Consciousness, Literature and the Arts

Archive

Volume 9 Number 2, August 2008

___________________________________________________________________

‘Unity’ and ‘Diversity’ as Paradigms of Cultural Theory: Diachronic Studies of the Terminology of the Concept of Communication in European History

by

Fee-Alexandra Haase

Cyprus International University

1.      Introduction

Berensmeyer in No Fixed Address: Pascal, Cervantes, and the Changing Function of Literary Communication in Early Modern Europe assumed that “in recent years, literary criticism has focused ever more systematically on the historical development of the relationship between literary forms of communication and the cultural and political knowledge formations in which they are embedded” (Berensmeyer, 2003, 623) Most approaches to the communication in Europe were done under the aspect of message exchange. For example, Anastassov wrote in The Language Communication of United Europe: “The use of a ‘common means of communication’ is often based, that is true, on political factors. But, even if there is an initial political reason for the language dominance it often, within time, loses it, and starts functioning as the symbol of the socio-cultural integrity of a certain society [...].”(Anastassov. 2007. n.p.) We are interested in functions and meanings of communication in European literature and rhetoric. As a diachronic survey, this review looks back into the history of communication in Europe. Kittler stated for the ‘communication system’ science since Humboldt’ time a reduction to a tradition of former ‘previous forms of knowledge’: “As a result, literature and science had to revamp their transmission and receiving techniques: away from the literalness of quotes from the scholarly elite, and rhetorical mnemonics, towards an interpretative approach which reduced the quantity of printed data to its essence, in other words to a smaller quantity of data. The consequence for the communication system that is science, since Humboldt 's reform, was lectures without textbooks, seminars as exercises in interpretation and the rise at universities of a philosophy whose absolute ‘spirit’ preserved only the ‘remembrance’ of all previous forms of knowledge and of its own textbook, thus becoming the hermeneutic ‘silhouette’ of the totality of books.” (Kittler, 1996, n.p.)

From a common contemporay perspective, communication is not identical with information. Communication is the sharing process of an interest, but not a specific concrete content or an object shared. This meaning reminds us of the ancient definition of functions of rhetorical communication and also shows limits in a communication process. Communication is the figure for a persuasive process appearing as a deliberative action between the speaker and the audience. Expressed in other words, as a persuasive communicative action an interest of the speaker is conveyed. This kind of deliberative communication doesn't ask for answers from the audience. It askes questions as an act of persuasion. In the system of rhetoric as a network of rhetorical elements communication aimes to involve the audience into the aims of the speaker.  In recent research we find few contributions regarding this rhetorical tradition of communication. Communication is considered a form of transmission for information mainly with technical tools established by a transmitter or messenger. Sunnen in Changing Attitudes in Communication: The Tradition of the Vermittler from Oral to Print to Cyberspace used the German term ‘Vermittler’ for ‘transmitter’. In a more detailed definition, communication is the ‘transmission of information within information units between entities, which is used in certain means or media of communication or complexes of communication means or media with the contents of transferred messages.” (Sunnen, 2005, n.p.) Glynn noticed in Philosophy of Culture that “traditionally, attempts to verify communications between individuals and cultures appeal to 'public' objects, essential structures of experience, or universal reason. Contemporary continental philosophy demonstrates that not only such appeals, but also the very conception of isolated individuals and cultures whose communication such appeals were designed to insure, are problematic.” (Glynn, 2006, n.p.) Glynn mentions regarding communication: “Consequently it seems that if the task of understanding others is conceived as a product of communication by which the meanings which one discreetly self enclosed individual or group gives to their world and behaviour etc., is transmitted to another, equally discreetly self enclosed individual or group, who or which, interpreting these "communications" in terms of their own concepts, take possession or appropriate these meanings, then it has been misconceived from the ground up.” (Glynn, 2006, n.p.)

Communication in the rhetorical concept is more sophisticated than pure transmission of information. Faber wrote in Some Interesting Rhetorical Terms: “In presenting a speech, the speaker can manipulate the relationship between listener and speaker in order to heighten the impact of his words. The Greek term anakoinosis means ‘communication’, and in oratory refers to the consultation between speaker and audience or opponent. For example, the speaker may address the listeners directly, when he/she states that they are well-placed to make an informed decision about the matter being debated” (Faber, 2006, n.p) Due to its ambiguous meanings, communication can be contrastive to the exchange of information. Sunnen noticed in Changing Attitudes in Communication: The Tradition of the Vermittler from Oral to Print to Cyberspace various forms of communication replacing information: “Communication and information are not opposites, but they tend to move in opposite directions. When less information is available, communication - sometimes in the guise of myth - is the only way we have of making sense of our environment, as with the tales known to medieval storytellers and reaching back hundreds of years into antiquity.” (Sunnen, 2005, n.p.) European cultural history can be divided into epoques with a continuity of the terminology for communication. In literary media this terminology was already developed in the Greek and Roman cultures; in later epoques the ‘cultural memory’ preserved and changed these functions in written media. In the main media of literacy, books, the terminology circled around religion, politics, and communication theories in several cultural concepts.

