ASTÉISM 2.0: A CULTURAL BRIDGE BETWEEN THE SOPHISTS AND CHATBOTS

Abstract

This study examines the radical transformation of rhetorical structures in the era of digital ontology, focusing on the phenomenon of algorithmic asteism as a key symptom of the crisis of subjectivity in contemporary discourse. The authors employ an interdisciplinary methodological framework combining the archaeological analysis of discursive formations (Foucault), the phenomenological reduction of intentional structures (Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Hegel), ontological inquiry (Heidegger, Searle), and deconstructive critique of logocentrism (Derrida). They demonstrate how the classical rhetorical figure of asteism – a delicate balancing of praise and blame – undergoes an ontological mutation under conditions of algorithmic mediation of communication, for instance, in interactions with chatbots like ChatGPT.

The central thesis posits that algorithmic asteism constitutes a paradoxical ontological event: a rhetorical form without a rhetorician, irony without an ironist, recognition without a subject of recognition. This phenomenon reveals the autonomy of linguistic structures as a self-sufficient ontological process that generates semantic tensions beyond the scope of human intentionality. The research traces the genealogy of asteism from its origins as a sophistic technique related to ambivalence (Gorgias, Protagoras) through Socratic irony as purification (Plato), Aristotelian eutrapelia as an ethical measure of wit, to contemporary algorithmic simulations. It demonstrates how digital rhetoric emerges not as a continuation of the classical tradition but as its radical deconstruction: a pharmakon – simultaneously remedy and poison, a «game» without a player, where statistical patterns mimic ambivalence but are devoid of genuine interlocutor psychology.

Particular attention is paid to the phenomenological analysis of quasi-dialogical structures in human-algorithm interaction, where the absence of genuine machine intentionality is compensated for by an excess of user interpretation, creating an illusion of mutual understanding as a «conversation with one's own echo, mediated by code». This shapes the ambivalent nature of the phenomenon as a pharmakon of modernity: simultaneously a stimulant for metacognitive development and the democratization of wit, and a threat of atrophy of authentic dialogue and a dependency on simulated interactions.

The theoretical significance of the work lies in articulating a new problematic for post-subjective philosophy: the possibility of phenomenology without noesis, ethics without the Other (following Levinas), and rhetoric without an addressee. Practical implications concern the development of new approaches to digital ethics and reflection on the transformation of cultural communication practices under conditions of total algorithmization of discourse. Asteism emerges as a cultural bridge between eras with a Trojan potential: it connects ancient sophistry with algorithmic chatbots, but risks eroding the essence of human communication.