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origins of public speaking chapter 2

By: Peter A. DeCaro, Ph.D. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK

introduction The art of public speaking was practiced long before the Greeks wrote chapter objectives chapter outline about it in their treatises more than After reading this chapter, you should be  Introduction 2,500 years ago. For Greek men, it was able to:  Ancient Greece a way of life, a way of being, just like o The Rise of Democracy o The Nature of Rhetoric football and baseball are to us today. 1. Identify the historical events that o Dialectics and Logic We attribute today’s field of led up to democracy and o The Rhetorical Approach recognize persuasion and public communication to the ancient Greeks  The Roman Republic’s Adoption speaking as art forms in Athens, because they were the first to of Rhetoric Greece. systematize the art of public speaking, o Cicero’s Influence 2. Describe the nature of public which they called “rhetoric.” o Quintillion’s Influence speaking in Athens during the 5th The art, or use of public speaking, is  The Middle Ages century B.C. and the role it o St. Augustine quite different today than when it was played in a democratic society. o Christianity practiced by the Greeks, and then the 3. Apply Plato’s approach to  The Renaissance Romans. Theirs was a time that didn’t dialectics and logic. o The Humanists have multimedia -- television, radio, 4. Explain Aristotle’s descriptions of o The Rationalists internet, movies, newspapers, and the rhetoric and public speaking.  The Modern Period 5. like -- for getting their messages to the Describe the Roman Republic’s o The Epistemological Tradition masses. Instead, the Greeks and adoption of rhetoric to public o The Belles Lettres Movement speaking. Romans informed, praised, or persuaded o The Elocutionary Movement 6. Elucidate Cicero’s influence on people the old fashion way -- through  Conclusion the Roman Republic and public  Review Questions and Activities discourse -- otherwise known as the oral speaking.  Glossary tradition. That meant speaking face to 7. Describe the relevance of face with their audience. Quintillion’s influence on the  References What we know today as the art of Roman Empire, rhetoric, and public speaking. public speaking has undergone a 8. Recognize the impact that St. number of changes since the days of Augustine, Christianity, and the as the field of communication Pericles, Cicero, and Quintilian. Public Middle Ages had on rhetoric and transitioned from one era to another, so speaking brought us through the Middle public speaking. did “Speechthe understanding is power: of public speech Ages, experienced a rebirth as a result 9. Clarify the roles that the speaking.is to persuade, to convert, of the Renaissance, redefined to conquer Renaissance, Rationalism, and and explain the known and unknown, the Humanists had on the rebirth to compel” interpreted to perform theatrics, and of rhetoric and public speaking. -Ralph Waldo Emerson finally, along this historical path from 10. Explain the role that Classical God, that all-powerful rhetoric and the advent of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the art th th Creator of nature and of public speaking was reinvented to psychology in the 18 and 19 centuries, known as the Modern architect of the world, has accommodate the electronic age of the Period, had on public speaking. twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 11. Describe the influence of the impressed man with no So what is public speaking? Has it Elocutionary Movement on public character so proper to really changed since the days of the speaking. distinguish him from other Greeks and Romans, St. Augustine, and 12. Describe the restoration of public speaking in the United States. animals, as by the faculty of Descartes? No, the concept of public speaking hasn’t changed; it has speech. basically remained the same. However, ~ Quintilian