2.      Paradigms of European Communication

Paradigm I: Greece, Rome, Early Christianity - Communication prior to the Time of Communication

Western cultures, influenced by classical Greek and Roman traditions, developed as communicating societies using oratory in politics, religion, and legal affairs. In the New Testament the verb semaino is used with the definitions ‘to give a sign’, ‘to signify’, ‘indicate’, and ‘to make known’ (John 3, Acts 2, Revelation 1). For the verb 'to communicate' the terms koinoô and koinopoieô and deriverates exist; ‘to announce’ is angellô, the noun for ‘to communicate with someone’ is homilia and the related verb homileô. The Greek noun homilia and Latin sermo are quivalent terms for ‘conversation’. Homileô is a deriverate from homilos ('to be in company with'). Homileô has also the meanings ‘to associate with’, ‘to stay with’, ‘to converse with’, and ‘talk about with one’. Communication as a term for an announced object is in ancient Greek angelia. In modern Greek for communication the terms epikoinonia and sygkoinonia are used. The word homily is derived from the Greek word homilia, which also means a communion or interaction with a person or a spiritual connection with god(s). In this sense homilia is used in several places in the Bible (I Cor., XV, 33. Luke, XXIV, 14, Acts, XXIV, 26). Homilia in the post-New Testament period became a technical term for the 'sermon' spoken during church gatherings. Thus, the teaching as homily or sermon in the church included the idea of discussion, interaction, and conversation. Society as united communication based upon friendship and values is koinônia. The term was also used to express longing for communion with the divine in Hellenistic religious thought and Christianity. Rhetoric is the anglicized term used for the Greek word for public speaking. The verbs koinoun and aggelein action of communication mean ‘to announce’. Homilein means to communicate with someone. For communication regarding something annonced  aggelma and aggelia is used (Woodhouse's English-Greek Dictionary, 2007, n.p.) Following Liddell’s and Scott’s A Greek-English Lexicon the verb anakoinoô has the meanings ‘communicate’, ‘impart’, ‘communicate with’, and ‘take counsel with’. (Liddell; Scott, 1940, n.p.) The ancient Greek concept of communication was basically part of the rhetorical system, which reflects the contemporary form of public communication. It is rooted within the democratic organisation of the political system and served as a tool for public exchange in a persuasive situation, when a rhetorician held a speech for the public audience. 

Paradigm II: Communicatio in the Roman Empire

In Greek rhetoric communication is a rhetorical trope. Among the rhetorical schemata  anakoinosis is the equivalent to the Latin noun communicatio for the fictive consultation of others or the direct speech of the rhetor to the audience as a part of a fictive consultation. According to Lewis and Short, communicatio has the meanings ‘making common’, ‘imparting’, ‘communicating’, and in rhetoric as a figure of speech the meaning to be in accordance with which one turns to his hearers and allowing them to take part in an inquiry. Communication (communicatio) was also in Roman culture considered a part of the rhetorical system. For distinctive qualities the categories speech and oratory exist. Oratory is more than an ordinary speech composed above the level of a common speech with a higher degree of emotional appeal and ethical value for the listener. Its purpose is to entertain, teach, and motivate the speaker to take action (movere, docere, delectare). The rhetoricians developed a set of principles for successful communication. Quintilian was concerned with the creation of new knowledge asserting that rhetorical situations should depend on the audience. Quintilian describes in book 9 of his Institutio Oratoria (Inst. Orat. 9, 1, 30) commuicatio as a scheme of the deliberatio in a speech tailored directly to the audience:

In rhetoric communication (communicatio) is a trope for a speaker assuming that his hearers are partners regarding his sentiments. The speaker says for example ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ or ‘you’. It is a sensual approach and this communication strategy is based upon emotions and sentiments. Quintilian gives also examples for the communication (Inst. Orat. 9, 2, 20):

The Latin noun communicatio means communication. The verb communico has a wide field of meanings: ‘To share out’, ‘give a share in’, ‘to communicate’, ‘to take counsel’, ‘confer with a person’, ‘to join, unite’, ‘to take a share in’, and ‘to participate’. Roman art and literature were influenced by Greek culture. Some auxiliary tools for communication in terms of adjustment to the physical conditions for message exchange were developed by the Romans. Due to the quality of roads for the transfer of communication issues in the area of the imperium, communication covered the whole Imperium Romanum. Couriers carried official mail across the empire. Caesar uses in De Bello Gallico (liber VI) the term consilia communicare (‘to communicate official decisions’) to describe a way to communicate with barbarian tribes. (Caesar, 2007, n.p.) The caravan trail of the Silk Route was a system of pathways that began in China, crossed Central Asia and ended in Rome bringing luxury goods to consumers of the Roman Empire. The Imperium Romanum used for its network of commands a combination of orally transmitted human messengers and papyrus. The Roman Empire combined transmission mechanisms with an alphabetic language for political purposes. The term communicatio was used for educational and learnings skills in the Roman Empire related to the encyclos of learning. The architect Vitruvius in De Architectura (praefatio, 1, 12) used the term communicatio in his statement that all disciplines (omnes disciplinas) have a conjunction of things and commnication (coniunctionem rerum et communicationem) in the encyclos:

12. At fortasse mirum videbitur inperitis, hominis posse naturam tantum numerum doctrinarum perdiscere et memoria continere. Cum autem animadverterint omnes disciplinas inter se coniunctionem rerum et communicationem habere, fieri posse faciliter credent.

