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Title: Philosophy/History of Philosophy/Ancient/Stoicism - Bryn Mawr Classical Review - The Stoics on Ambiguity John Bussanich reviews the book of Catherine Atherton.
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| Bryn Mawr Classical Review 95.03.01 BrynMawr Classical Review 95.03.01 Catherine Atherton, The Stoics on Ambiguity.Cambridge Classical Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.Pp. xix + 563. $89.95. ISBN 0-521-44139-0. Reviewed by John Bussanich, University of NewMexico. Chrysippus' famous dictum "every word is by nature ambiguous" serveswell as an appropriately open-ended motto for this excellent book. Onecould frame an inquiry about ambiguity much more narrowly than Athertonhas done, but scholars with any reason to consult the book will begrateful, I think, that she has chosen to exclude little that has abearing on the topic. Atherton explores in exhaustive detail the role ofambiguity in virtually every domain of Stoic thought: moral psychology,epistemology, grammar, semantics, logic, stylistics and rhetoric,philosophical method, and the principles of classification. The systematiccharacter of Stoic philosophy itself justifies this thorough search forinterconnections and cross-currents, though Atherton is careful to raisetough questions about the coherence of the Stoic use and application ofthe concept in each area. A second factor broadens the scope of thisinvestigation beyond these already wide boundaries. Because the roots ofthe Stoic theory reach deeply into earlier philosophers, especiallyAristotle, Atherton's project amounts almost to a history of the subjectin ancient thought. Atherton boldly aims this study at an amazinglywide variety of scholars: classicists, Hellenistic philosophers,philosophers of language, theoretical and comparative linguists, andhistorians of logic. Besides the ancient authors and the classicists whostudy them readers should be prepared to encounter contemporary figureslike Chomsky, Frege, Lyons, Scheffler, and Saussure for detailedcomparisons with Stoic and ancient theories generally. Classicists will berelieved that Atherton never allows her extensive knowledge ofcontemporary linguistics or philosophy of language to tempt her intomaking tendentious or anachronistic judgments. But given that comparisonsbetween ancient and modern theories are inevitable and even desirable,Atherton succeeds brilliantly in employing contemporary thought to revealboth "the uniquely Stoic motivation behind the classifications" ofambiguity as well as to point out the limitations of Stoic conceptions,e.g., the extreme narrowness of their grammatical concepts andcategories. Noting the fuzziness and vagueness of the concept ofambiguity, as well as disagreements between ancients and moderns aboutwhether ambiguity is a good thing or not, Atherton observes that ambiguityis "very much what you make it." The Stoics did make a great deal ofambiguity because "seeing or missing an ambiguity could make a differenceto one's general success as a human being." The substantial third chapter(91 pages, adroitly titled "Morality Talks: The Origins and Limits ofStoic Interest in Ambiguity") properly emphasizes the practical, ethicalfocus of Stoic philosophizing; provides a detailed summary of the centralaspects of Stoic philosophy from the perspective of Stoic logical andlinguistic theory; and shows precisely how making the wrong decisions,viz., assenting incorrectly to the impressions one receives, can ruinone's life and make one unhappy. A case where ambiguity plays a cruciallyimportant role in moral reasoning is the category of the preferredindifferents, objects of choice that are morally neutral, e.g., health andwealth. If a person does not disambiguate goods into moral goods andnon-moral preferences, the Stoics argue, one inevitably will end upmiserable. This splendid chapter is too vast in scope and rich in detailto be summarized, but I call special attention to the nuanced comparisonsof Stoic ideas with the linguistic and dialectical theories of Aristotleand Epicurus; incisive analyses of Stoic views on literary style and onthe concept of clarity; and convincing explanations of their relative lackof interest in semantic multivalence. One shortcoming is a rather briefand somewhat vague account of why the Stoics did not even noticeAristotle's pervasive use of homonymy, particularly in his concept of"focal meaning" or pros hen equivocity. Chapters 4 and 5provide detailed commentaries on three short but highly significant texts.Chapter 4 examines the only explicit definition of ambiguityattributed to the Stoics, a brief passage in D.L. 7.62. Atherton skilfullytracks the