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org

This chapter is meant to give you, the structures of Attica (a peninsula jutting constitute a surge in Athenian reader, an accurate and detailed history into the Aegean Sea), with the city of democracy. of how the art of public speaking came Athens located at its center. The In 593 B.C. Draco’s laws were into existence beginning with the citizens of Athens were known as reformed by Solon, an Athenian ancient Greeks and Romans. We will Athenians, and were among the most legislator, who introduced the first form learn how the Greeks came to develop prosperous of people in the of popular democracy into Athens. the art and then were followed by the Mediterranean region. Solon’s courts became the model for the Romans who codified and refined Romans and centuries later for England public speaking. After the fall of the Speech is the mirror of action. and America. Murphy and Katula Roman Empire, we will see how public ~ Solon (1995) argued: “It is with Solon’s speaking was kept alive by just a few reforms that we mark the unalterable individuals until the Renaissance, when impulse toward popular government in documents, or extants (which are It was in the Homeric Period, also known as “The Age of Homer,” western civilization” (p. 7). The treatises and writings that survived Athenian period of democratization history), were discovered in Italy, and between 850 B.C. and 650 B.C., that an evolution in forms of government from included legislative as well as judicial the approaches, both scientific and reform. Humanistic, that defined the art of monarchy to oligarchy, and tyranny to public speaking came about. Finally, eventual democracy, began in ancient It was during the reign of Pericles, we visit the latter part of the 19th and Greece. Homer was the major figure of from 461 B.C. to 429 B.C., that Athens 20th centuries to understand ancient Greek literature and the author achieved its greatest glory. Some of contemporary public speaking. of the earliest epic poems, the Iliad and these accomplishments included the the Odyssey. In the year 630 B.C., the installation of a pure democracy to last tyrant of Attica, Ceylon, seized the maintain, a liberalized judicial system to Acropolis, which was the seat of include poor citizens so that they could government in Athens, and established serve on juries, and the establishment of himself as the ruler of all Attica. He a popular legislative assembly to review didn’t rule for long. Ceylon was annually all laws. In addition, he overthrown within weeks by farmers established the right for any Athenian and heavily armed foot soldiers known citizen to propose or oppose a law as hoplites. Many of Ceylon’s during assembly. Pericles’ followers were killed, and the few that achievements far exceeded those escaped death fled into the mountains. mentioned. Because of his efforts, Thus, Athenian democracy was born. Athens became the crossroads of the In 621 B.C., the citizens of Athens world - the center of western civilization commissioned Draco, who was an elder - and with it came the need for public speaking. ancient greece citizen considered to be the wisest of the Greeks, to sort their laws into an the rise of democracy organized system known as In order to understand what codification, because until that time, contemporary public speaking is, we they simply remained an oral form of first must understand the genesis of custom and tradition and weren’t public speaking. We begin with the written like the laws of today. Draco Greeks and rhetoric. Rhetoric, as was concerned only with criminal defined by Aristotle, is the “faculty of offenses, which until this time had been discovering in the particular case all the settled through blood feud (an eye-for- available means of persuasion” an-eye type of revenge between (Kennedy, 1963, p.19). For the Greeks, families) or rulings by the King. Draco rhetoric, or the art of public speaking, established courts, complete with juries, was first and foremost a means to to hear cases of homicide, assault, and persuade. Greek society relied on oral robbery. By conforming the codes for “Persuasion is the civilized substitute expression, which also included the criminal offenses into standards of for harsh authority and ruthless force,” ability to inform and give speeches of practice, Draco began the tradition of wrote R.T. Oliver (1950, p.1). Oliver praise, known then as epideictic (to law, where cases were decided on said that the recipients of any persuasive praise or blame someone) speeches. clearly enunciated crimes and penalties discourse must feel free to make a The ability to practice rhetoric in a determined by statute rather than by the choice. In a free society it is persuasion public forum was a direct result of whims of the nobility. His laws helped that decides rules, determines behavior, generations of change in the governing

