ABSTRACT

Published in 2000. Disclosures occur at every level of human experience; a slip of the tongue, intentional betrayals of confidences, carefully worded affidavits, intimate avowals of passion, confessions, or exposes, of our most deeply hidden secrets. This book is the first detailed study of the term disclosure, as it resonates in its many connotations. To our eyes all things are either covered or uncovered, hidden or revealed, clothed or naked, seen or unseen. Disclosure and closure, as they are explored in these pages, are not simply oppositions but alternate moments in a process of communication. By unravelling the kinds and levels of disclosure existing in language games of different communitive contexts, this book is, itself, a revelation. It is a scholarly and illuminating study of the pervasiveness of disclosures in interpersonal, moral, cultural and political terms from the ancient times of Athenian democracy to contemporary society.