Points of Praxis

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Renaissance and Enlightenment Scholars

Major influence w/ Renaissance and Enlightenment Rhetorical theory--Scientific Revolution

Scientific Revolution--Challenges to Aristotle's theory of the Earth as the center of the universe beginning, in theory, around 1536 when rumors of Copernicus' heliocentric model of the universe spread around Europe and 1543 with the first publication of Copernicus' theory. Also during this time:

1536--Copernicus' theories began spreading around Europe
1543--Copernicus' theories published
1549--Ramus publishes Arguments in Rhetoric Against Quintilian
1605--Bacon publishes The Advancement of Learning
1610--Galileo publishes theory on astronomical observations on Jupiter and Venus
1620--Bacon publishes Novum Organum
1637--Descartes publishes Discourse on Method
1671-1707--Newton publishes works on optics, gravity, and physics
1689--Locke publishes An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

*Deductive reasoning--to which Aristotle was associated w/--considered to flawed means for knowledge. Instead, need new system to learn about the universe--inductive reasoning. Previous theories passed down were wrong and people accepted as truth. Need new theories to find "real" truth. Truths that can only be observed by human senses are only trustworthy as legitimate. Complete rejection of Aristotle in every possible way--astronomical, mathematical, physiological, logical, rhetorical.

Ramus--Arguments in Rhetoric Against Quintilian (1549). Attacked Scholasticism. Attacked classical scholars. Advocated study in vernacular. Removed invention, arrangement, and memory from Rhetoric and designated as within the realm of dialectic or logic. Invention addressing probable knowledge within any sphere of knowledge. Testing received wisdoms also. Arrangement should follow format of syllogism. General to specific. Organize by structured division. Tree diagrams. Ramus method--simplifies information into smaller, teachable bits of information. Universalities can then apply to any situation. Rhetoric reduced to simply style and delivery (and delivery wasn't that important since most texts were written). Reduced trope to four--synecdoche, metonymy, irony, and metaphor. Decontexutalization of knowledge--dire consequences for rhetoric.

Quintilian's discussions on invention and arrangement were useless. Morality irrespective of rhetorical ability. Virtue belonged to dialectic, not rhetoric. Aristotle and Cicero make similar mistakes but Quintilian compiles all of their errors into single work. Q. claiming too much for rhetoric. Rhetoric own art--not spread among many arts. Virtue can be apart of art, but art is not a moral virtue. Rhetoric loses epistemic function.

Bacon--The Advancement of Learning (1605). Novum Organum (1620). Rejection of classical "truths" handed down in response to Scientific Revolution. Rejected Scholasticism. should use scientific method and logic for knowledge. Rejected deductive reasoning and syllogism for inductive reasoning applying observation, experimentation, and classification to advance learning. Does not subscribe to Ramist method based on syllogism or division of rhetoric from dialectic. Warned against narrow empiricism--positivism.

Faculties of mind to base rhetorical theory: reason, memory, imagination. separate: appetite and will. reason--philosophy. memory--history. imagination--poesy. Skeptical of sense perceptions. Subjective--hence discussion of idols in Novum Organum. "Idols of Tribe"--humanity's perceptual limitations. man cannot be the measure of all things, contrary to Protagoras' claim. "Idols of Cave"--individual human's faulty perceptions. "Idols of Marketplace"--faulty perceptions of other's words and perceptions. "Idols of Theatre"--faulty perceptions of commonly-held knowledge. Keen awareness of limitations of human knowledge. Rejection of syllogism. Advocate of perpiscuity. Apply reason to the imagination to move the will.

The Advancement of Learning. Invention--apply knowledge of what already known to situation at hand. How: Common places of knowledge: 1. Colors of Good and Evil. 2. de augmentis (stock arguments, debate briefs). 3. formulae (stock phrases). 4. pointed speeches. Observe, converse, study. In regard to rhetoric, rejected syllogism and inductive reasoning in favor of axioms. Should use logic and sense perceptions but not necessarily "trust" them as "reality."

Locke--An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. 1690. addresses the notion of language as a signifier of ideas. Specifically in Book III, Chapter IX of Locke’s essay, he argues that language is the means by which people “communicat[e] thoughts to others” (355). Locke also explores the role of language as a tool for “communicating by words either for civil or philosophical purposes” and the complexity and inadequacy of signifying abstract, intangible ideas through language (355).