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org and acts as the governing agent in defined as a debate intended to resolve a human physical and mental activities. conflict between two contradictory (or In every free society individuals are polar opposites), or apparently continuously attempting to change the contradictory ideas or elements thoughts and/or actions of others. It is a logically, establishing truths on both fundamental concept of a free society. sides rather than disproving one Ian Harvey (1951) suggested that the argument. Both rhetoric and dialectic technique of persuasion is the technique are forms of critical analysis. of persuading free people to a pattern of Among the most significant thinkers life; and persuasion is the only possible of the fifth century B.C. were the means of combining freedom and order. traveling lecturers known as sophists. That combination successfully achieved They were primarily teachers of is the solution to the overriding political excellence who dealt with problems of our time. Rhetoric practical and immediate issues of the (persuasion), public speaking and day, and whose investigations led in democracy are inextricable. As long as many instances to a philosophical there is rhetoric, and public speaking to relativism. Unlike Socrates and Plato, deliver that message, there will exist the sophists believed that absolute truth democracy; and as long as there is was unknowable and perhaps democracy, there will exist rhetoric and nonexistent, especially in the sphere of public speaking. forensics and political life, where no city dominated by the orator. Athens universal principles could be accepted. I believe that the will of the witnessed the birth of what we know Courses of action had to be presented in people is resolved by a strong today as rhetoric. persuasive fashion. Unlike the sophists, leadership. Even in a To say that rhetoric played an Socrates taught that truth was absolute important role in Greek and Roman life and knowable and that a clear democratic society, events would be an understatement. The distinction should be made between depend on a strong leadership significance of rhetoric and oratory was dialectic, the question and answer with a strong power of evident in Greek and Roman education. method of obtaining the one correct George Kennedy (1963) noted that answer, and rhetoric, which does not persuasion, and not on the rhetoric played the central role in seem interested in the universal validity opinion of the masses. ancient education. At about the age of of the answer but only in its ~ Yitzhak Shamir fourteen, (only) boys were sent to the persuasiveness for the moment. Plato school of the rhetorician for theoretical developed this criticism of rhetoric to the nature of rhetoric instruction in public speaking, which such an extent that he is the most Pericles’ democracy established the was an important part of the teaching of famous and most thorough-going of the need for training in public speaking. the sophists. Public speaking was basic enemies of rhetoric. Plato preferred the Greek assemblies debated old and new to the educational system of Isocrates philosophical method of formal inquiry laws on a yearly basis. The courtrooms (the most famous of the sophists); and it known as dialectic. that Solon reformed now bristled with was even taught by Aristotle” (p.7). litigation. Pericles’ juries numbered In making a speech one must between 500 and 2,000 people, so dialectics and logic study three points: first, the speaking at a public trial was similar to It is important to note that rhetoric means of producing speaking at a public meeting. And to and oratory are not the same, although speak at a legislative assembly required we use rhetoric and oratory persuasion; second, the serious, highly developed, and refined synonymously; nor are rhetoric and language; third, the proper debate, because at stake generally were dialectic the same. Zeno of Elea (5th arrangement of the various issues of peace and war. Murphy and century B.C.), a Greek mathematician Katula (1995) stated that the Athenian and philosopher of the Eleatic school, is parts of the speech. citizens realized that their very future considered to be the inventor of ~ Aristotle often depended on their ability to speak dialectical reasoning. However, it is persuasively. Public speaking was an Plato, another Greek philosopher and the rhetorical approach Olympic event where the winner teacher of Aristotle, and not Socrates, Aristotle wrote that rhetoric is the received an olive wreath and was that we attribute the popularity of faculty of discovering in the particular paraded through his town like a hero. dialectical reasoning. Dialectic can be case all the available means of Thus, Athens became a city of words, a

