Apophasis

Apophasis agr.-deu. apóphasis agr. ἀπόφασις; bei Aristoteles 'Entscheidung; Verneinung' (Perí hermēneías), Name des Untersuchungsverfahren zur Entscheidung, zum Urteil;

• vgl. negative Theologie (altgriechisch θεολογία ἀποφατική theología apophatikḗ, lateinisch theologia negativa

Apophasis (WKPD dt.)

Apophasis (ἀπόφασις, wörtlich „Aufdeckung“) bezeichnet ein Untersuchungsverfahren, das Mitte bis Ende des 4. Jahrhunderts vor Chr. im antiken Athen entwickelt wurde.

Auf Antrag der ekklesia oder auf eigene Initiative untersuchte der Areopag Angelegenheiten, die als ernste Gefährdung der öffentlichen Sicherheit angesehen wurden wie insbesondere Landesverrat, Bestechung und Umsturzversuche, aber auch kleinere Delikte.

Eine Apophasis wurde auch eingeleitet, wenn die Gefährdung der Stadt durch einen Feind von außen in Frage stand. Gegen Antiphon von Rhamnus wurde eine solche Untersuchung geführt, als er nach seiner Verbannung als Agent der Spartaner wieder in Athen gefangen genommen wurde.

Die Untersuchung durch den Areopag wurde durch einen Bericht abgeschlossen, der wie das gesamte Verfahren apophasis genannt wurde. Der Bericht enthielt eine Empfehlung wie z. B. die, bestimmte Personen zu verfolgen. In einem solchen Fall bestimmte die Volksversammlung dann die öffentlichen Ankläger und der Fall wurde vor der Heliaia verhandelt. Mit der Beteiligung der wichtigsten Institutionen der athenischen Demokratie (Volksversammlung, Areopag, Heliaia) stellte das Verfahren ein Instrument der Gewaltenteilung und Machtbalance dar.

• Apophansis
• Kataphasis

Einzelbelege

1. Ein bekanntes Beispiel stellt das durch die Rede des Deinarchos (Din. 1.3-4) überlieferte Verfahren gegen Demosthenes wegen Landesverrats dar.
2. Deinarchos erwähnt eine apophasis gegen Personen, die einen Fährmann ausgeraubt bzw. betrügerisch fünf Drachmen Eintritt ins Theater kassiert hatten, und gegen ein Mitglied des Areopags, das ein Stück Opferfleisch für den Dienst am Areopag erhalten und verbotenerweise verkauft hatte, Din. 1.56
3. Demosthenes 18.132; weitere derartige Fälle erwähnt Deinarchos: verdächtige Reisen des Polyeuktos von Kydantide nach Megara, Din. 1.58; Charinos wurde wegen Landesverrat verbannt, Din 1.63

Literatur

• Maximilian Braun: Die „Eumeniden“ des Aischylos und der Areopag. Narr, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-8233-4878-7, S. 247 (Seite bei Google Books)
• Theodor Thalheim: Ἀπόφασις. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Band II,1, Stuttgart 1895, Sp. 173.

= Weblinks

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• S.C.Todd, A Glossary of Athenian Legal Terms (engl.)

Apophasis (WKPD eng.)

Apophasis (/əˈpɒfəsɪs/; aus dem Altgriechischen ἀπόφασις (apóphasis), von ἀπόφημι (apóphemi) „nein sagen“)) ist ein rhetorisches Mittel, bei dem der Sprecher oder Schreiber ein Thema anspricht, indem er es entweder verneint oder verneint, dass es zur Sprache gebracht werden sollte. Dementsprechend kann es als rhetorischer Verwandter der Ironie gesehen werden.

The device is also called paralipsis (παράλειψις) – also spelled paraleipsis or paralepsis – or occupatio or occultatio, and known also as praeteritio, preterition, or parasiopesis (παρασιώπησις).

Dieses rhetorische Mittel/rhetorischer Kunstgriff wird auch Paralipsis (παράλειψις) – auch paraleipsis oder paralepsis geschrieben – oder occupatio oder occultatio genannt, und ist auch als praeteritio, Präterition oder Parasiopesis (παρασιώπησις) bekannt.

Usage

As a rhetorical device, apophasis can serve several purposes. For example, It can be employed to raise an ad hominem or otherwise controversial attack while disclaiming responsibility for it, as in, "I refuse to discuss the rumor that my opponent is a drunk." This can make it a favored tactic in politics.

Apophasis can be used passive-aggressively, as in, "I forgive you for your jealousy, so I won't even mention what a betrayal it was."

In Cicero's "Pro Caelio" speech, he says to a prosecutor, "Obliviscor iam iniurias tuas, Clodia, depono memoriam doloris mei" ("I now forget your wrongs, Clodia, I set aside the memory of my pain [that you caused].")

Apophasis can be used to discuss a taboo subject, as in, "We are all fully loyal to the emperor, so we wouldn't dare to claim that his new clothes are a transparent hoax."

