The Stoics on Ambiguity

The Stoics on Ambiguity

Author: Catherine Atherton

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1993-10-21

Total Pages: 600

ISBN-13: 9780521441391

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Examines Stoic work on ambiguity.


A History of Ambiguity

A History of Ambiguity

Author: Anthony Ossa-Richardson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-12-14

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 0691228442

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Ever since it was first published in 1930, William Empson’s Seven Types of Ambiguity has been perceived as a milestone in literary criticism—far from being an impediment to communication, ambiguity now seemed an index of poetic richness and expressive power. Little, however, has been written on the broader trajectory of Western thought about ambiguity before Empson; as a result, the nature of his innovation has been poorly understood. A History of Ambiguity remedies this omission. Starting with classical grammar and rhetoric, and moving on to moral theology, law, biblical exegesis, German philosophy, and literary criticism, Anthony Ossa-Richardson explores the many ways in which readers and theorists posited, denied, conceptualised, and argued over the existence of multiple meanings in texts between antiquity and the twentieth century. This process took on a variety of interconnected forms, from the Renaissance delight in the ‘elegance’ of ambiguities in Horace, through the extraordinary Catholic claim that Scripture could contain multiple literal—and not just allegorical—senses, to the theory of dramatic irony developed in the nineteenth century, a theory intertwined with discoveries of the double meanings in Greek tragedy. Such narratives are not merely of antiquarian interest: rather, they provide an insight into the foundations of modern criticism, revealing deep resonances between acts of interpretation in disparate eras and contexts. A History of Ambiguity lays bare the long tradition of efforts to liberate language, and even a poet’s intention, from the strictures of a single meaning.


The Socratic Method

The Socratic Method

Author: Rebecca Bensen Cain

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2007-04-26

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0826488919

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Explains how Plato's Socrates uses fallacy, irony, ambiguity and other rhetorical strategies to advance the Greek maxim to 'know thyself', as a means of caring for the soul


Strategies of Ambiguity in Ancient Literature

Strategies of Ambiguity in Ancient Literature

Author: Martin Vöhler

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-02-22

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 3110715813

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Ambiguity in the sense of two or more possible meanings is considered to be a distinctive feature of modern art and literature. It characterizes the "open artwork" (Eco) and is generated by "disruptive tactics" (Wellershoff) and strategies to engender uncertainty. While ambiguity is seen as a "paradigm of modernity" (Bode), there is skepticism regarding its use in the pre-modern era. Older studies were dominated by the conviction that there was a lack of ambiguity in pre-modernity because, according to the rules of the "old rhetoric", ambiguity was seen as an avoidable error (vitium) and a violation of the dictate of clarity (perspicuitas). The aim of the volume is to re-examine the putative "absence of ambiguity" in the pre-modern era. Is it not possible to find clear examples of deliberately employed (intended) ambiguity in antiquity? Are the oracles and riddles, the Palinode of Stesichoros and Socrates (Phaedrus), the dissoi logoi of rhetoric, the ambiguities of the tragedies all exceptions or do they not indicate a distinct interest in the artistic use of ambiguity? The presentations of the conference, which will include scholars from various philologies, will combine a recourse to theoretical concepts of intended ambiguity with exemplary analyses from the field of pre-modern art and literature.


Deleuze, A Stoic

Deleuze, A Stoic

Author: Ryan J. Johnson

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2020-03-02

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1474462189

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Ryan Johnson reveals that Deleuze's provocative reading of ancient Stoicism produced many of his most singular and powerful ideas. Including previously untranslated French Stoic scholarship, Johnson unearths new possibilities for bridging contemporary and ancient philosophy.