(Vitruvius , 2006, n.p.)

In Thayer’s edition the simplified expression close alliance is used for coniunctio rerum et communication:

12. Perhaps, to the uninformed, it may appear unaccountable that a man should be able to retain in his memory such a variety of learning; but the close alliance with each other, of the different branches of science, will explain the difficulty.

(Vitruvius , 2006, n.p.)

Gellius in his Attic Nights (VI, 3, 15) cites Cato using the term communicatio for sharing with others:

Rhetoric, the spoken word, since the ancient times has been an auxiliary tool for poets and poetic literature serving as the theoretical background for poetic production. Roman poets were influenced by rhetoric. Cicero promoted the ideal of an ethical rhetor as orator perfectus connecting rhetorical ability, knowledge, and ethical values. Cicero in the Letters to Atticus (book 1, letter 17, section 6) uses the expression sermonis communication. Latin words derived from communis in the Northern Celtic area are communa, communia, communicatiuus, and communicator. (Dictionary of Latin in Celtic Areas, 2007, n.p.) The Latin term for communication, communicatio, as religious term was coined by the Christian religion in European writings. In the Pneumatologia we find the object of communication (communicatio) as the Holy Spirit (communicationem Spiritus Sancti). (Pneumatologia, 2006, n.p.) Church father Tertullian in the Liber de Pudicitia (3, 5-6) uses communicatio as a religious term related to the church assembly (ecclesia):

In the Greek culture the concept of communication was embedded into the art of rhetoric. While the Roman concept of communication was focussing on the the public exchange of information in a political system, upcoming Christianity used the term communicatio for introspective spiritual religiousity.

Paradigm III:  Middle Ages –

From the communicatio in Christian Writings to the Discussion of the Universals

Unity is the predominant aspect of communication during the Middle Ages. In Script and Literacy In Europe: From the Fall of Rome to the Gutenberg Press Templeton mentioned that “unlike Romans, Europeans were mostly illiterate. Most barbarian languages were strictly oral and written language was viewed as magical. In many ways, the Church preserved this tradition by maintaining that writing was holy.” (Templeton, 2007, n.p.) This situation is reflected in a few preserved documents for the early Middle Ages and the dominance of Christian writings.  In the Christian context of writings of the Church Fathers communicatio stands for divine communication. In Church Latin communis has the meanings ‘shared’, ‘common’, ‘universal’, and ‘public’. Communis means ‘common’ or ‘general’. In the Vulgate we find the expressions communicatio fidei tuae and communicatio sanguinis Christi. In the Vulgate (2 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13) we find the expression communicatio Sancti Spiritus cum omnibus vobis. As a tool for communicative exchange in the field of religion and in scholarly work, Latin served in Europe until the 18^th century as lingua franca. Medieaval rhetoric emphasized the employment of deliberative discourses for religious aims. The Vulgate (382-405) uses the term communicatio in several passages: In 1. Corinthians 10,16 is written: “calicem benedictionis cui benedicimus nonne communicatio sanguinis Christi est et panis quem frangimus nonne participatio corporis Domini est”. The term communicatio sanguinis Christi (‘communication of the blood Christi’) is used as a description for the ceremony of sharing wine and bread in the Christian community (1 Corinthians, 1, 1016):

In 2 Corinthians (8, 4) is written “cum multa exhortatione obsecrantes nos gratiam et communicationem ministerii quod fit in sanctos”. (They begged us insistently for the favor of taking part in the service to the holy ones.) (Nova Vulgata. Editio Typica Altera. New American Bible Anglais, 2007, n.p.) In 2 Corinthians (9, 13) is written “per probationem ministerii huius glorificantes Deum in oboedientia confessionis vestrae in evangelium Christi et simplicitate communicationis in illos et in omnes”. (Through the evidence of this service, you are glorifying God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution to them and to all others). (Nova Vulgata. Editio Typica Altera. New American Bible Anglais, 2007, n.p.)  The monk Bede lived in a time of high illiteracy in Europe and considered the Bible rich literature. (Ayers, 1979, n.p.) Bede wrote De Arte Metrica containing the part De Schematibus et Tropis. (Bede, 1863, 607-618). Communication was a term for the connection of humans and religious mysteries. Bede wrote in the letter Epistola ad Ecgberctum Antistetem that heavenly mysteries (mysteriis) are subject to communication (mysteriis caelestibus communicare valeant). (Bede, 2007, n.p.)

The poetry of the Middle Ages typically focussed on religious themes. In the tradition of the Church fathers the term communicatio was used in the Hymni de Trinitate by Marius Victorinus (4^th century) in a spiritual way:

                                Caritas deus est,

                                Gratia Christus,

                                Communicatio sanctus spiritus,

                                O beata trinitas.

                                 (Marius Victorinus, 2007, n.p.)

                                             Charity is God,

                                             Gratitude Christ,

                                             Communication the Holy Spirit,

                                             O Saint Trinity.  