According to Locke’s essay, “ideas” are “some immediate object of the mind, which it perceives and has before it […] thus determined, i.e. which the mind has in itself, and knows, and sees there, be determined without any change to that name, and that name determined to that precise idea” (Locke 13). In other words, ideas are the mental representations as acquired from the senses of entities (i.e. horses, milk) and notions (i.e. murder, sacrilege). Furthermore, language is only useful as long as it is mutually intelligible. Locke continues by exploring how, as an insufficient tool, language will often give-way to misunderstandings (703), and to circumvent these problems, it is the responsibility of individuals to speak and write as clearly as possible (355).

Ideas were separate from language; however, language was the means by which primary and secondary ideas were conveyed. Primary--general. Secondary--culture bound. Ideas--identical. Words--ambigious. Rhetoric increases ambiguity. Emphasis on perpescuity to remedy that. Understanding and will.

Theory of Ideas--
Sensory Experience--> Reflection on that experience--> produces ideas--> mind holds together and makes connections and traces relationships b/t ideas--> Ideas united together by laws of association and by reason. --> add pathetic appeals and you get *action.*

Vico--On the Study Methods of Our Time. 1709. Rejection of Descartes’ “True Knowledge”: Descartes argues for “true knowledge” there can be no doubt—Human reason is capable of critiquing received wisdom but received wisdom should also be challenged by newly discovered universals and absolutes. However, because of this focus on universal and absolute truths, culture-bound knowledge was not considered significant or relevant. In other words, the only knowledge of use to human beings is that which can be proven absolutely through observation or experimentation. Rhetoric better suited for human knowledge. knowledge cannot be separated from language. knowledge bound in human reason. humans limited to historical circumstances. Concern for ethos. "Common Sense." matters of probability and belief. Imagination.

Vico’s Rejection of Cartesian Philosophy. Vico opposes in Opere this method of inquiry because there is no subject that is not grounded in some doubt. Specifically, human beings only assume that the foundations of mathematics and geometry are scientifically proven because they have been told to believe so; however, only God, as the creator of the universe, knows for certain the laws that govern it. Vico’s first axiom in The New Science reiterates this claim: “Because of the indefinite nature of the human mind, wherever it is lost in ignorance, man makes himself the measure of all things” (54) because “[w]hen men are ignorant of the natural causes producing things, and cannot even explain them by analogy with similar things, they attribute their own nature to them. The vulgar, for example, say the magnet loves the iron” (63).

Epistemic Importance of Imagination and Common Sense. Vico again privileges invention and imagination over scientific investigation in On the Study Methods of Our Time when he argues that “the invention of arguments is by nature prior to the judgment of their validity, so that, in teaching, that invention should be given priority over philosophical criticism” (14). Vico reiterates the importance of imagination and invention in The New Science when he writes, “Imagination is more robust in proportion as reasoning power is weak” (66).

Importance of Human Affairs and Subjects Concerned with Human Affairs. Vico also challenges Cartesian disregard for subjects such as ethics, politics, logic, history, and medicine, which are not considered subjects worthy of study they are matters of human affairs with multiple circumstances and relative casualty (Bizzell and Herzberg 711). From this, Vico’s asserts in The New Science that since all knowledge is based on an understanding of human epistemology, rhetoric and philosophy can provide the universal truths that empiricists seek: “To be useful to the human race, philosophy must raise and direct weak and fallen man, not rend his nature or abandon him in his corruption” (55) since “[p]hilosophy contemplates reason, whence comes knowledge of the true; philology observes the authority of human choice, whence comes consciousness of the certain” (56).

Pedagogical Implications of Cartesian Theory. Vico argues in On the Study Methods of Our Time that “the greatest drawback of our educational methods is that we pay an excessive amount of attention to the natural sciences and not enough to ethics” (33). Vico continues, “Our chief fault is that we disregard that part of ethics which treats of human character, of its dispositions, its passions, and of the manner of adjusting these factors to public life and eloquence” (On the Study Methods of Our Time 33). Vico argues that subjects such as ethics, rhetoric, and language are more useful to scholars: “Abstract, or general truths are eternal; concrete or specific ones change momentarily from truths to untruths” (On the Study Methods of Our Time 34-5).

