Cybernetics and Philosophy in a Translation of Oedipus the King and Its Performance

Ekaterini Nikolarea

Inspired by Professor Marlowe’s presentation “Implicit Cybernetic Systems” in IMCIC 2021, the author of this study will approach Gilbert Murray’s translation of Sophocles’ Oedipus, King of Thebes and Max Reinhardt’s theatrical performance of this translation (as Oedipus Rex)2 in early 20th-century London, UK, through interacting cybernetic systems theory, exploring how early archaeological finds and Nietzsche’s philosophy influenced the reception of this Greek tragedy by a wider English public of the period (Appendix B: Figure 1). Issues of reflection and “reflexion” will also be discussed, with “reflexion” being manifested in the correspondence between the translator and the protagonist of the performance. At the end, the author will advance an extension of the theory of the existing cybernetic systems, proposing that when a polysystem is closed there is a model that: (1) incorporates the human mind/nous (philosophy of knowledge) as an overarching observer of a wider system; and (2) takes into consideration how time span and the existence or absence of evidence so that cybernetics can be operative in Humanities, as a Second-Order Closed Cybernetic Polysystem in Appendix B: Figure and Figure 2. On the contrary, when the overarching observer/nous completes his/her study, s/he enters a Second-Order Open Cybernetic Polysystem, as in Figure 3, where s/he can communicate his/her knowledge and his/her field (?πιστ?μη: episteme), and, eventually, influence the polysystem itself.

In this study, when required, parallelism between cybernetic and various inter-semiotic systems will be drawn, and some literary terms (such as “interdiscursivity”) will be introduced in the text and in Appendix B - Figures 1, 2 and 3 to a new diagram so that cybernetic systems will further enhanced. So, the author’s hope is that a cross-fertilization between Humanities and Sciences – that is, multi-disciplinarity – will be a crucial component in our understanding of the past and the present.

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