Konstantine Boudouris and John Poulakos, eds., The Philosophy of Communication, Volume I, Ionia Publications, Athens, 2002, pp.215, ISBN: 960-7670-38-8

The papers included in the present volume are an attempt to inquire into the Greek philosophy of communication. Prompted by such contemporary phenomena as the explosion of technological advances in mass communication or the pervasive uses of the computer and the Internet, the authors here represented have turned to our Hellenic heritage for ideas that can help us make sense of the ways in which we communicate today.

Although each essay differs from the rest in approach, purpose and scope, they all converge on the notion that the problems of communication since antiquity remain fundamentally the same. Accordingly, they all address the same three units of analysis that Greek thinkers addressed many centuries ago: the logos, the speaker, and the listener(s). At the same time, they all gesture, some more explicitly than others, toward the formal character of dialogue and rhetoric, the two modes of communication that occupy center stage in ancient Greek thought.

The main frame of the Hellenic philosophy of communication was formally developed in the fourth century BCE, and more details were added later on. However, the practices and intellectual currents that stimulated such a development go as far back as Homer, the Pre-socratics, and the Sophists.

The value of these papers is best appreciated when read in conjunction with those contained in the Second Volume of the Philosophy of Communication (Athens 2002). Book cover

VOLUME 1 CONTENTS

1. EDITORS' INTRODUCTION
2. EUGENE V. AFONASIN
DISCOURSE AND DIALOGUE: QUESTIONS TO BE SETTLED BEFORE THE STUDY OF THE LITERATURE OF A TRANSITION PERIOD
3. ALASTAIR BEATTIE
ACCESSING THE NOUS
4. BETH S. BENNETT
ETHICAL CHALLENGES FOR ARISTOTLE'S RHETORIC IN AN AGE OF MEDIATED COMMUNICATION
5. FRANCISCO J. GONALEZ
CONVERSING ABOUT VIRTUE EVERY: SOCRATIC COMMUNICATION AS END, NOT MEANS
6. RICHARD HARTNETT
KAIROS AND BIAN: COMPARATIVE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF RHETORIC IN CLASSICAL GREECE AND CHINA.
7. DAVID HITCHCOCK
ARISTOTLE'S THEORY OF ARGUMENT EVALUATION
8. DAVID C. HOFFMAN
LOGOS AND PLURALISM: THE FOUNDATION OF THE SOPHISTIC MOVEMENT
9. KOSTAS KALIMTZIS
PHANTASIA IN DECEPTIVE AFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
10. MARI LEE MIFSUD
PHILOSOPHY, RHETORIC AND EROS IN THE COMING OF SELF KNOWLEDGE
11. IGOR NEVVAJAI
THE PRINCIPLE OF COMMUNICATION IN THE CONTEXT OF FOUNDATIONALISM AND RELATIVISM
12. JOHANI PIETARINEN
ETHICAL ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION IN THE CONTEXT OF FOUNDATIONALISM AND RELATIVISM
13. TAKIS POULAKOS
THE RHETORIC OF PRAISE AND THE CONSTITUTION OF IDENTITY
14. JEREMIAH REEDY
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS IN ANTIQUITY
15. HAROLD TARRANT
PROCLUS ON HOW PLATO COMMUNICATES
16. STEPHANIE THEODOROU
THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF COMMUNICATION IN ARISTOTLE'S POETICS AND DE INTERPRETATIONE. A CONTEMPORARY RAPROCHEMENT WITH PAUL RICOEUR
17. HIDEYA YAMAKAWA
THE INCOMMENSURABILITY OF PHILOSOPHICAL COMMUNICATION IN PLATO'S LAWS
18. LISA WILKINSON
PARMENIDES' FRAGMENTED TRUTH: PUTTING THE PIECES BACK TOGETHER
19. JUDY WUBNIG
WHAT DOES MENO KNOW: MENO'S QUESTION AND HIS BAD MEMORY IN PLATO'S MENO
20. INDEX NOMINUM