The Stoic Life:Emotions, Duties, and Fate

The Stoic Life:Emotions, Duties, and Fate

Author: Tad Brennan

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2005-06-23

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9780199256266

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Tad Brennan explains how to live the Stoic life - and why we might want to. Stoicism has been one of the main currents of thought in Western civilization for two thousand years: Brennan offers a fascinating guide through the ethical ideas of the original Stoic philosophers, and shows how valuable these ideas remain today, both intellectually and in practice. He writes in a lively informal style which will bring Stoicism to life for readers who are new to ancient philosophy. The Stoic Life will also be of great interest to philosophers and classicists seeking a full understanding of the intellectual legacy of the Stoics. Brennan starts from scrupulous attention to the evidence (references are provided to all of the standard collections of Stoic texts). He provides translations of the original texts, with extensive annotations that will allow readers to pursue further reading. No knowledge of Greek is required. An introductory section provides context by introducing the reader to the most important figures in the Stoic school, the philosophical climate in which they worked, and a brief summary of the leading tenets of the Stoic system. After this context is established, the book is divided into three sections. The first provides a thorough exploration of the Stoic school's theories of psychology, focusing on their analyses of fear, desire, and other emotions. The second develops the more centrally ethical topics of value, obligation, and right action. The third part explores the Stoic school's views on fate, determinism, and moral responsibility. For anyone interested in the origins of Western ethical thought, who wishes to understand the vast influence that Stoic philosophy has had on philosophy and religion up to our time, this book will be essential reading.


Fallacies Arising from Ambiguity

Fallacies Arising from Ambiguity

Author: Douglas Walton

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-09

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9401586322

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We are happy to present to the reader the first book of our Applied Logic Series. Walton's book on the fallacies of ambiguity is firmly at the heart of practical reasoning, an important part of applied logic. There is an increasing interest in artifIcial intelligence, philosophy, psychol ogy, software engineering and linguistics, in the analysis and possible mechanisation of human practical reasoning. Continuing the ancient quest that began with Aristotle, computer scientists, logicians, philosophers and linguists are vigorously seeking to deepen our understanding of human reasoning and argumentation. Significant communities of researchers are actively engaged in developing new approaches to logic and argumentation, which are better suited to the urgent needs of today's applications. The author of this book has, over many years, made significant contributions to the detailed analysis of practical reasoning case studies, thus providing solid foundations for new and more applicable formal logical systems. We welcome Doug Walton's new book to our series.


The Silent Masters

The Silent Masters

Author: Peter Godman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2012-01-06

Total Pages: 395

ISBN-13: 1400823609

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In the tension between competing ideas of authority and the urge to literary experiment, writers of the High Middle Ages produced some of their most distinctive achievements. This book examines these themes in the high culture of Western Europe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, showing how the intimate links between the writer and the censor, the inquisitor and the intellectual developed from metaphors, at the beginning of the period, to institutions at its end. All Latin texts--from Peter Abelard to Bernard of Clairvaux, from the Archpoet to John of Salisbury and Alan of Lille--are translated into English, and discussed both in terms of their literary qualities and in relation to the cultural history of the High Middle Ages. Not a proto-Renaissance but part of a continuity that reached into the Reformation, the eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed a transformation of the writer's role. With a combination of literary, philological, and historical methods, Peter Godman sets the work of major intellectuals during this period in a new light.


Narrativizing Theories

Narrativizing Theories

Author: Benjamin John Peters

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2020-02-06

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 153269489X

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Ours is an age of offense, a time of reactionary shock—always received, never given. Ours is an age that has forgone cultural narratives, a time of individualism—wherein personal identities trump the collective spirit. Ours is an age of failing earth, a time of ecological collapse—yet the consumption of global capitalism continues to run amok. But don't fear. You have the correct worldview, the best solutions. It’s not your fault these things are happening. It’s the president’s, the immigrant’s, and the Islamicist’s. Or perhaps It’s the socialist’s, the tree hugger’s, and the baby killer’s. But it’s not your fault. Never yours. For the world exists as you see it—in an echo chamber lined with golden pixels. Do I still have your attention? Then join me. Within the covers of Narrativizing Theories, I dive into ambiguity and aesthetics to depict how clashing worldviews exist side by side yet remain mutually incompatible. I examine how cultures distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable beliefs, embodiments, and identities. And I outline an aesthetic theory of ambiguity that highlights—through the twists and turns of literature—the provisionality of knowledge and the narrativization of reality.