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org persuasion. He cited four uses of personal character that will win the the roman republic rhetoric: (1) by it truth and justice confidence of the listener; (2) engaging As Athens declined in power, a new maintain their natural superiority; (2) it the listener’s emotions; and (3) proving force emerged, the Roman Republic. is suited to popular audiences, since a truth, real or apparent, by argument. The Senate was the only permanent they cannot follow scientific Aristotle concluded that the mastery of governing body and the only body demonstration; (3) it teaches us to see the art, then, called for (1) the power of where debate was possible. In order to both sides of an issue, and to refute logical reasoning (logos); a knowledge debate, one had to know the persuasive unfair arguments; and (4) it is a means of character (ethos); and a knowledge of art of rhetoric and oratory, or public of self-defense. For Aristotle, rhetoric the emotions (pathos). speaking. is the process of developing a persuasive In summary, Plato had opposed argument, and oratory is the process of Greek rhetoric appeared in republican rhetoric to dialectic; Aristotle compared Rome in the middle of the second delivering that argument. He stated that the two: both have to do with things the “authors of ‘Arts of Speaking’ have century B.C. The teachers of rhetoric which are within the field of knowledge were Greek, and they taught in both built up but a small portion of the art of of all men and are not part of any rhetoric; because this art consists of Greek and Latin. Eventually Roman specialized science. They do not differ teachers were produced. The proofs alone - all else is but accessory. in nature, but in subject and form: Yet these writers say nothing of remarkable thing about Roman dialectic is primarily philosophical, rhetorical theory, wrote Murphy and enthymemes, the very body and rhetoric political; dialectic consists of substance of persuasion” (Book 1, p. 1). Katula (1995), is that it appeared for the question and answer, rhetoric of a set first time in its fullest form around 90 speech. Both can be reduced to a B.C., with very little direct evidence as system and thus are properly called to how it developed into its completed “art.” form. Sometime after Aristotle, writers refined and identified the subject of Rhetoric is the art of ruling rhetoric into five parts - Invention, the minds of men. Arrangement, Style, Memory, and ~ Plato Delivery. These five canons are still a part of public speaking in education today. Two Romans stand out as Aristotle became the primary source quintessential figures of Roman of all later rhetorical theory. rhetoric, Cicero and Quintilian. Eventually, the dispute between rhetoric and philosophy in the time of Aristotle had ended in a compromise in which cicero’s influence philosophy accepted rhetoric as a means Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on to a goal. The rhetoric of not only January 3, 106 BC and was murdered on Cicero and Quintilian, but of the Middle December 7, 43 BC. His life coincided Ages, of the Renaissance, and of with the decline and fall of the Roman modern times, is basically Aristotelian. Republic, and he was an important Aristotle said that rhetoric has no special subject-matter; that is, it isn’t limited to particular topics and nothing else. He claimed that certain forms of persuasion come from outside and do not belong to the art itself. This refers to, for example, witnesses, forced confessions, and contracts that Aristotle said are external to the art of speaking. He considered these to be non-artistic proofs. Aristotle identified what he considered to be artistic proofs which must be supplied by the speaker’s invention (the “faculty of discovering” that Aristotle used in his definition of rhetoric); and these artistic means of persuasion are threefold. They consist in (1) evincing through the speech a

