This chapter shows that the entire intelligible world in Plotinus has a personal nature. Every real being is a person, not an abstract concept or a dead thing. Moreover, those real beings don’t exist in separation, and they are not autonomous individuals, but form a unified, living whole, an organism or, as Plotinus calls it, a city with a soul. The Forms are sacred statues of the gods, which can be seen through their sensible images. In the end, Plotinus coins a neologism to describe this peculiar vision of reality: παμπρόσοωπόν τι, “being-all-faces”. This grand vision gives a deeper meaning to all the earlier metaphors of statues, reflected images, and faces that I have been elucidating in the book. In a deep unity of the intelligible world, to know and love one’s own face or to know and love the face of another is to contemplate all the other faces that participate in the living city that is reality.

Convex polytopes, or simply polytopes, are geometric objects in some space $\R^{d}$; in fact, they are bounded intersections of finitely many closed halfspaces in $\R^{d}$.The space $\R^{d}$ can be regarded as a linear space or an affine space, and its linear or affine subspaces can be described by linear or affine equations. We introduce the basic concepts and results from linear algebra that allow the description and analysis of these subspaces. A polytope can alternatively be described as the convex hull of a finite set of points in $\R^{d}$, and so it is a convex set. Convex sets are therefore introduced, as well as their topological properties, with emphasis on relative notions as these are based on a more natural setting, the affine hull of the set. We then review the separation and support of convex sets by hyperplanes. A convex set is formed by fitting together other polytopes of smaller dimensions, its faces; Section 1.7 discusses them.Finally, the chapter studies convex cones and lineality spaces of convex sets; these sets are closely connected to the structure of unbounded convex sets.

In this book, Rong Chen provides a thorough discussion of Chinese politeness and argues for universality in politeness theorizing. Based on in-depth analyses, the author dichotomizes Chinese face into Face1 and Face2 – the former referring to the person and the latter to the persona of the speaker – and proposes a model of Chinese politeness (MCP), with the notion of harmony at the center. Chinese politeness thusly conceived – the author argues – should be seen as a cultural-specification of a universal theory of politeness dubbed Brown and Levinson Extended (B&L-E), a model that anchors with Brown and Levinson’s theory but with the incorporation of the notions of self-politeness and impoliteness. The author then applies MCP and B&L-E to the analyses of Chinese politeness, both diachronically and synchronically, and to comparisons of politeness between Chinese and other languages. The results demonstrate that B&L-E is capable of accounting for variation as well as consistency across time and space, differences as well as similarity between linguacultures, and fluidity as well as stability in meaning making in authentic interaction. The monograph hence presents a rare challenge to politeness research and pragmatics, which have emphasized particularism at the expense of universalism.

Chapter 3 is devoted to the notion of Chinese face. Chinese face, Chen argues, is bifurcated into Face1 and Face 2. Face 1, most often represented by lian, the lexeme that denotes the physical face of a person, refers to character, intelligence, morality, ethics, and accomplishment, aspects that identify and define a person. Face2, most often represented by mian(zi), the lexeme that denotes the surface of a person or thing, refers to the way a person appears to or is perceived by others. Face 1 is hence the person while Face2 is the persona (of the person). As such, Face 1 is intrinsic and internal while Face2 is other-facing and interactional; Face1 is gained over time while Face2 can be gained by one act; Face 1 is difficult to regain if lost while Face2 can be re-obtained via corrective actions.

The first chapter explores an area of entrepreneurship in which China in many ways leads the world. As well as considering e-commerce in general the chapter highlights some particularly Chinese innovations. The relevance of social embeddedness to online communication and interaction is widely acknowledged. In addition, there are now many studies which explore how online networks are affected by offline networks. Sociological research on e-commerce nevertheless remains underdeveloped. Little is known about how individuals participating in e-commerce markets take initiatives in creating, expanding, and maintaining online social networks behind the screen. Chapter 1 identifies forms of social embeddedness that while obscure are important to online markets. The chapter develops a concept, ‘personalized anchoring reputation’, in highlighting this phenomenon. Additionally, analysis is presented of an e-sales approach, called by its practitioners ‘fission’, which integrates characteristics of face-to-face transaction with online exchanges.

Theoretical suppositions of business crisis in the literature are largely drawn from studies conducted in North America and Western Europe. Chapter 6, on the other hand, examines a Chinese approach to crisis. Based on the notion of paradoxical integration, this approach informs not only crisis management in China and East Asia, but potentially has general application. In this conceptualization, crisis is not necessarily treated as a consequence of discord or disruption, but rather is understood as an aspect or phase of an unfolding process, even in the most difficult circumstances. This approach, then, offers a course toward future business success even in the face of significant loss, without suffering desperation or self-destruction. Three strategies which entrepreneurs adopt to crisis are examined in the chapter, namely, the combination of the old with the new, or path dependence; second, seeking facilitating relationships with other members of a business community, or guanxi accommodation; and finally, reordering priorities and available resources, including familial and personal, or self-reflexivity.

Of particular concern in the literature on business is the importance of trust and the disabling consequences of broken trust on business partnerships. Chapter 3 draws on extensive interviews in exploring the issue of trust, and reports novel findings which lead to new theoretical formulations. It has been central in sociological understanding that embeddedness in social and business exchanges generates and maintains interpersonal trust. Should opportunistic behaviour or violation of trust occur it is routinely assumed that such breaches would be exposed or punished, including reputation loss and exclusion from future exchange opportunities. What is less explored is that breaches of trust in many instances may not lead to disclosure of such a behaviour or termination of exchange relationships. Chapter 3 expands our understanding of broken trust. It identifies and explores mechanisms which operate in avoidance of confrontation, exposure and retaliation in instances of breaches of trust and also strategies employed by entrepreneurs in continuation of exchange relationships with violators of trust. The chapter examines underexplored aspects of the complexity and dynamics of business exchange relations and points to a rethinking of trust and social exchange.