Balance in Education. Vico recommends that studies should reflect a balance. Students should study both human affairs and scientific truths since understanding one helps students to understand the other. In other words, language has an epistemic function that facilitates a complexity of human understanding of concepts; such complexities of understanding lead to complexities in the social order.

Campbell--Philosophy of Rhetoric. 1776. Psychological rhetoric. Ground rhetoric in human nature. Different faculties used for understanding different experiences. Involve the faculties in discourse. Forms of discourse. Emphasizes induction—use of faculties for direct observation. Invention no longer w/in realm of rhetoric. Instead, methodology and genius were necessary. Adapting message to audience’s faculties.

New rhetoric as counterpart of new logic. Scottish Common Sense Realism, communication grounded in philosophy consciously opposed to Scholasticism. Reality is not a rational construct revealed through syllogistic logic. Deductive logic can never discover the truth in science and ethics. Induction could. Allowed individuals to communicate w/ language to act on the audiences’ faculties, attempting to reproduce original experience. Knowledge—extralinguistic. Rhetoric becomes elaboration of what was already observed or discovered. Invention not about discovery but about managing discoveries already uncovered. Importance of eloquence. Managing discoveries requires knowing how to “enlighten,” “please,” “move,” and “influence.” Psychological effects of rhetoric. Rhetoric becomes study of how discourse achieves its effects. Rhetoric primarily concerned w/ emotion. No motives are possible w/out emotion. Sensation. Memory. Imagination. Book 2 concerned w/ usage. Reputable, national, present usage. (Context). Campbell’s concern w/ usage becomes central to American textbooks at the end of the 19th century. Book 2, chapter 5 also concerned w/ style—perspicuity, vivacity, elegance, animation, music. Shift from Aristotle’s concern for “truth” to concern w/ effects.

Blair--Lectures on Rhetoric and Belle Lettres. 1783. Belle-tristic rhetoric. Emphasizes style. Reading inevitably leads to good writing. Metaphor important. Rhetoric study of all discourses. Deals only w/ stylistic principles—see literary works. Invention no longer part of rhetoric. Arrangement not really considered at all. Emphasis on written rather than oral discourse. 18th century rhetoric paradigm for 20th century composition studies. Persuasive discourses—appeals to emotions and will, as well—delegated to oral discourses. Writing courses concerned w/ reason and understanding, with little emotional content. Positivist in spirit and method.

While Campbell had the treatise on rhetoric, Blair provided the treatment of rhetoric until after the Civil War. Blair intended work to be practical guide, not theoretical text. Focuses on literary taste. Literary analysis. Effective writing learned through reading examples of effective writing. Rhetoric almost exclusively stylistic. Emphasis on written rather than oral. Important b/c he provided a model for using literature to teach writing. Effects of art on audience. Source of invention: genius. Importance of the sublime for discovering meaning. Poet does not create forms of reality—copies them.

Genius is key to invention. Rules and instruction cannot “inspire genius” but can direct and assist it.

“taste” “manners” “grace” “slovenly and incorrect” “of polishing style” “than of storing it with thought” “manly beauties of good writing” “distinguishing false ornament from true” “good sense and refined taste” “grandeur” “eloquence” “fancy”

Whately--Elements of Rhetoric. 1828. Not necessarily compatible w/ Campbell and Blair. Attempt to return to Aristotelian deductive model in rhetoric. Wed an “adumbrated deductive logic” with an empirical epistemology (Berlin 29). New scheme of invention to suit the new psychological rhetoric. Foremost contribution is practical nature of work. Intended to be a guide for students at Oxford. Offers a two-part scheme for replacing inventio of discovery (removed from rhetoric by Campbell) w/ inventio of management of material appropriated elsewhere. Description of how composing process should be taught is most pervasive feature of his scheme in later writing textbooks. Assist students to find topic or subject for a theme. Should be engaging to the student and should focus on something student already knows about. Selected from students’ studies, from stimulating conversations w/ elders, or from everyday occurrences of interest. Discovery isn’t domain of instructor—style and correctness is and should be emphasized. Encourages revision of student work by student following feedback from instructor.

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