Semiotic foundations of Doxa and Paradox in Barthe's thought ‎

During his second career, Roland Barthes concentrates mainly on the criticism of the ýEvident. He believes what pretends to be natural, universal and evident is in fact an outcome of ýa naturalization process; a process through which the ideological is finally configured as the ýEvident. Accordingly, the final result of the naturalization process, according to Barthes is a ýDoxa which embodies the Evident. Therefore, on his way to criticize the Evident and also ýreveal the ideological implications of Doxa, Barthes proposes Paradox as the antithesis of Doxa. ýParadox is actually a weapon against the intrigues of language, on the basis of which it would be ýpossible to experience a different reading of the text. However, Barthes never provides a clear-ýcut explanation of the semiotic mechanism of Doxa and Paradox. As a result, it may be ýassumed that Barthe's theoretical reorientation involves with the denial of his former doctrines ýregarding sign. This article, then, tries not only to analyze the semiotic functions of Doxa and ýParadox, but also explain the logical outcome of this viewpoint. It will be finally revealed that ýBarthe's second approach is basically influenced by the criticism of the hierarchical relationship ýbetween connotative and denotative meanings. ý