intermediate/mixed forms on the other, we gain complementary insights not only into the individual dialect-standard repertoires but also into the consequences of different methodological choices. The results indicate that intra-individual variation is ubiquitous in adults and children and that individual repertoires need to be taken into account from the beginning of the language acquisition process. We suggest that while intra-individual variation can be attested through the use of various methods, the revealed level of granularity and the conclusions that can be drawn as to the individual repertoires on the dialect-standard spectrum largely depend on the measures used and their inherent assumptions and intrinsically necessary categorizations.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Maria Ledstam

This article engages with how religion and economy relate to each other in faith-based businesses. It also elaborates on a recurrent idea in theological literature that reflections on different visions of time can advance theological analyses of the relationship between Christianity and capitalism. More specifically, this article brings results from an ethnographic study of two faith-based businesses into conversation with the ethicist Luke Bretherton’s presentation of different understandings of the relationship between Christianity and capitalism. Using Theodore Schatzki’s theory of timespace, the article examines how time and space are constituted in two small faith-based businesses that are part of the two networks Business as Mission (evangelical) and Economy of Communion (catholic) and how the different timespaces affect the religious-economic configurations in the two cases and with what moral implications. The overall findings suggest that the timespace in the Catholic business was characterized by struggling caused by a tension between certain ideals on how religion and economy should relate to each other on the one hand and how the practice evolved on the other hand. Furthermore, the timespace in the evangelical business was characterized by confidence, caused by the business having a rather distinct and achievable goal when it came to how they wanted to be different and how religion should relate to economy. There are, however, nuances and important resemblances between the cases that cannot be explained by the businesses’ confessional and theological affiliations. Rather, there seems to be something about the phenomenon of tension-filled and confident faith-based businesses that causes a drive in the practices towards the common good. After mapping the results of the empirical study, I discuss some contributions that I argue this study brings to Bretherton’s presentation of the relationship between Christianity and capitalism.


Author(s):  
Rosalia Gonzales ◽  
Travis Mathewson ◽  
Jefferson Chin ◽  
Holly McKeith ◽  
Lane Milde ◽  
...  

Since the advent of modern-day screening collections in the early 2000s, various aspects of our knowledge of good handling practices have continued to evolve. Some early practices, however, continue to prevail due to the absence of defining data that would bust the myths of tradition. The lack of defining data leads to a gap between plate-based screeners, on the one hand, and compound sample handling groups, on the other, with the latter being the default party to blame when an assay goes awry. In this paper, we highlight recommended practices that ensure sample integrity and present myth busting data that can help determine the root cause of an assay gone bad. We show how a strong and collaborative relationship between screening and sample handling groups is the better state that leads to the accomplishment of the common goal of finding breakthrough medicines.


2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-47
Author(s):  
Mark Noble

This essay argues that Ralph Waldo Emerson's interest in the cutting-edge science of his generation helps to shape his understanding of persons as fluid expressions of power rather than solid bodies. In his 1872 "Natural History of Intellect," Emerson correlates the constitution of the individual mind with the tenets of Michael Faraday's classical field theory. For Faraday, experimenting with electromagnetism reveals that the atom is a node or point on a network, and that all matter is really the arrangement of energetic lines of force. This atomic model offers Emerson a technology for envisioning a materialized subjectivity that both unravels personal identity and grants access to impersonal power. On the one hand, adopting Faraday's field theory resonates with many of the affirmative philosophical and ethical claims central to Emerson's early essays. On the other hand, however, distributing the properties of Faraday's atoms onto the properties of the person also entails moments in which materialized subjects encounter their own partiality, limitation, and suffering. I suggest that Emerson represents these aspects of experience in terms that are deliberately discrepant from his conception of universal power. He presumes that if every experience boils down to the same lines of force, then the particular can be trivialized with respect to the general. As a consequence, Emerson must insulate his philosophical assertions from contamination by our most poignant experiences of limitation. The essay concludes by distinguishing Emersonian "Necessity" from Friedrich Nietzsche's similar conception of amor fati, which routes the affirmation of fate directly through suffering.


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