RENAISSANCE RESEARCH ON SIMILE (16TH–18TH CENTURIES)

The article deals with the study of the concepts of simile in the Renaissance during the 16th –18th centuries in both Western and Eastern traditions. It outlines the transition from the classical fundamentals to their renaissance interpretation in the European specialized literature, the original texts of which became the subject of analysis. The correlation of terminology of different epochs is established and the dependence of scientific thought on the historical stage of society development is highlighted. It was found that because simile was regarded as a rhetorical figure, interest in it was limited to specific practical tasks related to the art of eloquence and, to a lesser extent, belles-lettres style. The functions of the described category, which were singled out by leading linguists, are stated as well as the most influential researchers who deepened the development of the basic principles of simile interpretation by classical rhetoricians. The article proves that the content, scope and hierarchy of terms for simile differ depending on the eras and the authors of rhetoric, reflecting the specifics of translation of ancient Greek and Latin texts, the development of linguistic thought and deepening the analysis of ancient Greeks and Romans. It is established that only at the end of the 18th century the English term "simile" was introduced as a descendant of a number of ambiguous, not always specialized terms (homoeosis, icon, paradigm, parabola, similitude, resemblance, comparison), often synonymous with one another.

Recht als Gegenstand rhetorischer Grundlagenforschung

According to the self-image of lawyers, jurisprudence is a science: the premises in legal conclusions are truth-apt, as are the conclusions or judgements that follow from them, the cognition of true law is consequently regarded as their task. Against this background, a program that understands and analyzes law as the product of a rhetorical practice is confronted with fierce resistance. According to the research of analytical legal rhetoric, on the other hand, the evidence for a rhetorical imprint on law is overwhelming: starting with the logical status of legal inferences, to the peculiarities of judicial procedure, to the motivational situation of those involved in it, everywhere it becomes apparent that the image of strict truth-orientation inadequately describes the genesis of law. Following Aristotle, who assigned law to the field of phrónēsis and not to epistēmē, contemporary legal rhetoric research aims to draw a realistic picture of the genesis of law. Subdivided into the triad of logos, ethos, and pathos, it attempts to fully grasp the interrelationships involved. It becomes apparent that the rational or argumentative dimension is far from dominating in legal justifications. It is precisely at the neuralgic point, i.e., where arguments are opposed to each other, that the rhetor typically uses a rhetorical figure that links all levels of the triad: the restrictio.

The disconnection turn: Three facets of disconnective work in post-digital capitalism

In post-digital capitalism, digital disconnection is not merely a “luxury” but also an obligation. Aiming to re-contextualize digital disconnection outside of digital detox resorts, social media, and elitist activism, this article asks how the ongoing disconnection turn affects how we (think about) work. With cues taken from digital disconnection studies and (digital) work/labour research, I inquire three facets of disconnective work. I elaborate, firstly, what disconnection might mean for work, as I scrutinize ideals pertaining to “deep” and “slow” work. Secondly, I unveil how disconnection may materialize at work, as I inspect “the post-digital workplace” and “disconnective technologies of work.” Thirdly, using “The Post-Digital Housewife” as a rhetorical figure for grasping the daily, typically unpaid, work that the disconnection turn makes acute, I recognize disconnection as work. The article concludes by presenting four dialectics of disconnective work, which serve to remind us of the paradoxical role of disconnection in processes of empowerment and exploitation.

The metaphysical metaphor

This article aims to determine the meaning of metaphor for revealing the metaphysical foundations of aesthetics, as well as to analyze the methods reflected in the philosophy of Kant, Husserl, Heidegger, Derrida, and Mamardashvili. Their works clarify the structure of the metaphysical metaphor and its aesthetic matrix. Since old times, the aesthetic thought viewed the concept of the language of metaphor with its dual ambiguity, various metaphorical figures as the structures internally connected with the categorical reflection on the system of art; and the metaphor itself was considered as the form of semantic perception and creation of the artistic landscape. Revealing the place of aesthetics within the structure of metaphysics, the author views the aesthetic role of the metaphorical within metaphysics, complexity of interrelation between the concept of metaphor and fundamental metaphysical category of existence. The world scientific literature features numerous works that view metaphor as a rhetorical figure. However, the research of metaphysical metaphor is rare. This article is first within the Russian-language literature to outline the approaches towards the aesthetic comprehension of metaphysical metaphor, as they are reflected in the philosophy of Heidegger and Derrida. They reveal intuition of the metaphor as metaphysics, describe the representation of metaphysical metaphor of light, interpret the transcendental ego as metaphor, and elucidate the concept of the substance of metaphor. Special attention is given to the aesthetic-metaphysical interpretations of metaphor in the modern Russian philosophy.