                                             (Translation F.H.)

Thomas Aquinas wrote in Summa Theologica on the essence of beauty considering beauty the result of the three qualities wholeness or perfection (integritas), harmony (proportio), and clarity or brightness (claritas). Aquinas used in his De Principio Individualionis the terms incommunicabilis and communicabilis. The ‘individual one’ was considered here ‘the incommunicable’ (individuum, quod est incommunicabile). (Aquinas, 2006, n.p.) In On Being and Essence (De Ente et Essentia) Aqıinas used the term communicatio for an action regarding matter (materia) and form (forma):

Translation developed as a tool of communication in terms of sharing knowledge between the Arabic culture and the West. Also the interpretation of ancient culture from the Christian perspective has an increasing importance as a field of study. In an approach similar to the early Church fathers, Bonaventura in the Commentaria in Quatuor Libros Sententiarum writes about communicatio employing the term for communication of charity (communicationem caritatis) of the trinitas of the spiritus sanctus, Jesus and god: Ergo necesse est, in illa summa Trinitate reperiri per prius communicationem caritatis. (Bonaventura, 2006, n.p.)

In the Danish glossary Vademecum in Opus Saxonis et Alia Opera Danica Compendium ex Indice Verborum we find the entries ‘communico’ and ‘communem habeo’ as expressions equivalent to ‘communicare alicui’, ‘commercium alcui esse’, and ‘in commune persolvere’. They are also related to the verb ‘to say’ (dicere). (Vademecum in Opus Saxonis et Alia Opera Danica Compendium ex Indice Verborum, 2007, n.p.) During the Middle Ages also a profane meaning of communicatio served for the use of books. Ricard de Bury describes in England in his Philobiblon in the chapter De Modo Communicandi Studentibus Omnes Libros Nostros (capitulum XIX) the mode (modus) for the ‘use and communication of our books’ (communicationem et usum librorum nostrorum) he (we) wants to reach (volumus devenire). (Bury, 2007, n.p.) Da Cruz wrote in Portuguese Communications in the Middle and Modern Ages that “in the absence of specific sources enabling the study of communication systems and agents in the Middle Ages, the widest range of documentary sourceswould have to be consulted Total familiarisation with these sources would be the best method, as information on the circulation of messages is occasionally very subtle, indirect and fleeting.” (Cruz, 2005, n.p.) The authors of the Middle Ages used the term ‘communicatio’ in a Christian context. Within this context also philosophical and logical questions about  the communicability of the individual entity came up that reflected the medieaval worldview considering the universal of higher esteem than the individual. St. Bonaventura solved the problem of the universals and their communicability and the incommunicability of the single by stating that ‘all is in all’ (omnia in omnibus) resulting in total communicability (omnis communicabilitas). (Bonaventura, 2007, n.p.) Ricard de Bury describes in England in his Philobiblon in the chapter De Modo Communicandi Studentibus Omnes Libros Nostros (capitulum XIX) the conditions how students should communicate with books and use them (communicatio et usus).(Bury, 2007, n.p.)

Paradigm IV: Communication in the Early Modern Times

Aristotelian scholasticism practiced by Francis Bacon contained a theory of communication and for media restoring the wisdom of the ancients. Bacon faced modes of delivering scientific knowledge in rhetorical ways. Bacon’s logic and rhetoric paralleled this development and led to the Royal Society’s project for language reform. (Howell, 1956, 56) Bacon used in the Novum Organum the term communication as a technical term for the physical states like in the following case for the diffusion of heat:

Neque enim calor diffundit se in calefaciendo per communicationem primi caloris; sed tantum per excitationem partium corporis ad motum illum qui est Forma. (Bacon, 2006, n.p.)

For heat does not diffuse itself, in heating a body, by communication of the original heat but simply by exciting the parts of the body to that motion which is the form of heat. (Bacon, 2007, n.p.)

A number of contemporary Renaissance dissertations based on the works of such writers of classical antiquity like Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. The Arte or Crafte of Rhethoryke (1530) was produced in England by the schoolmaster Leonard Cox a as handbook for colleges and universities. At the end of the 17^th century, the Port-Royal logic popularized Cartesian logic. Ancient rhetorical works exercised a great influence on Renaissance literature (Murphy, 1981, 51). Donne wrote in his Meditations (Nr. 8) about communication between gods and humans:

But their Deitye is better expressed in their humility, than in their heighth; when abounding and overflowing, as God, in means of doing good, they descend, as God, to a communication of their abundances with men, according to their necessities, then they are Gods.

(Donne, 2007, n.p.)