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org participant in many of the significant subject. Cicero considered oratory to be political events of his time. He is the highest form of intellectual activity The mind is exercised by the considered to be the greatest of the and an instrument indispensable for the variety and multiplicity of the Roman orators, and was, among other welfare of the state. In addition, he subject matter, while the things, a lawyer, politician, and combined the three functions of the philosopher. orator to the three levels of style. He character is molded by the contemplation of virtue and In Cicero’s Rome the government was able to provide his colleagues with Atticism, eventually came under the control of a a broad interpretation of and vice. well-trained ruling class. Legal training he revived the best of the Greek theoreticians and practitioners of ~ Quintilian became an integral part of this ruling class. Roman rhetoric provided rules oratory. It can be said that Cicero was for all forms of oratory; however, legal an idealist. As a student of Greek During the hundred years plus which speaking became the primary emphasis rhetoric, he encouraged his elapsed between the death of Cicero and of textbooks. contemporaries to practice the same the birth of Quintilian, education had ideals, ethics and standards of the past. vastly spread all over the Roman Cicero is noted for writing the De His primary focus was to adapt Hellenic Empire, with rhetoric as the most Inventione when he was about twenty (ancient Greece) doctrine to the needs of important part of education. But by years old. It is important because it Rome. During Cicero’s time, Rome had Quintilian's time (Gwynn, 1926), the gives us insight into the general nature become a place where the free popular trend in oratory was not rhetoric of rhetorical instruction in the first expression of ideas was no longer in the traditional sense, rather it was century B.C. And later in life, as a more tolerated. The government had been called "silver Latin," a style that favored mature individual, he wrote the De corrupted. ornate embellishment over clarity and Oratore, which he compared and precision. During this time rhetoric was contrasted to the De Inventione. primarily composed of three aspects: the Cicero’s contributions to the theory of theoretical (contemplating new oral discourse included the belief that rhetorical methods), the educational the orator must have a firm foundation (teaching students the five canons), and of general knowledge. Cicero believed the practical (courtroom and political that the perfect orator should be able to speeches). speak wisely and eloquently on any subject with a dignified, restrained Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria may delivery. Corbett (1965) wrote that be read as a reaction against this trend; “Cicero felt that the perfect orator had it advocated a return to simpler and to be conversant with many subjects. In clearer language. Gwynn (1926) wrote order to invent his arguments, the that Quintilian adopted Cicero’s oratory perfect orator must have a command of prowess as the model for this return to a wide range of knowledge” (p. 542). rhetorical tradition; because during the Cicero despised the shallowness of previous century, Cicero’s far more orators who depended exclusively on concise style was the standard. perfect diction and elegant words that Quintilian disliked the excessive lacked substance. His ideal person was ornamentation popular in the oratory the philosopher-statesman-learned style of his contemporaries (silver orator who used rhetoric to mold public quintilian’s influence Latin). Quintilian believed that opinion. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (A.D. deviating from natural language and the 35-95) was a celebrated orator, natural order of thought in pursuit of an It is not by muscle, speed, or rhetorician, Latin teacher and writer over-elaborate style created confusion in both the orator and his audience. physical dexterity that great who promoted rhetorical theory from ancient Greece and from the height of Much of this work dealt with the things are achieved, but by Roman rhetoric. His work on rhetoric, technical aspects of rhetoric and the reflection, force of character, the Institutio Oratoria, is an exhaustive Institutio Oratoria stood -- along with and judgment. volume of twelve books and was a Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Cicero’s major contribution to educational theory writing -- as one of the ancient world’s ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero and literary criticism. Many later greatest works on rhetoric. According rhetoricians, especially from the to Barrett (1987), he organized the Cicero firmly held that oratory was Renaissance, derived their rhetorical practice of oratory into five canons: more than legal pleadings or a school theory directly from this text. inventio (discovery of arguments),

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org dispositio (arrangement of arguments), was “finding the available means of the middle ages elocutio (expression or style), memoria persuasion.” Quintilian challenged this St. Augustine (memorization), and pronuntiatio definition because he felt that Aristotle The Middle Ages (400-1400 A.D.) (delivery). This thorough presentation had omitted the fact that anyone, not followed the Second Sophistic reflects his extensive experience as an just the learned, can persuade. To movement, wrote Foss, Foss and Trapp orator and teacher, and in many ways Quintilian, rhetoric was “the good man (1991), and during this period, rhetoric the work can be seen as the culmination speaking well” (Honeycutt, 2007). became aligned with preaching, letter of Greek and Roman rhetorical theory. Quintilian’s system of rhetorical writing, and education. As Christianity education aimed at the creation of the grew in power, rhetoric was condemned as a pagan art; many Christians believed ideal Roman orator: a virtuous, efficient, courageous, eloquent man. that the rhetorical ideas expressed by the His goal was to prepare an orator- pagans of classical Greece and Rome philosopher-statesman who could should not be studied and that one’s combine wisdom with persuasion for belief in Christian truth brought with it the sake of regulating the state. It was the ability to communicate that truth this insistence on the intellectual and effectively. St. Augustine had been a moral training of the aspiring orator that teacher of rhetoric before converting to

