Witnessing and Convincing. The Truth Device in Judicial Discourses of Classical Athens.
Sorbonne| N° d'inventaire | 23011 |
| Format | 16 x 23.5 |
| Détails | 384 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2019 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9791035103286 |
How can we recognize truthful information? In a world rocked by a litany of fake news, the question is of crucial relevance. How can we believe others, on what criteria can we accept or refute the news being transmitted, how can we be believed? These questions were as relevant in classical Athens as they are today with social media. In pleadings from the 4th century BC preserved through handwritten transmission, plaintiffs repeatedly tell their audience that they are "telling the truth." Researchers have long sought to determine whether this was indeed the case by cross-referencing the events described with facts attested elsewhere. This book, by examining the mechanisms used to make a statement true, adopts a radically different approach. By situating the fabrication of truth on the side of the statement of the speech, the work displays for the reader the range of evidence that plaintiffs used during their intervention in court, called the truth apparatus. At the center of this system emerges a major figure, that of the witness. The place given to deponents in the judicial arena is not self-evident, nor are the actions expected of them at the time of their testimony. The oral and written dimensions of testimonial depositions are then carefully articulated. The value of the witnesses' words varies according to their gender and status, whether they are free or not. Individuals who take the stand are held responsible for their words according to principles that closely link law and religion, the gaze of judges and that of the gods. Testifying and convincing are acts that are therefore part of a binding system of truth. The Ancients were careful, in their own way, to place their speeches under the sign of truth.
How can we recognize truthful information? In a world rocked by a litany of fake news, the question is of crucial relevance. How can we believe others, on what criteria can we accept or refute the news being transmitted, how can we be believed? These questions were as relevant in classical Athens as they are today with social media. In pleadings from the 4th century BC preserved through handwritten transmission, plaintiffs repeatedly tell their audience that they are "telling the truth." Researchers have long sought to determine whether this was indeed the case by cross-referencing the events described with facts attested elsewhere. This book, by examining the mechanisms used to make a statement true, adopts a radically different approach. By situating the fabrication of truth on the side of the statement of the speech, the work displays for the reader the range of evidence that plaintiffs used during their intervention in court, called the truth apparatus. At the center of this system emerges a major figure, that of the witness. The place given to deponents in the judicial arena is not self-evident, nor are the actions expected of them at the time of their testimony. The oral and written dimensions of testimonial depositions are then carefully articulated. The value of the witnesses' words varies according to their gender and status, whether they are free or not. Individuals who take the stand are held responsible for their words according to principles that closely link law and religion, the gaze of judges and that of the gods. Testifying and convincing are acts that are therefore part of a binding system of truth. The Ancients were careful, in their own way, to place their speeches under the sign of truth.