Ramus argued that invention (inventio) cannot serve as an intellectual process. Ramus’ Arguments in Rhetoric Against Quintilian were publicated in the year 1549. (Conley, 1990, 124) Ramus’ ideas were recorded in the writing Institutiones Oratoriae (1545) of Talaeus (Omer Talon). (Spies, 1999, Pp. 82-88) Talaeus definies communicatio as a figure of speech in De Addubitatione et Communicatione (chapter 28): Communicatio vel anakoinosis est deliberatio cum aliis. [...]. (Taleaus, 2007, n.p.) In France studies of the belles lettres included knowledge of rhetoric. (Conley, 1999, 203-210) Michel de Montaigne and François Rabelais were the most important proponents of humanist thought in 16^th century. Montaigne's Essais are statements of an individual's beliefs. Chapter XLI discusses the topic ‚Not to communicate a man's honour’. Montaigne wrote he (we) argue(s) (nous argumentons) using means of communication (moyen de communication). (Montaigne, 2007, n.p.) Thomas Wilson gives in his Arte of Rhetorique (book 3) a definition of communication as familiar talke:

A familiar talke, or communication used

Communicatio.

Communication is then used, when we debate with other, and aske questions as though we looked for an answer, and so go through with our matter, leaving the judgement thereof to their discretion.

(Wilson, 2007, n.p.)

We can consider the European Baroque epoque a culture that employed rhetoric not only for oratory education and practice, but also in visual arts. Also poetic arts and music used rhetoric. Rhetorical influence was for politicians and the church an important tool for claiming power. Gabriel Harvey used in 1577 the term communicare to express a pleasant communication with other persons (cum alijs libentissime communicare) in his Rhetor, Vel Duorum Dierum Oratio De Natura, Arte, & Exercitatione Rhetorica. (Harvey, 2006, n.p.) William Roper writes in The Mirrour of Vertue in Worldly Greatnes, Or the Life of Syr Thomas More Knight about a fruitefull communication as expression for a familiar conversation:

Let them a Gods Name speake as lewdly of me as they list, and shoote neuer so many darts at me, what am I the worse? But if they should once hit me, then would it not indeed a little trouble me: Howbeit I trust by Gods helpe, there shall none of them all be able to touch me. Therefore I haue more cause, I assure thee M. Water-baily to pitty, then to be angry with them. Such fruitefull communication would he often tymes haue with his familiar Friends.

(Roper, 2007, n.p.)

In Paradise Lost (book VII) John Milton used the term social communication for conversation between humans:

Thou in thy secresie although alone,

Best with thy self accompanied, seek'st not

Social communication, yet so pleas'd,

Canst raise thy Creature to what highth thou wilt

Of Union or Communion, deifi'd;

I by conversing cannot these erect

(Milton, 2007, n.p.)

Students were in the Middle Ages still taught in a trivium consisting of grammar, logic, and rhetoric and quadrivium consisting of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. During this period a special concentration on rhetoric, Latin grammar, and the works of classical writers and philosophers existed The term communication was also used for natural sciences and philosophy. David Hume wrote in his A Treatise of Human Nature in Of the Effects of Other Relations and Other Habits (section IX) about communication of motion:

But though this be so evident in itself, that it seemed not to require any, proof; yet some philosophers have imagined that there is an apparent cause for the communication of motion, and that a reasonable man might immediately infer the motion of one body from the impulse of another, without having recourse to any past observation.

(Hume, 2007, n.p.)

Philosopher and mathematician Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777) in his Novum Organon (1764) (§§ 98-101) used the German Word Communication for processes in the human brain. (Lenders, 2007, n.p.) European Romantic culture, using criticism to keep distance from the ancient literature, promoted during this time the idea of the original genius emphasizing the difference between this contemporary culture and the ancient literature. The term communication was related to private and public conversation. An example is Jane Austen novel Persuasion, describing contemporary aristocratic life:

On Friday morning she meant to go very early to Lady Russell, and accomplish the necessary communication;

(Austen, 2007, n.p.)

The modern tradition of Western communication can be traced back to Locke. Locke uses in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Of Our Complex Ideas of Substances (chapter XXIII) the term communication for an exchange of knowledge between individuals:

So that I doubt, whether he and the rest of men could discourse concerning the objects of sight, or have any communication about colours, their appearances being so wholly different.

(Locke, 2007, n.p.)

Due to the influence of empirism in schools students practiced writing as recording of  experience. The English term communication derived from Old French communicacion. In the Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers edited by Denis Diderot et Jean le Rond d’Alembert we find the entries communicants and communication:

Communicants, s. m. pl. (Hist. ecclés.) secte d’Anabaptistes dans le seizieme siecle: ils furent ainsi nommes de la communauté de femmes & d’enfans qu’ils avoient établie entre eux, à l’exemple des Nicolaïtes. Prateole, 5. comm. Sanderus, her. 198. Gautier, dans sa chron. xvj. siecle.

(Encyclopédie, 2007, n.p.)

Adam Smith’s Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres are a systematic analysis of style, oratory, and criticism emphasising various forms of discourse. Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments wrote about communication as human interpersonal conversation:

Were it possible that a human creature could grow up to manhood in some solitary place, without any communication with his own species, he could no more think of his own character, of the propriety or demerit of his own sentiments and conduct, of the beauty or deformity of his own mind, than of the beauty or deformity of his own face.

(Smith, 2007, n.p.)

In the 19^th century the sub-categories of communication and its fields extended serving for several disciplines. The Dictionnaire de L'Académie Française (8^th edition (1932-1935)) defines communication for several branches as follows:

Action de communiquer ou Résultat de cette action. La communication du mouvement. La communication de l'aimant. La communication de l'électricité. La communication d'une maladie.

