Download Peter Ramus - ENGL 4103 - Rhetoric and Persuasion

ENGL / COMM 4103:
RHETORIC & PERSUASION
Scholasticism, Humanism, and Peter Ramus
Scholasticism
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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.
Thomas Aquinas
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13th Century priest, philosopher, and theologian
Attempted to reconcile pagan philosophy and
science to Christian thought.
Associated faith with reason
 “Faith
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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.
Classical Humanism

Differed from Scholasticism:

Scholasticism:
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Logic, science, Aristotle, reconciling pagan philosophy to Christian
doctrine.
Theological precision
Scientific knowledge of the natural world.
Humanism:
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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.
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.
Peter Ramus
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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.
Peter Ramus

His anti-scholastic stance:
His rhetoric texts were banned from the University of Paris
curriculum.
 His rhetoric texts were also publicly burned.
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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.

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)
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)
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)
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.

Arguments in Rhetoric against Quintilian
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Ramus’ division of rhetoric and dialectic:
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There are two natural gifts particular to man
Reason:
1.
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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:
2.
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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.