Artistic imagery in advertising: experiencing advertisements through art

The general aim of this research is to address the importance of considering visual artistic imagery in engaging consumers for persuasion effects. In this study, I present properties of visual images crucial for aesthetic value and possible modes of engagement with artistic advertisements. I argue that both a visual rhetorical figure and a high sensory quality function to “make the familiar strange” and to engage recipients in the ad. The communicative effectiveness is tested through the experience of pleasure, immersion, narrative transportation, ad experience (involving sensory, cognitive and affective elaboration) and personal involvement. The results of the experiment show that a visual rhetorical figure and a high sensory quality of an ad influence communicative effectiveness of picture-based artistic advertisement. Plausibly, by making familiar strange, artistic ads become effective communicative tools, as they give an opportunity to engage with an ad in different ways and boost ad experience. It seems also that using artistic ads can be particularly effective in communicating brand personality. This research advances the theory and practice of communicative effectiveness of picture-based artistic advertisements.

Zeugma as a Method of Pragmatic Focusing in a Literary Text (Based on the Material of the German Language)

Introduction.The article analyses the specifics of the functioning of the zeugma in artistic speech. Despite the popularity of this rhetorical figure since ancient times and its use in various spheres of communication, there is still no complete clarity about the essence of this linguistic phenomenon.Methodology and sources.The article considers various interpretations of the zeugma, determines its place in the circle of other rhetorical figures, conducts a structural analysis of zeugmatic constructions, identifies its syntactic and morphological variations, analyzes the stylistic potential. As an empirical material, lyrical and prose texts of German-language literature of the XIX–XX centuries are used, including works by H. Heine, A. Döblin, G. Trakl, G. Benn, K. Edschmid, H. Böll and other authors.Results and discussion.As a rhetorical figure, zeugma is built on the conflict of syntax and semantics, representing several syntactically homogeneous, but semantically heterogeneous elements. Zeugma, as a rule, has a nuclear word in its composition, in which, in conjunction with various actants, different meanings/shades of meanings are actualized, although “non-nuclear” zeugmas are also found. The role of the reference element is most often a verb-predicate, less often the core of the construction becomes an adjective, participle, adverb, noun. The elements of the paratactic series are usually nouns (homogeneous subjects, additions, circumstances), but the analysis also reveals cases of illogical combinations represented by other parts of speech, as well as examples with heterogeneous morphological forms within the same zeugmatic construction. The functional analysis of the zeugma demonstrates the rich stylistic potential of this rhetorical figure, which acts as a means of humor and satire in literary texts, serving to convey emotional states, semantic saturation of the utterance, and the increment of new meanings.Conclusion. Zeugma acts as a significant method of pragmatic focusing in a literary text, being especially widely represented in modernist literature, characterized by semantic multilayering and intensity of artistic expression.

The Philosophical Lineage of Mr. Cogito (part 3)

The third part of the article is focused on the interpretation of a well-known poem by Zbigniew Herbert, “The Message of Mr. Cogito”. The rhetorical figure, the golden fleece of nothingness, has been interpreted in the context of Meister Eckhart’s apophatic theology, as well as the phenomenology of Bertrand Welte. Since nothingness has been described by the predicate of the golden fleece, it paradoxically comes across as something that is. The golden fleece, in turn, alludes to the ancient Greek poem by Apollonius of Rhodes, in which it became a reward for the Argonauts’ virtue of courage in their fight against evil. In the ancient myths of Hellas, the golden fleece is also a symbol of divine providence and protection. Therefore nothingness, described in the poem by the predicate of the golden fleece, does not have to mean non-existence, or mere nothing, but it can point to reality which transcends the limits of human language and as such, it can be described merely in the terms of apophatic theology. For B. Welte, on the other hand, nothingness exists in the consciousness of Dasein as the inevitability of death and its ontological status is ambiguous. This is because nothingness exists as something that is. Since Dasein intends to endow his/her being-here with meaning by following the rules of ethics, the only guarantee of their rightfulness is nothingness understood as the mystery of transcendence.

‘Environmentalism without ideology’ and the dreams of wiping out humanity

My aim is to discuss the rhetoric of expertise as objective, and ideology-and value-free, on the example of environmental policy. The first section introduces examples of the common rhetorical figure of expert, ideology-free environmental protection, revealing their presuppositions. The second introduces objects of comparison - the cartoonish proposals of wiping out humanity - with the aim of showing that the two groups of proposals assume an analogous rhetoric. The third section discusses some prominent features of various proposals of ?population control?, along with the links to the current surge of so-called eco-fascism. The aim is to show that all these phenomena represent a scale of the idea of ideology-free environmentalism. The concluding section discusses the distorted understanding of expertise, ideology, and politics, central to examples given in the previous sections, as leading to deplorable ignorance or callous cynicism, and therefore, in effect, a moral failure.