(French Dictionaries Online, 2006, n.p.)

Action of communication or result of this action. The Communication of movement. The communication of the magnet. The communication of electricity. The communication of an illness.

Virginia Woolf wrote in The Common Reader on Montaigne about communication as a basic human field of interaction:

All his effort was to write himself down, to communicate, to tell the truth, and that is a “rugged road, more than it seems”.

(Woolf, 2006, n.p.).

Guy-Ernest Debord in Thèses Sur la Révolution Culturelle used the term ‘formes de pseudo-communication’. (Debord, 2006, n.p.)  In the last decades of the 20^th century, the humanities were under the influence of structures and contents of postmodern thinking. Contrary to postmodernity, the phenomenon of communication has a spiritual meaning in the Catholic Church related to the communication between god and humans. Paul VI wrote in Servus Servorum Dei Una Cum Sacrosanctis Concilii Patribus Ad Perpetuam Rei Memoriam (1966) that god by divine revelation (divina revelation) and the eternal decretes of his will (aeterna voluntatis suae decreta) wants to communicate (communicare) and salvation.   

6. Divina revelatione Deus Seipsum atque aeterna voluntatis suae decreta circa hominum salutem manifestare ac communicare voluit […].

(Paulus Episcopus, 2006, n.p.).

A revival of rhetorical criticism in the 19^th and 20^th century enhanced the interpretative approaches regarding the Bible and the process of interpretation. A change in the continuity in the use of the term communicatio can be shown in the Neolatin of the Catholic Church. Here the term was predominantly coined by a spiritual concept existed since the Church Fathers. Pope Benedict XVI used the term communicatio with the English translation participation with a non-spiritual meaning:

In the handbook Retorica written by Ángel Romera Anacoenosis o comunicación is defined as a recurse of the sermocinacio, which pretends to consult the views of listeners (recurso de la sermocinación en que se finge consultar el parecer de los oyentes). In Modern Times the earlier medieaval preference given to the universal changed to authors favouring now  individuality. Evidence for this paradigm change we find in the literature that now considers communication as an individual way for communicative exchange between humans and simple conversation. Here the traditional meanings of communication from the rhetorical framework became less important, but were still a part of scholarly literature, education, and Christian culture. Since the 19th century, the technical meaning of communication was increasingly used

3. Conclusions and Theoretical Approach

The contemporary linguistic concept of communication and derived practical mind concepts like ‘global communication’, ‘personal communication’, or ‘intercultural communication’ imply a specific heritage of implemented political conditions: The contemporary idea of communication contains associations of 'democracy', 'globalisation', and a worldwide community separated into diverse regional groups. Its predominant idea is a deliberative communication as an element of democracy and a worldview that is constructed by binary principles (East/West, Democracy/dictatorship, Freedom/not free etc.). This condition is fostered by a network of non-governmental organisations and conglomerates. We can trace these values back to the ancient roots of communication in Europe in the Greek polis. We can describe them in the system of rhetoric. Rhetoric was the most important tool for public communication and politics in Greece, an area where neither a written code of laws nor centralised law for the whole area existed, while Rome used a system of commands all over the emire. Decisions depended on the community of the polis and a system for oral communication was in highest demand. The Roman society allowed only the 'free' male citizens to participate in public affairs. Due to the high rate of illiteracy, conditions of communication in the Middle Ages were framed by oral communication and small communities. The Christian religion changed the meaning of communication. It used the concept of communication for spiritual and religious purposes in speeches and other writings. Since in the Middle Ages, the societies in Europe were divided into regional absolutistic states, and the communication in this region was always limited regarding the existing local unities, communication tools, and languages. Universities and monastries were the first institutions with storage capacities for knowledge and communication tools predominantly used for this stored knowlegde. In the Renaissance the conditions of communications were ruled by the monarchs. This authority was responsible for the publications of contents for mass media. During the 16th and 17th century in absolutistic states the conditions of communications were also under the supervision of monarchs. In the 18th century for the first time the right to conduct ‘communication of thoughts and opinions’ in France guaranteed freedom of expression. It is a very interesting phenomenon that at the time of the codification of rights to communicate, the terminology of communication included meanings like conversation. Among the qualities of the specific features of communication in Europe are:

- Redundance of the functions of communication

- Slight variations in its applications due to paradigm changes

- A relatively homogeneous linguistic appearance

  (Latin communicatio and derived terms in European languages)

The relative homogenious linguistic appearance of communication in Europeran cultures can be traced back to its paradigmatic use in the Latin language. Here we find for the first time all areas of communication is used for in later epoques. Among them are:

- Communication as sharing of information (inter-personal)

- Communication as religious and spiritual concept

- Communication as elements of transfer

Cultural changes appear from a theoretical view as change of the ‘tectonics’ and preference of the data already available at a former epoque. They produce new cultural forms of information and communication forms. We must differentiate between individual and social processing of knowledge and mind concepts. Social processing can have the form of oral, literal, or medial means. Under the keyword 'cultural memory ' the memory of a cultural heritage is considered to be stored and transmittted culture history is concerned with research and representation of the mental and cultural life in certain periods. We can consider communication as a constant feature in European culture history. When we trace back the specific meaning of communication to its origin, the Greek rhetoric, we can understand the new meanings and functions this rhetorical figure had in the European culture. Its value is still visible in the persuasive impact of mass media communication in the 21st century.

