ENGL / COMM 4103: Rhetoric & Persuasion

1. ENGL / COMM 4103:Rhetoric & Persuasion Scholasticism, Humanism, and Peter Ramus

2. Scholasticism • A late medieval worldview: • Hugh of Saint-Victor: “Learn everything . . . Later you will see that nothing is superfluous.” • The seven liberal arts “restore God’s image in us.” • The University of Paris was the epicenter of the scholastic movement. • Scholasticism became closely associated with the Church. • Scholasticism was driven by a re-discovery of Aristotle’s work: • Puts reason to work defending the articles of faith. • Richard Tarnas: “Aristotle’s philosophy was regarded as the greatest achievement of the natural human reason working without the benefit of Christian inspiration.

3. Thomas Aquinas • 13th Century priest, philosopher, and theologian • Attempted to reconcile pagan philosophy and science to Christian thought. • Associated faith with reason • “Faith transcends reason, but is not opposed by it.” • Richard Tarnas: “[Aquinas believed] a rational exploration of the physical world could disclose its inherent religious value.” • The Aristotelian corpus was virtually elevated to the status of Christian dogma.

4. Classical Humanism • Differed from Scholasticism: • Scholasticism: • Logic, science, Aristotle, reconciling pagan philosophy to Christian doctrine. • Theological precision • Scientific knowledge of the natural world. • Humanism: • Classical texts are valuable apart from Christianization. • Classical culture viewed as “a source for the deepening and enrichment of the human spirit.” • Classical learning as an alternative source of moral and ethical truth. • Psychological, humanist, aesthetic • Not necessarily opposed to Christian thought. • Emphasized individual capacity and potential.

5. Humanism & Rhetoric • Humanism & Language • Grace and clarity of expression emblematic of the grace and clarity of the soul. • Literary disciplines take on a spiritual dimension. • Focused on the recovery of classical languages and texts, especially Plato. • Devoted to the classical use of language – concerned with purity of expression and preferred classical Latin to medieval (church) Latin.

6. Peter Ramus • Born into impoverished, but noble family (1515). • Attended College de Navarre. • His thesis attacked Aristotelian logic: • “All things that Aristotle has said are inconsistent because they are poorly systematized.” • Took a royal appointment to teach at the College de France.

7. Peter Ramus • His anti-scholastic stance: • His rhetoric texts were banned from the University of Paris curriculum. • His rhetoric texts were also publicly burned. • Out humanist-s the humanists: • Denies the importance of classical languages (calling such study a waste). • Rejects the necessity of historical contexts. • Emphasizes the power of the individual to make meaning of the world without relying on the wisdom or knowledge of the past.

8. Arguments in Rhetoric . . . “But the writings of these scholars reveal that while they indeed collected a lot of material, they did not evaluate it sufficiently, for in some places I look in vain or a syllogism” (682)

9. Arguments in Rhetoric . . . “I assert indeed that such a definition [as Quintilian’s definition of an orator] seems to me to be useless and stupid” (683)

10. Arguments in Rhetoric . . . “For although I admit that rhetoric is a virtue, it is virtue of the mind and the intelligence . . . whose followers can still be men of the utmost moral depravity. Nor is rhetoric a moral virtue . . . so that whoever possesses it is incapable of being a wicked man” (685)

11. Arguments in Rhetoric against Quintilian • Primary Argument: “[T]he arts of dialectic and rhetoric have been confused by Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian” (681) • Quintilian’s error was in assuming rhetoric has something to say about all areas of knowledge. • According to Ramus, rhetoric serves no epistemic function. • Associating moral philosophy with rhetoric is at the root of Quintilian’s errors. • “Is he who knows what is honest and just, himself honest and just?” (685). • No theoretical treatment of rhetoric has ever explained how rhetoric should deal with morality or ethics; therefore, morality and ethics should remain in the province of philosophy, not rhetoric.

12. Arguments in Rhetoric against Quintilian • Ramus’ division of rhetoric and dialectic: • There are two natural gifts particular to man • Reason: • Dialectic (or logic) relates to reason • Invention, arrangement, and memory are primarily activities of reason and judgment; therefore, • Invention, arrangement, and memory belong to dialectic, not rhetoric. • Speech: • Grammar and Rhetoric relate to speech • Delivery and style are primarily linguistic activities; therefore, • Delivery and style belong to rhetoric; furthermore, • The other canons should not be associated with rhetoric.