Aristotle on verbal communication: The first chapters of De Interpretatione

ABSTRACT This article deals with the communicational aspects of Aristotle’s theory of signification as laid out in the initial chapters of the De Interpretatione (Int.).1 We begin by outlining the reception and main interpretations of the chapters under discussion, rather siding with the linguistic strand. We then argue that the first four chapters present an account of verbal communication, in which words signify things via thoughts. We show how Aristotle determines voice as a conventional and hence accidental medium of signification: words as ‘spoken sounds’ are tokens of thoughts, which in turn are signs or natural likenesses of things. We argue that, in this way, linguistic expressions may both signify thoughts and refer to things. This double account of signification also explains the variety of ontological, logical and psychological interpretations of the initial chapters of Int

From Shame to Shaming: towards an Analysis of Shame Narratives

This paper examines shame in three narratives involving the social self and the evaluative perception of that self. The semiotic square is used for analysing some of the conceptualizations of shame and highlighting the structural relations of the shame phenomenon in narrative. The stance of this paper is that shame is a moral emotion which results from two main evaluative perceptions, involving moral sentiment and social reputation. In support of this claim, different aspects of shame are analysed in three types of narratives from different socio-cultural contexts

Rethinking the Perceived Self: Samples from Facebook

How the self perceives reality is a traditional topic of research across several disciplines. I examine the perceived self on Facebook, as a case-study of self-knowledge on „classical” social media. Following Blascovich & Bailenson (2011), I consider the distinction between the real and the virtual as relative. Perceptual self-knowledge, filtered through social media, requires rethinking the perceived self in terms of social reality (Neisser, 1993). This claim dovetails Jenkins’s (2013) notion of the self as an active participant in consumption. I argue that the perceived self in social media could be conceived in terms of how it would like to be perceived and appraised by its virtual audience. Using Neisser’s (1993) typology of self-knowledge and Castañeda’s (1983) theory of I-guises, I analyse seven samples from Anglo-American and Bulgarian Facebook sites and show that the perceived self produces itself online as a captivating presence with a credible story. My samples are taken from FB community pages with negligible cultural differences across an online teenage/twens (twixter) age group. I then discuss some problematic aspects of the perceived self online, as well as recent critiques of technoconsumerism

Notes on the cult of the fifteen Tiberioupolitan martyrs in medieval Bulgaria

The cult of the fifteen Tiberioupolitan martyrs is one of the most intriguing cults in medieval Bulgaria. There are, however, a lot of questions about this cult, some of which I address in this paper. The earliest evidence of the cult is their mention in the Evangelarium Assemani (late 10th – early 11th C ), at 29th August, but only three of the martyrs are listed. Another important source for this cult is the well-known Life of Clement of Ohrid by Theophylact of Ohrid, called The martyrdom of the fifteen Tiberioupolitan martyrs (late 11th or early 12th C ). One of the most interesting evidences, however, is the very discovery of the relics, dated back to the reign of khan Boris I (852–889), when the relics proved miraculous. According to the recent studies, the cult of the fifteen martyrs was wide-spread in the region of Stroumitsa and the name of the town where the relics were placed, did not change due to them but due to a historical factor – someone called Tiberius. On the other hand, however, no Greek manuscripts mention the martyrs, except those coming from the diocese of the Ohrid archbishopry. The facts shown above proves that the cult was imported soon after the baptizing of the Bulgarians

The Perfect Ruler in the Art and Literature of Medieval Bulgaria

The paper is an attempt to provide some information about the concept of the perfect ruler, as saved in the literature and the fine arts of the medieval Bulgaria, and which are related to the name of the king Ivan Alexander. The first part of the text is of theoretical character, showing how the ancient Greek literature presents the ideal ruler. The second one points out the characteristics of the portrayal of Ivan Alexander, as saved in both literary monuments (praises of the king in the Sofia psalter, so-called Pesnivec, 1337), and iconographical ones (a famous chronicle by Constantine Manasses, 1345–1346)