Concept

Discourse

Overview

Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. Following work by Michel Foucault, these fields view discourse as a system of thought, knowledge, or communication that constructs our world experience. Since control of discourse amounts to control of how the world is perceived, social theory often studies discourse as a window into power. Within theoretical linguistics, discourse is understood more narrowly as linguistic information exchange and was one of the major motivations for the framework of dynamic semantics. In these expressions, denotations are equated with their ability to update a discourse context.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

In the original texts

Passages from public-domain books where Discourse is discussed.

Of all Discourse, governed by desire of Knowledge, there is at last an End, either by attaining, or by giving over. And in the chain of Discourse, wheresoever it be interrupted, there is an End for that time. Judgement, or Sentence Final; Doubt If the Discourse be meerly Mentall, it consisteth of thoughts that the thing will be, and will not be; or that it has been, and has not been, alternately. So that wheresoever…
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
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But because the word discourse is commonly taken for the _coherence_ and consequence of words, I will, to avoid equivocation, call it _discursion_. [Sidenote: The cause of coherence of thoughts.] 2.
Thomas Hobbes, The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 04
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SOCRATES: And the same, Gorgias, is true of the other arts:—all of them treat of discourse concerning the subjects with which they severally have to do. GORGIAS: Clearly. SOCRATES: Then why, if you call rhetoric the art which treats of discourse, and all the other arts treat of discourse, do you not call them arts of rhetoric? GORGIAS: Because, Socrates, the knowledge of the other arts has only to do with some sort…
Plato, Gorgias
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At Chaeronea, Diogenianus the Pertamenian being present, we had a long discourse once at an entertainment about music; and we had a great deal of trouble to hold out against a great bearded sophister of the Stoic sect, who quoted Plato as blaming a company that admitted flute-girls and were not able to entertain one another with discourse. And Philip the Prusian, of the same sect, said: Those guests of Agatho, whose…
Plutarch, Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3
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Vol. I. =Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion.= II. =Ten Sermons and Prayers.= III. =Discourses on Theology.= IV. =Discourses on Politics.= V. & VI. =Discourses on Slavery.= VII. =Discourses on Social Science.= VIII. =Miscellaneous Discourses.= IX. & X. =Critical Writings.= XI. =Sermons on Theism, Atheism, and Popular Theology.= XII. =Autobiographical and Miscellaneous Pieces.= XIII. =Historic Americans.=…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Introduction to Hegel's Philosophy of Fine Arts Translated from the German with Notes and Prefatory Essay
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Discourse

Overview

In the original texts

Philosophers who discussed Discourse

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Place in the tradition