Doxa

Doxa (δόξα) is a Greek word meaning common belief or popular opinion, from which are derived the modern terms of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. Used by the Greek rhetoricians as a tool for the formation of argument by using common opinions, the doxa was often manipulated by sophists to persuade the people, leading to Plato's condemnation of Athenian democracy.

It should also be noted that the word doxa picked up a new meaning between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC when the "Seventy" (evdomikonta) Hebrew scholars in Alexandria translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. In this translation of the Scriptures, called the Septuagint, the scholars rendered the Hebrew word for "glory" (kabot) as doxa. This translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was used by the early church and is quoted frequently by the New Testament authors. The effects of this new meaning of doxa as "glory" is evidenced by the ubiquitous use of the word throughout the New Testament and in the worship services of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Doxa, a philosopheme
Henceforth, Plato opposed knowledge to doxa, which would lead to the classical opposition of error to truth, which has since become a major concern in Western philosophy. Thus, error is considered in Occident as pure negativity, which can take various forms, among whom the form of illusion (which can't be dissipated, as Kant showed). As such, doxa may ironically be defined as the "philosopher's sin". In classical rhetoric, it is contrasted with episteme. However, Aristotle used the term endoxa (commonly held beliefs accepted by the wise and by elder rhetors) to acknowledge the beliefs of the city. Endoxa is a more stable belief than doxa, because it has been "tested" in argumentative struggles in the Polis by prior interlocutors. The use of endoxa in the Stagirite's Organon can be found in Aristotle's Topics and Rhetoric.

Vox populi, synonym or reverse of doxa?
The Latin expression Vox populi may be compared to doxa, as it means popular opinion. However, in the common sentence Vox populi vox Dei, instead of being a synonym of error, it is reversed into a synonym of truth. Indeed, it may approximatively be translated into: "God speaks through the clamor of the masses". It may be argued that republicanism or even democracy must be confident in the power of the people to escape doxa through education in order to have a sense; however, the concept of civic virtue complicates things, as being knowledgeable doesn't necessarily means being good - an argument often overlooked by advocates of technocracy or other such enlightened despotism. Of course, Plato would completely reject this argumentation, as he identifies learning to the treading of an ethical path, as did Foucault, among many others, show: in ancient Greece, knowledge implies a conversion of the being, whereas "pure knowledge", disjoined from "Good", is the product of latter inventions.

Examples of elements of the doxa of our society include:


 * The sun rises in the East and sets in the West every day.
 * The universities are organized around academic disciplines and there are rational reasons for the academic division of labor, i.e. it is not based on arbitrary framing and power relations.

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