Works Cited

n.p.              No pagination available

Online Resources are cited according to the date retrieved.

Anastassov, V. H. , 2007, The Language Communication of United Europe. Central and East European International  Studies Association (CEEISA) at the University of Tartu. Retrieved February 2, 2007from:

Http://www.ceeisaconf.ut.ee/orb.aw/class=file/action=preview/id=166430/anastasov.doc

Anonymus, 2007, Vademecum in Opus Saxonis et Alia Opera Danica Compendium ex Indice Verborum. Rostras Forlag. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.rostra.dk/latin/saxo.html

Aquinas, T., 2006, De Principio Individuationis. The Latin Library. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/aquinas/princ.shtml>

Aquinas, T., 2007,  On Being and Essence. English translation by Robert T. Miller. Logic Museum. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://logicmuseum.googlepages.com/essessentia.htm

Austen, J., 2006, Persuasion. University Adeleide Etext Library. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/austen/jane/a93p/chap22.html

Ayers, R. H., 1979, Language, Logic, and Reason in the Church Fathers. A Study of Tertullian, Augustine, and Aquinas. Hildesheim and New York: Olms.

Bacon, F., 2006, Novum Organum. Ebooksbrasil. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.ebooksbrasil.org/eLibris/norganuml.html

Bacon, F., 2006, The New Organon or True Directions Concerning the Interpretation of Nature.  In:

------. The Works, 2006, Vol. VIII. Tr. by J. Spedding, R. L. Ellis, and D. D. Heath. Published  Boston: Taggard and Thompson 1863. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.ebooksbrasil.org/eLibris/norganuml.html

Bede, 1863, De Schematibus et Tropis. In: Rhetores Latini Minores. Edited by Karl Halm. Leipzig: Teubner, 607-618.

Bede, 2006, Epistola ad Ecgberctum Antistetem. Bibliotheca Augustana. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost08/Bede/bed_epec.html

Benedict XVI. Missa pro Ecclesia. Primum Nuntium Summi Pontificis Benedicti XVI Post Concelebrationem Eucharisticam in «Capella Sistina». Library of the Vatican. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://frcoulter.com/latin/first-message.html

Berensmeyer, I., 2005, “No Fixed Address: Pascal, Cervantes, and the Changing Function of Literary Communication in Early Modern Europe”. New Literary History, 34 (4), 2003, 623-637.

Bonaventura, 2006, S. Bonaventurae Bagnoregis Commentaria in Quatuor Libros Sententiarum. Commentaries on the Four Books of Sentences of Master Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Paris. Franciscan Archive. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bonaventura/opera/bon01197.html

----- , 2007, Itinarium Mentis in Deum. The Latin Library. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/bonaventura.itinerarium.html

Bury, R. de., 2007,  Philobiblon. Informal Music. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.informalmusic.com/latinsoc/debury.html

Caesar, G. J., 2006, De Bello Gallico. Website Humanities Grid Computing. Montclair University. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://grid.montclair.edu/latintexts/caesar/gallic/gallic6.html

Charlton T. L.; Short, C., 2007,  A Latin Dictionary. Perseus Project of Tufts University. Retrieved May 5, 2007 from:

Http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%239469

Conley, T. M., 1990,  "Revolutions in Rhetoric: Agricola and Peter Ramus.” In: Conley, T. M. Rhetoric in the European Tradition. New York: Longman, 124-132.

-----., 1990,  "Rhetoric and French Cultural Dominance.” In: Conley, T. M. Rhetoric in the European Tradition. New York: Longman, 203-210.

Cruz, M. H. Da, 2005, Portuguese Communications in the Middle and Modern Ages. E-JPH Online Journal 3 (2), Retrieved May 5, 2007 from:

Http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Portuguese_Brazilian_Studies/ejph /html/issue6/pdf/coelhoneto.pdf

Debord, G.-E., 2007,  “Thèses Sur la Révolution Culturelle”. Website Nothingness. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://library.nothingness.org/articles/all/fr/display/49

Royal Irish Academy (Ed.), 2007, Dictionary of Latin in Celtic Areas. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://journals.eecs.qub.ac.uk/DMLCS/frameset_letter_C.html

Donne, John, 2007, Meditations. Luminarium. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/meditation8.htm

Diderot, D. and d’Alembert, J. le Rond (ed.), 2007, Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers. Wikisource France. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:ENC_3-0729.jpg

Faber, R. A., 2007, “Some Interesting Rhetorical Terms”. Website Department of Classical Studies University Waterloo. Retrieved May 5, 2007 from:

Http://www.classics.uwaterloo.ca/labyrinth/issue80/80faber.htm

ARTFL Project, Lexilogos, 2007, French Dictionaries Online. Dictionnaires d'autrefois. Dictionnaires des 17ème, 18ème, 19ème et 20ème siècles. The University of Chicago. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.lexilogos.com/francais_langue_dictionnaires.htm

