Chapter+8


 * Epistemology and the Modern Rhetorics**

Adam Smith believed speech was an important and necessary part of being human. He was able to link it closely with the process of gaining knowledge, and thus the connection between rhetoric and education was made again. The Renaissance and the Reformation created a new need for persuasion and theories of rhetoric. Preachers now had to learn how to make powerful speeches in order to defend to the old religions. Advances in sciences created new ways of thinking and new theories on how humans gained knowledge, which we call //epistemology//. Greek Naturalists believed we learn from observing nature. Plato believed we learn from our soul and the perfect knowledge that exists in the noumenal world. Aristotle believed we learn through the empirical approach.


 * Cartesian Duality and Humanistic Unity**
 * Rene Descartes (1596-1650)**

Descartes main goal was to introduce math into philosophy. These systematical questions would pursue personal doubt. The reasoning we attained from these questions would be enough to supply us with evidence to make claims.

//“I think, therefore, I am.”// Descartes, the skeptic, was able to question his own existence proving he had a mind.

Descartes also explain motion and its relativeness to another object, “an object moves in relation to another object.” He saw others as complex machines (objects) because we could not get into their heads “to know what they are thinking or that they are thinking.”

“Dualism” – (Descartes Theory) – he separated the mind and the body from each other as two different entities. The mind reasons collected information to form answers while the body is just an object. Intuition, he believed, was a result of an “unclouded and attentive mind” and comes without doubt. We should also not trust our senses, because those can be fooled. Going back to the math, geometric deduction proved the certitude and deduced the errors made by our sense. Systematic Doubt was the method in which Descartes said we could find intuitive and deductive truth.

Descartes used rhetoric in his quest for truth.


 * Giambattista Vico (1668-1744)**

Vico tried to restore a more unified theory of mental and physical operations. He had a holistic view and believed the mind and body always interacted because they were united. Vico was a firm believer that humans need imagination in order to interpret. Without imagination it would be impossible to “make sense of world and develop hypothesis.” Imagination developed by examining myths and fables that led to //parolas//, words to interpret reality. Parolas led to //favolas,// true fables and //allegoria//, true allegories. Vico said collective knowledge from narratives could help us remember important lessons and also create new theories.

Vico saw people as “more rhetorical than rational and more religious than scientific,” so //rhetoric and natural religion were the major foundations of society//.

Metaphor- Vico’s original structure; it sees one thing for another by making comparisons. Vico believed they were humanistic and constructivistic. Humanistic, because they tell us how language develops and constructivistic, because they build new meanings.

Vico saw __tropes__ and __figures__ as “//mental procedures”// that are ornaments for speech. Vico redefined //Tropes:// //Figures// of thought could fascinate the mind and hold the attention or move the soul of the audience if used correctly.
 * Metonymy: naming a thing by one of its characteristics.
 * Synecdoche: naming a thing by substituting a part for the whole or a whole for a part.
 * Irony: literal meaning is used to express opposite

Vico also believed judicial rhetoric, rhetoric in the court, needed argument. These arguments could use facts based on “motive, character, and evidence.” Each side has to choose between //Refuting the charges, Denying the facts,// or //Disputing the application of the law.//


 * Epistemology in Great Britain**

Public speaking growing important as English language developed and as Parliament gained power.


 * Francis Bacon (1561-1626)**

Rhetoric – //the function of applying reason to the imagination for the better moving of the will.//

Bacon believed there were five functions of the mind. These functions were the basis of //Faculty Psychology.//
 * 1) Understanding
 * 2) Reason
 * 3) Imagination
 * 4) Appetites
 * 5) Will – charioteer of the soul (refer back to Plato)

Used //dialectic// to purify language.

Images and style are provided through rhetoric to defeat an argument.

Functions of the faculties:
 * 1) //To inquire and invent//: discover ideas and how it all works
 * 2) //To examine and judge//: analyze objects
 * 3) //To recall ideas and maintain custody over them//: remembering ideas and objects
 * 4) //To transmit thought in language//: words used to express our remembered ideas and objects

Communication divided into three realms:
 * 1) 1. //Organon of Tradition//: grammar, vocab, diction, delivery
 * 2) 2. //Method of Tradition//: organizing, planning, and logic
 * 3) 3. //Illustration of Tradition:// rhetoric; arguments

Vico believed //delivery// was of the utmost importance. The body and mannerisms should be practiced to fit the speech.

Reason is determined by past, present, and future, while Affection is only determined by present. To persuade people or your audience to do “good”, the speaker must evoke affection using reason.

Vico believed language has been corrupted by //4 idols of culture//: These idols must be __banished__ so that the mind is not corrupted.
 * 1) //Idols of Tribe:// desires, prejudices, and pride
 * 2) //Idols of Den:// comes from living with a limited view of the world
 * 3) //Idols of Marketplace:// use language in popular way of society, not the proper way
 * 4) //Idols of Theatre:// we start to believe the false explanations of the world instead of reasoning.


 * John Locke** **(1632-1704)**

Locke, like Bacon, said the mind has various functions. __The top functions and most important ones are WILL and UNDERSTANDING.__

Locke believed only //experience// could provide the necessary for reason and knowledge. The mind collects new data through experience. So the experience was the //primary epistemic function//. //Language, the secondary epistemic function//, provides the understanding of what was discovered through the experience of the senses.