made Cicero and Quintilian the two Christianity in A.D. 386, and is most potent classical influences on considered to be the only major thinker on rhetoric associated with the Middle rhetorical education in England and America. Ages. Rhetoric played a role in education in the Middle Ages as one of From the death of Quintilian (about the three great liberal arts. Along with A.D. 100) until the fall of the Roman logic and grammar, rhetoric is Empire (A.D. 410), very little was considered part of the trivium of contributed to the rhetorical doctrine. A learning, similar in function to the Greek cultural movement in the second West’s three R’s of reading, writing and

and third centuries A.D. (although some arithmetic today. sources place this movement during the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.) called the “Second Sophistic,” was centered in Quintilian emphasized the value of Athens (Barrett, 1987). However, the rhetoric as a moral force in the art of oratory focused more on excessive community. “My aim,” said Quintilian, performance (delivery) and professional “is the education of the perfect orator” speech making rather than the art of (I. Pref. 8). Since the function of the intellectual development. There isn’t a orator is to advance the cause of truth total gap between Quintilian and and good government, Quintilian said medieval rhetoric. This period he must by definition be a good man produced works by Victorinus, who morally and not just an effective wrote a systematic commentary on speaker. According to Gwynn (1926) Cicero’s rhetoric, Aquila Romanus, this was a revolutionary doctrine in the Fortunatianus, and Sulpitius Victor. development of rhetoric: Aristotle saw They are mentioned because they reflect rhetoric as morally neutral, a human the type of rhetorical education common tool whose moral character resided in to the third and fourth centuries and the speaker not the art. Quintilian saw provide a bridge between classical and rhetoric as a means for a better self- medieval rhetoric. governing society; to make moral goodness integral to oratory.

How does Quintilian’s perspective on A thing is not necessarily true rhetoric compare to Plato, Aristotle, and because badly uttered, nor Christianity The clearest bridge to the Middle Cicero? Plato defined rhetoric as a false because spoken philosophy rather than an art, an Ages, according to Murphy and Katula unnecessary tool. Plato was concerned magnificently. (1995), is found in the De doctrina more with the truth than Quintilian, ~ Saint Augustine christiana of Saint Augustine (354-430 while Aristotle believed that rhetoric A.D.). Augustine divided his work into

