Sophistry, the Language of Narcissism

Conference: The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ACERP2022)
Title: Sophistry, the Language of Narcissism
Stream: Linguistics / Language and Philosophy
Presentation Type: Virtual Presentation
Authors:
Claudia Simone Dorchain, Profiler's Academy, Germany

Abstract:

Narcissism and sophistry appear to be distant areas of human phenomena - the first belongs to the area of clinical disorders, which have been defined since recent times in icd-10 and icd-11, the second to the broad area of rhetoric, as it was already known in antiquity. At this point, our excessive social demand to "diagnose" people and their behavior, to divide them into "symptoms" and to pathologize them, could be recognized as a historically late phenomenon, based on the modern discovery of the ego and its shadow, in contrast to the general efforts of rhetoricians to proceed pragmatically, far from any denunciation, and to understand language as an instrument to achieve any purpose. But this approach, however refined, does not correspond to the focus of research that seeks to explore the relationship between narcissism and sophistry. However, apart from the historical perspective, which undoubtedly produces different results and highlights the differences, it is worth taking a systematic look at both phenomena, because unexpected commonalities can be identified here. Narcissism is considered a personality disorder that distorts thinking, feeling and acting. This distortion is also expressed, among other things, in unusual patterns of speech that systemically aim to demonstrate power to others, rhetorical tricks to destabilize the opponent. Sophistry has functioned in a very similar way ever since Plato wrote his famous dialogue "Protagoras". Plato describes the sophist as a pathological liar, grand speaker and manipulator.

Virtual Presentation

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