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In this article, I aim at presenting and commenting on a series of interesting ideas discovered in Isocrates' ancient discourses, precisely those ideas referring to the importance of language for man in general, seen as a social being. In this regard, one should notice the specific meaning he gave to the Old Greek term philosophia, understood as 'the culture of discourse'. In other words, I will try to prove that Isocrates' rhetorical work deserves more appreciation from the specialists or researchers who deal with linguistic ideas and problems of philosophy of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1690, in Leipzig, Tobias Peucer defended the first doctoral thesis (in the world) devoted to journalism, namely De relationibus novellis ("On news reporting"). In this article, I aim at proving the validity and durable value of Peucer's dissertation, by analysing its content and structure, while also considering the philosophical aspects of this very important text, which establishes the theoretical foundation of journalism itself. In this regard, I will refer to some essential distinctions made by Aristotle, Kant and Coseriu, in order to demonstrate Peucer's solid philosophical background and his right scientific intuitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a concise study from 1882, B.P. Hasdeu presented his own classification of the linguistic sciences (seen as subdivisions of glottics, i.e., the science of language) and justified the distinctions made according to mainly formal and semantic criteria. At the same time, Hasdeu also took into consideration two physical-psychical aspects of linguistic units, namely their "fluid" and "condensed" features. As a result of combining these criteria and aspects, a series of sub-sciences were individualized (whether their object was either the word or the sentence). I aimed at demonstrating that the respective criteria also allow the individualization of phraseology (or the delimitation of its object). However, it seems that the time of phraseology had not come yet, since Hasdeu left a "blank space" in his classification - the very place of phraseology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I aim at proving the relevance of a (possibly) new semiotic concept, which I termed dynamic substitute. In this regard, dynamic substitutes refer to those types of signs that manifest a kind of "dialectic relation" to the "things" they stand for; that is, they mutually influence each other during the transactions they are involved in. Not only words and money (as symbols), but also maps (as icons), constitute excellent examples of dynamic substitutes, as the American philosopher John Dewey suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I will try to provide some elements for establishing a sui generis hermeneutics, that is a "hermeneutics of recognition", referring to certain texts considered as symbols. In order to do this, I need to restore the etymological meaning of the term symbol (< O.Gr. symbolon), analysing, first of all, the word as a symbol, as it was defined by Aristotle. In this regard, I will appeal to important thinkers such as Eugenio Coseriu, Hans-Georg Gadamer, José Ortega y Gasset and others. Leaving apart the classic types of texts which were recorded by Liddell & Scott's Lexicon as symbola (e.g. political or commercial treaties), I will also mention the Christian Credo and I will particularly discuss the famous exchange of letters between Alexander the Great and Aristotle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this preliminary note, the editor justifies the publication of this special issue of "Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio" devoted to Eugenio Coseriu's commemoration, 20 years after his death. At the same time, he presents the content of the texts written or translated on this very occasion, texts which deal with matters concerning semiotics, text linguistics and hermeneutics from a Coserian perspective. Moreover, mention must be made that two of the selected texts belong to Coseriu himself and are published here for the first time in a Romanian version. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although I will also refer to an influent analogy made by Francis Bacon and to R.G. Collingwood's explanation concerning it, however, my article will mainly deal with John Dewey's ideas in this regard. John Dewey developped a special logic, which he named the theory of inquiry. Dewey's logic can be considered, actually, an integral hermeneutics, since it also examines the meanings which man creates when interpreting nature. According to Dewey, sciences are systems of related meanings obtained through inquiry. An inquiry follows a certain pattern, by transforming, in a controlled way, an indeterminate, confusing situation into a determinate one, which, thus, gets meaning. A problematic situation can be clarified only if it is transposed linguistically in our mind. How can we get, by means of inquiry, to the individual meaning of a concrete situation, by using the meanings already acquired in a certain field? Dewey states that individual meaning can be obtained as a result of articulating a judgment, which arises from a chain of logical propositions. They can be either (i) existential propositions (which extract the relevant data from concrete situations) or (ii) conceptual propositions (which direct inquiries towards the best way to solve the given situations). These propositions collaborate. The existential ones are similar to the workers who (selectively) excavate ancient objects from ruins. The conceptual ones are like the archeologists who establish the meaning of the objects found by the workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking as a point of departure Francis Bacon's famous aphorism ("Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed"), I will present and comment on an original interpretation given to this principle by John Dewey, who highly appreciated the aforementioned English philosopher. At the same time, I will try to emphasize some aspects regarding a sui generis deontology of the hermeneutical activity, especially for the field of natural sciences, since every researcher is also an interpreter of facts and theories. I believe that the respectful attitude revealed and promoted by John Dewey, in relation to Nature, can contribute to establishing such a deontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of communication studies is an extremely various one, this diversity being generated by each and every science which deals in a specific manner with the object of communication or of language in itself. However, there are great efforts nowadays to build or to identify a coherent and unitary theory (or even a paradigm) in order to guide, in a transdisciplinary way, the sciences of such a vast domain. One of the relevant proposals in this regard, coming from Ioan S. Cârâc, is that of considering semiotics as a transdisciplinary method, or of taking as a paradigm Eugenio Coseriu's integral linguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I aim at analyzing the evolution of the terms academy and academic, starting with their etymology, in order to emphasize a bizarre cultural fact. Taking into account both their Greek origin and a sense of linguistic consciousness specific to some speakers, one could characterize the expression "academic writing" (referring to a certain discipline/course taught in our universities) as an ironical formula in the history of culture, since, originally, Plato's Akademia and 'writing' in itself had nothing in common. On the contrary, Plato was against writing in general, as proved by some quotations excerpted from his works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the conception of the ancient Greeks, which left deep marks in the Western culture, I tried to comment in this study on the relation between cosmology, logic and legislation. I was mainly interested in the connection between "natural law" and "social law" in general, but mostly in the relation between the former and the principles of "Roman law". Apart from the philosophical aspects dealt with in this article, I have also presented some elements (connected to "repeated discourse") which I analyzed from a linguistic point of view as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]