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ENG 695 Spring 2007

 

Semester Review: Medieval and Early Modern Rhetoric

 

April 26 class; Thematic review

 

Instructor's  notes

 

The ends/goals of rhetoric

 

  • Provide structure and education for culture and its leaders: phronesis, paideia--ethical/practical/civic (Isocrates)

  • Move souls to the truth--philosophical and ethical (Plato, Phaedrus)

  • Discover "Available means of persuasion" in any matter--inventional/civic/psychological (Aristotle, On Rhetoric)

  • To teach, delight, and move--suasory/legal (Cicero/AdH/Quintilian and following)

    • To teach, delight, move for Christian purposes--exhort the faithful to good (Augustine, De doctrina chr)

  • To provide theoretical framework for letter writing--arrangement/style (Ars dictam)

  • To provide framework for prose and verse composition, writing; arrangement/style (Vinsauf, Poetria Nova)

  • To provide method for preaching -- amplification (Basevorn, Forma praedicandi)

  • To reclaim ancient values and practice--whole canon, especially style (Humanists, Erasmus, Copia; De conscribendis epist)

  • To provide educational method and curriculum--whole canon, especially style (Humanists, Erasmus, Ramus)

  • To supply basis for communication theory in the vernacular -- inventional/stylistic/instrumental/civic/psychological (English: Wilson, Day, Bacon)

 

Relationship between rhetoric and logic/dialectic

 

  • Inherits earlier tension between rhetoric and philosophy in Greece--Plato and Aristotle; Isocrates

  • Always close--united in educational trivium

  • Audiences differentiated: dialectic for higher-level thinkers; rhetoric for popular audiences; both deal with the probable rather than the scientifically provable

  • Share concerns with topical invention

  • Dialectic, as logic-based tool for scholastic disputation, assumes preeminence in universities in middle ages

  • Rhetoric, as basis for Ciceronian model of learning and citizenship, assumes preeminence in Renaissance, with style emphasis

  • But both are important to a complete mastery of the art of discourse

 

Psychology and rhetoric

 

  • Theorized by Aristotle as important component of the art--focused on moving passions

  • Developed by Cicero in legal context--to move required audiences emotions/passions be accessed

  • Passions theory makes strong connection between rhetoric and moral philosophy--moving the will (Bacon)

 

Education and rhetoric

 

Rhetoric/discourse always central to education in Greece, Rome and later in middle ages and Renaissance--

 

  • Greece--essential for paideia, cultured learning; school of Isocrates; taught by Aristotle as part of political science

  • Rome--a chief curricular feature in most or all Roman schools and pedagogy; works with grammar to provide full literacy as well as means for oral expression (Cicero and Quintilian; Ad Herr.)

  • Early Middle Ages--important part of educating clergy (Augustine, De doct.; Martianus Capella, De nuptiis;  Cassiodorus and encyclopedists, "liberal arts" along with grammar and dialectic (Boethius); Rabanus Maurus, De institutione clericorum

  • High Middle Ages--integral component of education and culture; provided materials for primary literacy curriculum (De inv; Ad Her; progymnasmata; Liber Catonianus);  principles for higher level study and preparation (Poetria nova; modistae; Ars dictaminis)

  • Late Middle Ages/Renaissance--Reclaimed as mainstay of primary ed and preparation for civic life (humanist schools in Italy, 15th cen, Guarino Guarini; humanist schools in Northern Europe, 16th cen, Erasmus, Melanchthon, Sturm)

  • Major component of discourse-education reforms (Agricola; Ramus)

  • Major component of self-education in vernacular--Wilson, Day

 

 

Most influential theorists or practitioners since Augustine

  • Martianus Capella

  • Boethius

  • Alberic of Monte Cassino

  • Geoffrey of Vinsauf

  • Rudolph Agricola

  • Desidirius Erasmus

  • Peter Ramus

  • Francis Bacon

Students' questions and responses

 

Compare and contrast the goals of Classical and Medieval rhetoric

 

  • Classical—teach, delight, move (Cicero, Ad Herrenium); provide ed framework for paideia Kairos phronesis (Isocrates); persuasion to ethical and philosophical goals; moving souls to pursue the good (Plato); find all available means of persuasion (Aristotle); essential persuasion in legal and political contexts (Cicero, Quintilian) 

  • Medieval—teach/delight/move in Christian context—preparation of preachers/teachers; do good to audience (Augustine); practical, written communication; maintain social relationships within and through discourse (Ars dictaminis; Alberic of MonteCassino); provides ed framework from composition ; end result writing/text (verse and prose)

 

 

Major Christian scholars who best represent the relationship between Christianity and rhetoric?

 

  • Augustine of Hippo (4th/5th cen.)—exhort the faithful; fight heresy; uphold Chr. Calling; apply all available tools to furthering the Truth 

  • Cassiodorus Senator (6th cen)—training for monks, encyclopedic learning

  • Isadore of Seville (6th/7th) —encyclopedic approach for training clergy and retaining vestiges of classical learning

  • Rabanus Maurus (9th cen.)—De clericorum institutione – practical relationship between Augustinian/classical rhetoric and training of clergy

  • Guibert of Nogent, Alain de Lille, Alexander of Ashby

 

 

Why did letters flourish?; Contributions of theorists in middle ages

 

  • Society demanded formal communications; bureaucracy—especially in Catholic Church/Papal chancery; communication security (cursus)

  • Social function/social maintenance 

  • Alberic of MC – theorized salutation and securing of good will as functional parts of a letter

  • High status of Latin literacy; need for careful communication

  • Specialized in legal practice/Notarial arts (Italy) Guido Faba

  • Specialized in scholarly pursuits of composition theory, Ciceronian base (France) Geoffrey of Vinsauf
     

Rhetoric in England, late Middle Ages to 17th century; major figures

  • Latin—Alexander Ashby (preaching); Geoffrey of Vinsauf (poetriae/dictaminis); Robert of Basevorn (preaching)
     

  • English—

  • Thomas Wilson (Art of Rhetoric 1553+)  inventional focus—broader application of invention strategies, topics; vernacular expansion; complete Ciceronian program (5 canons) Legal emphasis

  • Angel Day—English Secretary—first original letter writing manual in English; applied learning/Erasmus to vernacular; enabled middle class to develop literacy skills

  • Bacon—rhetoric given important position in New Organon; works with mental faculties to impact audience and assist communication and persuasion—“better moving of the will” 

 

How does Ramus’ definition of rhetoric and its function differ from the broader Ciceronian tradition, and why is this important?

 

  • Division of rhetoric and dialectic—for curricular reform,

  • Rhetoric=style, delivery
    Logic=Invention, arrangement, memory

  • Why important?  Challenge to traditional structures of knowledge and authority behind them—Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian

  

Implications for current literacy teaching

 

  • Moral aspect –Quintilian—rhetor has to be good man; oratory is that good man speaking well---Erasmus continues—assists virtue, personal and civic—today? Moral purpose to literacy

  • Imitatio—practicing through models

 

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