Gellius, A. Liber Noctium Atticarum. London: Loeb Classical Library Edition 1927. University Chicago. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Gellius/6*.html  

Glynn, S., 2002, “Philosophy of Culture. Identity, Intersubjectivity and Communicative Action.” Paideia. Philosophy of Culture. 8, 2002. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Cult/CultGlyn.htm

Harvey, G., 2006, Rhetor, Vel Duorum Dierum Oratio, De Natura, Arte, & Exercitatione Rhetorica. London: Binneman 1577. IPA. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.ipa.net/~magreyn2/rhlat.html

Howell, W. S., 1956, Logic and Rhetoric in England, 1500-1700. Princeton: University Press,  56-134.

Hume, D., 2007, A Treatise of Human Nature. Etexts University Adelaide. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/hume/david/h92t/chapter22.html

Kittler, F., 2007,  “The History of Communication Media.” In: CTheory. 114, 1996. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=45

Lenders, W., 2007,  Kommunikations- und Verstehenstheorie. Website Abteilung Sprache und Kommunikation University Bonn. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.ikp.uni-bonn.de /dt/lehre/materialien/kvt/kvt3.pdf

Liddell, H. G.; Scott, R., 2007,  A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1940. Perseus Project of Tufts University. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057

Locke, J., 2006, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Etexts University Adeleide. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/s/stevenson/robert_louis/s848aw/part1.html

Marius Victorinus, 2006, Hymni de Trinitate. Bibliotheca Augustana of Fachhochschule Augsburg. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:tv8dh4ar9FsJ:www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost04/Victorinus/vic_hym3.html

Milton, J., 2007, Paradise Lost. Book VII. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.gutenberg.com/eBooks/Renascence_Editions/lost/pl7.html

Montaigne, M. E. de, 2007,  Les Essais. Edited by P. Villey & Saulnier, V. L. ARTFL Project University Chicago. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://artfl.uchicago.edu /cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.0.montaigne.1352322

Murphy, J. J., 1990, "Quintilian's Influence on the Teaching of Speaking and Writing in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.” In: Oral and Written Communication: Historical Approaches. Edited by R. L. Enos. Newbury Park, CA: Sage 1990, 158-83.

Nova Vulgata, 2007, Editio Typica Altera. New American Bible Anglais. Association Diffusion Informatique Catholique. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Htp://catho.org/9.php?d=tj#gy

Pneumatologia, 2006, Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/pneum.i.vi.iv.html

Paulus Episcopus, 2006, Servus Servorum Dei Una Cum Sacrosanctis Concilii Patribus Ad Perpetuam Rei Memoriam. Website St. Joseph. [2.2.2006]. Retrieved:

Http://stjosef.at/concilium/dei_verbum.htm

Pollio, M. V. [Vitruvius], 2006, De Architectura. Edited by B. Thayer. University Chicago. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/1*.html

Quintilian, M. F., 2006, Institutio Oratoria. The Latin Library. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/quintilian.institutio9.html

-----., 2007,  Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory. Edited by L. Honeycutt. Iowa State University. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://honeyl.public.iastate.edu/quintilian/9/chapter1.html#26

Murphy, J.  J., 1981, Renaissance Rhetoric. A Short-title Catalogue of Works on Rhetorical Theory. New York and London: Garland

Roper, W., 2007, The Mirrour of Vertue in Worldly Greatnes, Or the Life of Syr Thomas More Knight. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.gutenberg.com/eBooks/Renascence_Editions/roper1.html

Smith, A., 2007, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Econlib. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS.html

Spies, M., 1999, Rhetoric, Rhetoricians and Poets. Studies in Renaissance Poetry and Poetics. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Sunnen, D. R., 2006, Changing Attitudes in Communication. The Tradition of the Vermittler from Oral to Print to Cyberspace. Conference Paper. Massachusetts Institute of Technology May 6-8, 2005. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/mit4/papers/sunnen.pdf

Talaeus, A., 2006, Avdomari Taleai Rhetoricae Libri Duo. P. Rami Praelectionibus Illustrati. IPA. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

Http://www.ipa.net/~magreyn2/talaeus.html

Tertullian, Q.S. F., 2006, Liber de Pudicitia. The Latin Library. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from:

<Http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/tertullian/tertullian.pudicitia.shtml>

-----., 2007, Q. S. Florentis Tertulliani Libellum De Pudicitia. Praefatione, Interpretatione, Adnotationibus Instructum Edidit Gsta Claesson. Tertullian Organisation. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

<Http://www.tertullian.org/articles/claesson_pudicitia_translation.htm>

Wilson, T., 2007, Arte of Rhetorique. Edited by G. H. Mair. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1909. Perseus Project. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.03.0081%3Ahead%3D%23146

Woodhouse, S. C., 2007, Woodhouse's English-Greek Dictionary. The University of Chicago Library. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://colet.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/chuck/woodhouse_pages.pl?page_num=149

Woolf, V., 2007, The Common Reader. Etexts University Adelaide. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from:

Http://www.etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91c/chapter6.html