As a rhetorical device, it can serve various purposes, often dependent on the relationship of the speaker to the addressee and the extent of their shared knowledge. Apophasis is rarely literal; instead, it conveys meaning through implications that may depend on this context. As an example of how meaning shifts, the English phrase "needless to say" invokes shared understanding, but its actual meaning depends on whether that understanding was really shared. The speaker is alleging that it is not necessary to say something because the addressee already knows it, but this may not be true. If it is, it may merely emphasize a pertinent fact. If the knowledge is weighted with history, it may be an indirect way of levying an accusation ("needless to say, because you are responsible"). If the addressee does not actually already possess the knowledge, it may be a way to condescend: the speaker suspected as much but wanted to call attention to the addressee's ignorance. Conversely, it could be a sincere and polite way to share necessary information that the addressee may or may not know without implying that the addressee is ignorant. For example, to highlight a spelling error, instead of pointing out the error one could simply use the word in passing, spelled correctly.

Apophasis can serve to politely avoid the suggestion of ignorance on the part of an audience, as found in the narrative style of Adso of Melk in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, where the character fills in details of early fourteenth-century history for the reader by stating it is unnecessary to speak of them. Conversely, the same introduction can be made sarcastically to condescend to an audience and imply their ignorance.

Another diplomatic use would be to raise a criticism indirectly, as in, "It would be out of line for me to say that this action would be unwise and unaffordable, sir, as I only care about your best interests."

As the rhetorician Jennifer Mercieca has observed, apophasis can be used to deflect criticism. It can also be an effective device for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories, because speakers can employ it to avoid taking responsibility for what they say.

Examples

When apophasis is taken to its extreme, the speaker provides full details, stating or drawing attention to something in the very act of pretending to pass it over: "I will not stoop to mentioning the occasion last winter when our esteemed opponent was found asleep in an alleyway with an empty bottle of vodka still pressed to his lips."

In the second debate of the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan used a humorous apophasis to deflect scrutiny of his own fitness at age 73 by replying, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." In 1988, he applied a harsher apophasis toward George H. W. Bush's opponent Michael Dukakis, who was rumored to have received psychological treatment, "Look, I'm not going to pick on an invalid."

Former United States President Donald Trump frequently employs apophasis. In 2015, Trump said of fellow Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, "I promised I would not say that she ran Hewlett-Packard into the ground, that she laid off tens of thousands of people and she got viciously fired. I said I will not say it, so I will not say it." In 2016, he tweeted of journalist Megyn Kelly, "I refuse to call [her] a bimbo because that would not be politically correct." In 2017, as president, he tweeted of the leader of North Korea, "Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me 'old', when I would NEVER call him 'short and fat'?". In light of a potential presidential bid by Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Trump claimed he would not use the name "Meatball Ron" in reference to him.

During Prohibition, a grape concentrate brick called Vine-Glo was sold with the warning, "After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days, because then it would turn into wine."

See also

• Antiphrasis
• Apophatic theology
• Argument from ignorance
• Argument from silence
• Elephant in the room
• Glossary of rhetorical terms
• Ironic process theory
• Problem of induction
• Streisand effect
• The lady doth protest too much, methinks
• Unsaid

General and cited references

• Smyth, Herbert Weir (1984) [1920]. Greek Grammar. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 680 (as paraleipsis). ISBN 0-674-36250-0.
• Lanham, Richard A. (1991) [1967]. A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms (Second Edition). University of California Press. p. 104 (as occultatio). ISBN 9780520273689

External links

• Figures of rhetoric: Apophasis
• A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices: Apophasis
• Wordsmith: Paralipsis

Citations

9. Cicero, "Pro Caelio", Chapter 50
10. Eco, Umberto (1984). "Postscript to the Name of the Rose". The Name of the Rose. Translated by William Weaver. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 39. Eco and Weaver use the spelling paralepsis or "passing over" for the phenomenon.
11. Mercieca, Jennifer (6 October 2021). "How Donald Trump gets away with saying things other candidates can't". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 13 February2024.
12. Burton, Gideon O. "paralipsis". Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric. Brigham Young University. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
13. "Reagan recovers in second debate, Oct. 21, 1984". POLITICO.
14. M. J. Stephey. "Reagan's Age-Old Wisdom". Time. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
15. Lamar Jr., Jacob V. (15 August 1988). "Reagan: Part Fixer, Part Hatchet Man". Time. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
16. Bobic, Igor (16 February 2016). "He Would Never Say It, But This Is Donald Trump's Favorite Rhetorical Device". HuffPost. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
17. Karimi, Faith (11 November 2017). "Trump sarcastically responds to Kim Jong Un insults". CNN. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
18. "Trump: I won't call DeSantis 'Meatball Ron'". POLITICO. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
19. Kassens, Alice Louise (2019). Intemperate Spirits: Economic adaptation during Prohibition. Palgrave MacMillan. p. 61.