possible meanings of amphibolia among the notions ofambiguity, vagueness, non-specificity, and metaphor. Considerableassistance in the search for definitions comes from Diodorus Cronus whomade the striking claim that there is no such thing as ambiguity. Chapter5 compares two classifications of ambiguities, one explicitly ascribed tothe Stoics, the other an eclectic blend of Stoic and non-Stoic elements.Atherton presents freshly edited versions of these important texts alongwith precise, readable translations. The first comprises the final chapterof Galen's short On Linguistic Sophisms. Galen reports Stoic viewson ambiguity merely to supplement what he considers the more comprehensiveclassification of linguistic fallacies in Aristotle's SophisticalRefutations. Atherton shows how Galen's notorious hostility againstthe Stoics blows up in his face: Stoic semantic and syntactic theory ismore innovative and sophisticated than Aristotle's, but Galen seems to beunaware of the fact. A somewhat longer classificatory scheme is preservedin Aelius Theon's teaching rhetorical handbook the progymnasmata(Preliminary Rhetorical Exercises). These two taxonomiescomprise the superstructure for the 200-page chapter 6, the heart of thebook. A substantial section is devoted to each of six species ofambiguity: common ambiguities, homonymies, elleipsis and pleonasm,significant/non-significant part, hyperbaton and interpolation, andreference. This part of the book will most profitably be consulted as areference work. Each section begins with the relevant passages from Galenand Theon, usually accompanied by pertinent Aristotelian texts. Inaddition to the linguistic topics other major topics discussed includeStoic criticism of the Platonic theory of forms; Stoic views on Platonicand Aristotelian dialectic; the Stoic theory of autonymy discussed andreworked in Augustine's de dialectica; and a general Stoic theoryof signs that is prominent in Augustine's de magistro, a work that,interestingly, also contains a version of the "use/mention"distinction. Chapter 7 takes up one of the major roles assigned toambiguity by the Stoics: the creation of fallacies or deceptivelypersuasive arguments. Discerning and removing ambiguities is crucial forthe Stoic project of attaining rational and moral consistency. The Stoictreatment is rooted in Aristotle's more comprehensive discussions, butAtherton properly emphasizes the importance of paradoxes (e.g., theSorites or "heaping" argument) and puzzles as additional motivatingfactors. Of particular interest here is the contrast between Stoiccommitment to the effectiveness of logic and dialectic and scepticalattacks on its value, especially that of Sextus Empiricus. In thefinal, eighth chapter Atherton discusses how Stoic ideas fit into thelarger world of ancient rhetorical and grammatical theory. Her conclusionsare necessarily tentative since most of the Stoic texts were already rarein antiquity and most that was distinctive in Stoic grammatical theorylived on only in epitomes and commentaries. Atherton's study is asignificant contribution to our understanding of ancient literary theoryin large part because it is so successful in retrieving and interpretingcarefully the limited amount of textual material that survives.Philological rigour and sensitivity are combined with an enviable commandof contemporary linguistic theory and philosophy of language. Twoeditorial features of this volume warrant comment. No need to highlightthe production values: as always Cambridge University Press offers anadmirable, flawlessly printed book. Atherton is to be commended, first,for exceptionally thorough documentation of the countless textualreferences that are inevitable in a large study of Hellenistic philosophy.She provides the standard von Arnim SVF references, of course, but evenmore helpful to non-specialists -- but, regrettably, uncommon -- is theinclusion of references to the appropriate sections of The HellenisticPhilosophers by A. A. Long and D.N. Sedley (Cambridge UniversityPress, 1987). Second, and more important, the volume is endowed with awhopping 35 pages of indexes, an absolute necessity in a work of thiskind, but, nevertheless, an essential tool that is too often absent. |
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John | Bussanich | reviews | the | book | of | Catherine | Atherton. |
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http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1995/95.03.01.html
Bryn Mawr Classical Review - The Stoics on Ambiguity 2008 October
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John Bussanich reviews the book of Catherine Atherton.
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