{"id":973,"date":"2010-10-18T10:00:16","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=973"},"modified":"2010-07-22T15:22:05","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T13:22:05","slug":"traditions-of-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=973","title":{"rendered":"Traditions of controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"
Traditions of controversy. <\/strong>Ed. by Marcelo Dascal<\/strong> and Han-Liang Chang<\/strong>. (Controversies 4.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2007. Pp. xvi, 310. ISBN 9789027218841<\/a>. $165 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan<\/strong><\/a>, State University at Campinas, Brazil<\/em><\/p>\n

The papers contained in this volume were originally presented at Controversy East and West, a conference that took place in Taipei in 2005. The editors justify the change in the title of the volume by explaining that many of these controversies \u2018cannot be accommodated by the Procrustean bed East versus West\u2019 (ix). It is only fitting of a volume devoted to controversies that its contributors occasionally dispute one another. Thus, the book opens with \u2018Towards a taxonomy of controversies and controversiality: Ancient Greece and China\u2019, in which Geoffrey Lloyd<\/strong> takes issue with Marcelo Dascal\u2019s triadic classification of polemics into discussion, dispute, and controversy. Lloyd argues that cultural differences undercut the alleged universality of Dascal\u2019s thesis.<\/p>\n

Part 1, \u2018Ancient traditions: East and West\u2019, includes Hanina Ben-Menahem<\/strong>\u2019s \u2018Controversy in Jewish law: The Talmud\u2019s attitude to controversy\u2019, which explores controversy in Jewish tradition with an emphasis on the Talmud. In \u2018Debates and rhetoric in Sumer\u2019, Simonetta Ponchia<\/strong> delves into ancient Sumerian texts unearthed during excavations in Mesopotamia. Han-Liang Chang revisits controversy in ancient China with \u2018Persuasion in the pre-Qin China: The Great Debate revisited\u2019. Chang contrasts the debate over ming<\/em> \u2018name\u2019 and shi<\/em> \u2018substance\u2019 with a similar dispute in Western philosophy over logic and rhetoric. Peng<\/strong> Yi<\/strong>\u2019s \u2018\u201cIn proper form\u201d: Xunzi\u2019s theory of xinger<\/em>\u2019 addresses how the ancient Chinese philosopher Xunzi\u2019s (ca. 313\u2013238 BC) polemical stance on human nature cast a shadow on China\u2019s intellectual history well into the modern age. In \u2018The right, duty and pleasure of debating in Western culture\u2019, Adelino Cattani<\/strong> asks \u2018Is controversy a just war of words or is it just a war of words?\u2019 (125), answering that \u2018a \u201ccontroversial question\u201d is an ambiguous formulation which can mean \u201cignorance and irresolution\u201d as well as \u201cprudence and criticism\u201d\u2019 (125).<\/p>\n

Part 2 concentrates on \u2018Medieval and Early Modern traditions: Logic, dialectic, and rhetoric in controversy\u2019. In \u2018The medieval disputatio<\/em>\u2019, Olga Weijers<\/strong> explores the tradition of scholastic disputation that centers round the questio <\/em>\u2018questions\u2019 that arise from the reading of basic texts. Throughout the rise of universities in Europe, the questio<\/em> constituted an intellectual practice that contributed to both teaching and research. In \u2018Disputing about disputing: The medieval procedure of positio<\/em> and its role in a dispute over the nature of logic and the foundations of metaphysics\u2019, Christopher J. Martin<\/strong> discusses the Great Schism, possibly the most important controversy in medieval Christianity, which led to the separation of the Greek Orthodox Church and Roman Catholicism. In \u2018Antibarabarous contra pseudophilosophers: Metaphors in an early modern controversy\u2019, Cristina Marras<\/strong> discusses Mario Nizoli (i.e. the Antibarbarous) and Antonio Maria Conti di Maioragio (i.e. the Pseudophilosopher). Part 2 closes with Merio<\/strong> Scattola<\/strong>\u2019s \u2018Dialectics, topology and practical philosophy in early modern times\u2019, which discusses the great interest in the practical disciplines of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.<\/p>\n

Part 3 focuses on \u2018Modern traditions: The rise of scientific disciplines\u2019. Jo\u00e3o Lopes Alves<\/strong> discusses \u2018Legal controversy vs. scientific and philosophical controversies\u2019, and Amos Morris-Reich<\/strong> investigates the foundation of sociology in \u2018The controversy over the foundation of sociology and its object: Simmel\u2019s form versus Durkheim\u2019s collectivity\u2019. Chaoqun Xie<\/strong> explores \u2018Controversies about politeness\u2019. In \u2018Controversies over controversies: An ontological perspective on the place of controversy in current historiography\u2019, Ofer Gal<\/strong> details the controversy over the very place of controversy in current historiography. The final paper, \u2018Traditions of controversy and conflict resolution: Can past approaches help to solve present conflicts?\u2019, by Marcelo Dascal, contrasts Jewish, Muslim, and Christian views of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.<\/p>\n

The contributors\u2019 insightful analyses and perspectives will make this a useful volume for those interested in controversies across traditions and through the ages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Traditions of controversy. Ed. by Marcelo Dascal and Han-Liang Chang. (Controversies 4.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2007. Pp. xvi, 310. ISBN 9789027218841. $165 (Hb). Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan, State University at Campinas, Brazil The papers contained in this volume were originally presented at Controversy East and West, a conference that took place in Taipei in 2005. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=973"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/973\/revisions\/975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}