Abstract

In this thesis critical reflection is exposed to the epistemological critique directed by Michel Foucault against the human sciences in order to determine what grounds remain for a notion of the subject in communications theory. The Western heretical tradition of gnosis known as the Hermetic tradition is discussed on the basis of the etymological relation of Hermes to hermeneutics. This relationship is examined in the context of a reflection on the political significance of heresy. The structure of the hermetic sign is discussed from the point of view of Neoplatonism which is taken to form part of the hermetic tradition. ;By returning to an interpretation of Plato made famous by the Florentine Neoplatonists which is now the domain of specialists in ideas, I am insisting that the themes of freedom and subjectivity represented by Hermes, the trickster, can only be elucidated within the context of a tradition which subverts the history of philosophy upon which hermeneutics takes its stand. ;An attempt is made to treat this subversion as a coherent praxis and thus to insist that the world of Hermes belongs neither to poetry nor to pure speculative thought. This requires weighting Platonic dialectic over Hegelian dialectic