//Abstraction// is the way we remember or retina knowledge though categories. This is Locke’s contribution to the canon of memory!

Locke’s categories of knowledge:
 * 1) //Intuitive:// we can never prove we are dreaming so we must know we are awake
 * 2) //Demonstrative:// arguments; reason works to produce truth
 * 3) //Sensitive:// sensed data that was experienced

//Tabula Rasa –// born into the world without previous knowledge

Communication is both //intrapersonal// and //interpersonal//. //Internal Discourse// is more authentic. It’s based on direct personal thoughts. //External Discourse// is corrupted by outside sources of society, culture, and the popular language. We do need //External Discourse// though, because it stops //solipsism,// which is the belief that we have the only real mind in existence. We NEED to communicate with others to clarify our own ideas.


 * Enlightened Women**

Female rhetorical theorists turned rhetoric from public address to a more personal conversation or letter writing. Madeleine de Scudery wrote about the art of conversation in the salon, a gathering place for intellectual discussion. No topic of discussion was excluded if it could be handled with taste. Margaret Cavendish’s The //World’s Olio// was an encyclopedia of feminine conversational technique. It dealt with talking about social reforms in some settings and dealing with spouses. Margaret Fell’s //Women’s Speaking Justified//, focused on rhetoric as dialogue, prophecy, or counseling. Mary Astel’s //A Serious Proposal to the Ladies,// talked about a plan for college. She believed sophistry is to be avoided and rationalism should be embraced.


 * David Hume (1711-1776)**

In his "Treatise on Human Nature," Hume emphasized the power of word choice and sensory recollection. He theorized that humans organize information into three operations of the imagination: relations, modes and substances, which respectively sort ideas by how they interact with one another, how they operate and what they are made of. Because these organizations are sometimes false, Hume explains that there is a difference between knowing something and believing it. Rhetoric is capable of making the real seem fictitious and the fictitious seem real. He popularized the idea of "skepticism" which undermines theological ideas and defends the notion that causation does not exist. Contrary to the Enlightenment thinkers, he argues that reason is ruled by passions. Hume's critics include Thomas Reid who agreed that it is impossible to irrefutably know that causation occurs, but that we undoubtedly and intuitively perceive it.


 * Faculty Psychology and Rhetoric**

David Hartley's "Observations on Man, His Frame, His Duty, and His Expectations" listed the faculties of the mind as will, understanding, memory, imagination and affections. This model was influential, specifically as it related to the French belletristic movement, which was concerned with issues of aesthetics and taste and argued that the mind has a certain instinctive propensity for beauty. Edmund Burke, though famous for his political philosophy, combined taste with prudence (that which allows speakers to prioritize their values and the values of their audiences) and argued that beauty is achieved through purity and refinement of speech. He promoted language, which imitated nature and stirred passions. Around that time, the reign of terror consumed France, demonstrating that rhetoric could be used for evil purposes and smearing the reputation of the art.


 * George Campbell (1719-1796)**

Campbell was a great believer of moral evidence could be used to deduce the truth because most of it, if not all, is divinely inspired, “human instincts were sources of God’s wisdom.” Campbell built a theory of argument that included //data of experience, data of analogy, data of testimony, and data from probability.// He believed memory was made up of composed sensations and its primary purpose is to recall the “true past.” Imagination allows picking up these sensations from memory to fix a certain problem. Later, he divided the human psyche into understanding, will, affection, memory, and the imagination, which placed the faculties into a new sequence. Campbell created a new definition of rhetoric’s task, which was //to enlighten the understanding to awaken the memory, to engage the imagination, and to arouse the passion to influence will.//


 * Hugh Blair (1718-1800)**

Blair, as seen in his //Belles Lettres,// was dedicated his work with rhetoric to good taste and to purify the English language. He believed rhetoric reveals how the mind works. Blair described how to express your thoughts in a tasteful way. A tasteful speech could be //beautiful//, //proportional, grand, harmonious, new,// and //sprightly.// Blair believed the speaker should place the scene before the audience in order to use pathos. It can be accomplished through proper word choice, which is taught through education.


 * Elocutionary Thought**
 * Sheridan (1719-1788) and Austin (1753-1837)**

Thomas Sheridan, an actor, and Gilbert Austin, a reverend, argued that delivery is the most important aspect of rhetoric. Sheridan believed that rhetoric should be at the heart of a modern curriculum and in his book "A Course of Lectures on Elocution," he argued that oration has potential that the written word lacks. Austin advocated for a choreographed form of speech delivery which uses gesture to represent meaning. Though this method often comes across as false, but has worked in a few notable historical examples such as when Elizabeth Dole, wife of republican nominee for president, gave a speech at the Republican national convention, giving the illusion of spontaneity though she had planned for over six months.


 * Whately (1787-1863)**

Whately was known for his belief that rhetoric is at the center of rational thought. He believed that God gave humans the faculty of reason so that they could apply the teachings of the church to new situations. He expanded the notion of "burden of proof" essential to legal rhetoric, medicinal innovation and theological preaching)


 * Bain (1818-1903)**

Alexander Bain brought the scientific method to rhetorical theory. He was deeply influenced by Locke and contemporary German psychologists and believed that the audience's associations should be utilized with tropes and figures that call up emotions sympathetic to the speaker's purpose.