Smiles were in short supply in the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic, in large part because so many were concealed beneath masks. In societies that have no modern tradition of wearing masks or veils, the unfamiliar sight of concealed faces can be disconcerting. This is not because we are unable to see the flesh of the face – a lifeless face can be quite as disconcerting as any mask – but rather because artificial face coverings conceal our arts of face making. The face is, after all, the only part of the body that we commonly talk of in terms of ‘making’ and of being ‘made up’. The very word ‘face’ derives from the Latin facere – to make or to do. This chapter considers the psychological power of face-making and the exploitation of that power in political performance. It also considers, more deeply, how physical face-making parallels rhetorical crafting of persona in politics, law, and society at large.

In this chapter we turn our attention to the role that pragmatics plays in the study of social interaction. When we communicate, we do not simply exchange information. We also manage relationships. As speakers, we can choose to be more or less direct, more or less formal, and more or less attentive to our hearers. The decisions that speakers make are often motivated by concern for how their hearers will react to the utterance, and by the effect that this might then have on the relationship. Perhaps the most influential work in this area of pragmatics is Brown and Levinson’s model of politeness. The first half of this chapter provides an overview of their framework and the politeness strategies that they propose. In the second half of the chapter, we discuss some recent developments that have arisen in response to Brown and Levinson’s work. These include analyses of impoliteness, consideration of how cultural variation might be incorporated into the pragmatics of interaction, and a shift to focus less on politeness and more on a broader notion of the relational work that speakers perform.

This chapter investigates the role that clichés play in the construction and articulation of face and entrepreneurial identity by examining transcripts from broadcast discourse TV show The Apprentice. Utilising insights from self-presentation theory, face theory and im/politeness, the chapter analyses a number of extracts from the show featuring clichés to explore what identities are construed by clichés and how they construe the participants’ (desired or actual) entrepreneurial identity. The first level of analysis explores the way in which clichés work ideationally as choices the speakers make to construe the version of the identity they wish to perform at the point of filming, known as single articulation. The second level of analysis discusses the juxtaposition between the interpersonal function clichés fulfil in the self-presentation extracts and in the representation of such self-presentation, known as double articulation.

In Chapter 6, I introduce hermeneutic phenomenology as a philosophical method relating to the description and interpretative analysis of experience. French phenomenology has become a dialogue partner for theology and religion because of its capacity to accommodate what might be given without appearing as such. For Marion, this opens the possibility of recognising phenomena that signify in excess of or counter to experience, including phenomena of r/Revelation. After sketching Marion's typology of saturated phenomena and considering some of the criticism that has emerged in response, I observe his deepening insight that the phenomenality of the event characterises each of the counter-experiences he describes, and so has a particular importance. If what exceeds intentionality is described in terms of the event rather than as a phenomenon of revelation, we avoid the difficulties of the r/Revelation distinction that Marion draws, and decrease the sense that revelation is being smuggled into phenomenology. I also note that the event is a figure used more broadly in contemporary thought and so enables us to connect Marion’s work with that of others in potentially fruitful dialogue.

This chapter looks at the thinking and practice of international relations and world order in China. It opens by setting China’s geopolitical context. In terms of thinking it covers Tianxia, the Mandate of Heaven, hierarchy, face, zhongyong dialectics, yin-yang, collectivism, and relationalism. In terms of practice it covers the warring states and the tribute system. It argues that China was the most different of the three cases in terms of international relations.

Chapter 5 examines a key phenomenon in the field of cross-cultural pragmatics, namely, linguistic politeness and impoliteness. While politeness popularly describes ‘proper’ behaviour, as a technical term it encompasses all kinds of behaviour by means of which language users express that they take others’ feelings into account. Similarly, impoliteness not only refers to rude language but rather it covers all types of behaviour that are felt to cause offence. Politeness and impoliteness have been the most researched phenomena in the field, and in chapter 5 we provide a summary of those politeness- and impoliteness-related phenomena which are particularly relevant for cross-cultural pragmatic inquiries.

Normative systems known as honor, face and dignity system may have evolved as cultural adaptations to the survival challenges posed by quite different ecologies. Theory that views culture as situated cognition (Oyserman, 2017) posits that regionally dominant systems provide environmental cues that preferentially elicit normative thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Systems of shared norms help people coordinate actions and manage conflicts within their group. In the United States, successive waves of European colonization established cultural legacies that survive as regional differences, currently reflected in crime statistics and behavioral research. This chapter examines potential mechanisms of high rates of vengeful aggression within honor systems. Individual influences may include emotion socialization, hostile attribution biases, beliefs that behavior is stable, criteria for self-worth, and masculine anxiety. Theory and research indicate that institutional failure to protect and provide justice to all group members creates conditions linked to the contemporary evolution of honor norms in social groups.

This chapter begins with an overview of several terms important to a discussion of meaning in language, and introduces the reader to the theory of linguistic relativism and the relationship between language and thought. This section transitions into a review of the extension, reference, and the features that begin to form a comprehensive theory of semantics. With this foundation, students turn to a deeper investigation of formal semantics, including definitions for logical expressions and relationships, and then to a presentation of word sense, and the interactions between various parts of speech in the lexicon. The principle of compositionality is introduced, and it is used to explore several examples of non-compositional language. The end of the chapter ties these concepts to an investigation of pragmatics, including politeness, Gricean Maxims, and implicature.