Parezja: ćwiczenia ze szczerości
Parrhesia: Exercises in Speaking Sincerely

Summary/Abstract: The paper examines the notion of parrhesia (from Greek ‘to speak everything’) as an exercise in speaking openly and sincerely. Leaving aside Michel Foucault’s treatment of this discursive activity, the main purpose of the article is to describe parrhesia in three domains: rhetoric, philosophy, and literature. As a figure of speech, it remains closely associated with rhetorical simulation and flattery. For many rhetoricians, for instance Quintilian or Jakub Górski, parrhesia may serve as a useful instrument of critical speaking. As a “spiritual exercise” in telling the truth, it plays an important role in transforming philosophy into a general way of life. In accordance with Philodemus’s beliefs on frank speech, one may argue that parrhesia helps in attaining wisdom in a student milieu. And finally, as a discursive strategy, it creates many possibilities for expanding the modes of linguistic expression, for instance in Horace’s ode to Virgil (Carmina I 24) or in Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski’s ode to Publius Munatius (Lyrica III 5). In both texts, parrhesia is involved in the discourse of friendship.

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