Some Elements of Communication Theory in Theodore Metochites’ Memorable Notes (Ch. 1–26, 71)

Abstract

This paper is aimed at the complex investigation of the communication and its ontological basis in Theodore Metochites’ (1270–1332) Memorable Notes (Semeioseis gnomikai). In the Memorable Notes Metochites oriented himself toward those authors who, like Plutarch, tried to discuss everything, including history, culture, and the being in general, in a philosophical manner. The speechlessness as the subject matter of Ch. 1 and 9 is compensated, according to Theodore, with a creative liberty and the possibility to discuss every topic, which is inherent to everybody, but, first and foremost, members of the intellectual elite. The conflict of these two ideas, i. e., of the speechlessness and of the liberty to think and speak, forms the antinomy of communication, being of importance for Theodore’s thought. Similar opinions of late medieval authors seemed to pave the way for Kant’s third antinomy. Moreover, the theme of the lack of something new to discuss and talk over continued the Aristotelian topics. Finally, in Metochites’ thought, the life of a human being, like those of society and cosmos as a whole, passes through the same stages as a person’s utterance: the cosmos history in its dynamics reminds speech or, more specifically, conversation or dialogue. This intertwinement of Aristotle’s ideas from De interpretatione with those from St. John’s Gospel prologue is a hallmark of that Byzantine-Christian Hellenism which was discussed in Antonio Garzya’s seminal paper of 1985. Besides, Theodore also discussed the unity of the notion of number among all the people. It means that it is the mathematical knowledge which can get a basis for a “conciliarity”, or “all-unity”, at least for the thinking part of the humankind. It is particularly important since the ultimate goal of communication is, therefore, a revealing of the ontological truth of things and events.