O wieloznaczności i funkcjonalności terminu dopowiedzenie. Na przykładzie nowotestamentalnych apokryfów staropolskich

Artykuł stanowi głos w dyskusji o możliwości przenoszenia terminów między językoznawstwem diachronicznym i synchronicznym na przykładzie terminu dopowiedzenie. W wypadku tego terminu zwrócono także uwagę na homonimię. Skonfrontowano różne definicje obecne w literaturze przedmiotu. Analizowane w artykule przykłady pochodzą ze staropolskich apokryfów nowotestamentalnych (Historyi trzech kroli oraz Rozmyślań dominikańskich). Termin dopowiedzenie zdefiniował Laskowski, a przejęli go m.in. Grochowski, Wiśniewski, Dobaczewski. Wszystkie definicje, w których dopowiedzenie ujmowane jest jako jednostka asyntagmatyczna, zależna kontekstowo, zostały stworzone na gruncie badań synchronicznych i zakładają w dużej mierze odwołanie się do kompetencji językowej użytkownika języka. Większość przykładów przywoływanych w tego typu artykułach jest spreparowana, stworzona celowo przez piszącego. Na problemy z adaptacją terminu wykształconego na gruncie badań synchronicznych do badań diachronicznych zwracała uwagę już Pastuchowa, sugerując, że historyk języka powinien wyjść od materiału językowego. To z kolei prowadzi do obserwacji, że zaproponowana definicja oraz kryteria wyróżniania dopowiedzeń nie są adekwatne do materiału dawnego. Ponadto tak zdefiniowany termin jest nieintuicyjny. Terminu dopowiedzenie użyła ponadto Krążyńska na określenie jednej ze średniowiecznych technik rozbudowywania pojedynczych zdań. W tym ujęciu termin dopowiedzenie jest jednak nieostry, nieprecyzyjny, choć intuicyjny. Sam termin zapewne nie został zaadaptowany z jednego obszaru badawczego do innego, lecz stworzono go niezależnie. Przyczyną tego stanu rzeczy może być przejrzysta budowa słowotwórcza wyrazu oraz intuicyjne rozumienie. Bardzo trudno zaproponować jasne i jednoznaczne kryteria wyodrębniania dopowiedzeń z tekstów staropolskich. Wiąże się to z faktem, że nie wiemy, czy dany element językowy jest integralną częścią zdania (składnikiem), czy też jest wtórny, dosunięty (spójnikowo lub bezspójnikowo). Nie są rozstrzygające w tej kwestii geneza (czy to np. zastosowanie figury retorycznej, czy też glosa wtórnie wciągnięta w tekst główny) ani zakres dopowiadanych sensów. Kluczowe wydają się wiedza o zabytku oraz intuicja badawcza. Ambiguity and functionality of the term dopowiedzenie (apposition), exemplified by Old Polish New Testament apocrypha. Summary: The article contributes to the discussion about the possibility of transferring terms between diachronic and synchronic linguistics. Using the term dopowiedzenie (‘apposition’) as an example, we address homonymy and confront various definitions that can be found in the literature. The examples analysed in the article are sourced in Old Polish New Testament apocrypha (Historyja trzech kroli ‘The history of the Three Kings’ and Rozmyślania dominikańskie ‘Dominican Meditations’). The term dopowiedzenie was defined by Laskowski and adopted by, among others, Grochowski, Wiśniewski, Dobaczewski. The definitions in which apposition is seen as an asyntagmatic and contextually dependent unit have been created on the basis of synchronic research and assume, to a large extent, appealing to the language competence of the speaker. Most examples cited in such articles are invented, i.e. created deliberately by the writer. Problems with the adaptation of a term that has developed in the field of synchronic research to diachronic research were already pointed out by Pastuchowa, who suggested that a historical linguist should take language material as a starting point. This, in turn, leads to an observation that the proposed definition and the criteria for the identification of apposition are not applicable to old material. Moreover, the term thus defined is non-intuitive. The term dopowiedzenie was also used by Krążyńska to describe one of the medieval techniques of expanding simple sentences. In this approach, however, the term is blurred, imprecise, although intuitive. Most probably the term was not adapted from one research area to another, but it was created independently. The reason for this can be its transparent word-formation structure and intuitive understanding. It is difficult to propose clear and unambiguous criteria for the extraction of appositions from Old Polish texts. This is due to the fact that we do not know whether a particular language element is an integral part of a sentence (constituent) or whether it is secondary, added (with or without the use of a conjunction). Examining the origin (e.g. the use of a rhetorical figure, the glosses incorporated secondarily in the main text) or the range of the added meanings does not help in resolving the issue. It is the knowledge of the written relic and scholarly intuition that seem to be the key. Keywords: term, apposition, syntax, Old Polish apocrypha

Et Cetera/Etcetera/&c; or, the Aposiopetic Page

Chapter 2 looks at the etcetera, a mark which today functions solely as an abbreviation, indicating the continuation of properties in a list. But in the early modern period that was only one of its several meanings. As a noun and a verb, early modern etcetera represents the body and bawdy (sexual parts and activities, or physical functions such as urination or defecation). As a punctuation mark, it is a forerunner of the punctuation mark which indicates silence or interruption—the em-dash. As a rhetorical term, it represents silence or the form of breaking off known rhetorically as aposiopesis. As an abbreviation at the ends of lists in stage directions, or lines in actors’ parts, it represents stage action, inviting continuation of dialogue or listed props. These four categories are linked in that etcetera directs the eye to a vacancy. We can see why it might be associated with aposiopesis, a rhetorical figure that is paradoxically about silence.