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org four books. The first three deal with Magnus, Joseph Webber, Ben Jonson, “sign,” or “that which is used to signify William Shakespeare, Thomas More, something else” (Robertson, 1958). For Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, and example, language was for Augustine a Kant. This emergence also produced set of conventional signs which human the great discoveries of Copernicus, beings agree to show each other to Galileo, Kepler, and Newton. In convey ideas and feelings. He posited architecture it brought about the revival that the world itself is a sign of God. of the classical style. And in the fine Augustine argued that human beings arts it inspired new schools of painting needed to know the nature of signs in in Italy, such as Raphael, Leonardo, order to understand the language of the Bellini, Michael Angelo, Giorgione, and Bible, and then needed to understand the Flemish school in the Netherlands. rhetoric in order to explain the Christian The Renaissance is the name of the message, and then teach it to others. He great intellectual and cultural movement believed every Christian was obligated of the revival of interest in classical to spread Christ’s message (e.g. culture that occurred in the 14th, 15th, Matthew 18:20), thus, rhetoric became and 16th centuries. The Renaissance an obligation to every Christian. began in Italy as a major revolt against His influence prevailed, and the an intellectually barren medieval spirit, Christian Church adopted the and especially against scholasticism, in Ciceronian rhetoric as a guide to favor of intellectual freedom. A hunger the basis of the Humanistic education preachers. Saint Augustine is developed for all things classical. curriculum. The most important sometimes called “the last classical man Greek scholars were encouraged to influences on Petrarch were Cicero and and the first medieval man.” With travel to Italy. Florence became the Augustine. He took from Cicero the respect to rhetoric, Foss et al., (1991) cradle of classical revival. Latin classics principles of composing Latin and much stated that this is certainly true, and it is were in demand. Libraries were built. of his philosophy; and from Augustine possible to see him an agent of And schools for the study of Greek and he derived his ideas about the communication from one age to another. Latin in their classic forms were opened relationship of the human to the divine. in Rome and other major cities. Throughout the Renaissance, the single most important author, classical or otherwise, during the entire Humanist the humanists movement is Cicero. The second period of the Renaissance produced a continued passion for Love is the crowning grace of classical study, which was later coined humanity, the holiest right of “Humanism” in 1808 by a German the soul, the golden link educator, F.J. Niethammer, to describe a program of study distinct from scientific which binds us to duty and and engineering educational programs. truth, the redeeming principle Of all the practices of Renaissance that chiefly reconciles the Europe, nothing is used to distinguish the Renaissance from the Middle Ages heart to life, and is prophetic more than Humanism as both a program of eternal good. and a philosophy. ~ Petrarch The Humanists began by rediscovering lost Latin texts, rather Interested in the human world as than searching for classical Greek constructed through language, rather extants. The two most important than the natural world, the Humanists classical authors of the Renaissance focused on the human the renaissance were Cicero and Quintilian, not epistemologically. They emphasized The end of the Middle Ages was Aristotle or Plato. Petrarch spearheaded witnessed by the birth of the the world of human culture and the rediscovery of Cicero; and one of language, believing in the power of the Renaissance (1400-1600), and with it the texts he found, the Brutus, a word not only because it gives those the rise of Humanism, a movement that handbook on rhetoric, became one of with a command of it special advantage brought such thinkers and writers as the most important books in the in daily interactions, but because of its Petrarch, Francis Bacon, Albertus Renaissance. Quintilian later became

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org inherent capacity to disclose to the be concerned with the canons of style is to apply Reason to Imagination for world of humans. The Italian and delivery only. Ramus’ the better moving of the will” (Dick, Humanists believed rhetoric, not identification of rhetoric with style 1955, p.100). Bacon, then, advanced philosophy, to be the primary discipline launched a denigration of invention that the scientific approach to the study of because it is through language that lasted for centuries (Virtualology.com, rhetoric that would support the three humans gain access to the world (Foss 2007). trends of modern rhetorical thought. et al., 1991). René Descartes is one of the most The three trends in rhetoric that important Western philosophers of the characterized the modern period are - past few centuries. During his lifetime, epistemological, belletristic, and Descartes was just as famous as an elocutionist. Epistemology is the study original physicist, physiologist and of the origin, nature, methods, and mathematician. But it is as a highly limits of human knowledge. original philosopher that he is most Epistemological thinkers, such as frequently read today. He attempted to Bacon, sought to change classical restart philosophy in a fresh direction. approaches in terms of modern For example, his philosophy refused to developments in psychology. They accept the Aristotelian and Scholastic attempted to understand rhetoric in traditions that had dominated relation to the psychological process philosophical thought throughout the and contributed to the development of a Medieval period; it attempted to fully rhetoric premised on human nature. integrate philosophy with the "new" sciences; and Descartes changed the relationship between philosophy and theology. Descartes believed that in order to reach certain knowledge, the foundations of thought provided by others had to be abandoned. He was the rationalists willing to accept only that which would A second trend in rhetoric also began withstand all doubt. He rejected truths during the Renaissance -- a trend that established in speech or in the course of dominated the theories of rhetoric to social or political action. Language follow. Rationalism, represented by the became only a means of communicating work of Peter Ramus (1515-1572) and the truth once it was discovered, not a powerful sphere in which human life René Descartes (1596-1650), sought objective, scientific truths that would emerges (Foss, et al., 1991). exist for all time. Foss et al., (1991) wrote that, “Not surprisingly, the I think; therefore I am. rationalists had little patience for ~ Rene Descartes rhetoric: while poetry and oratory might be aesthetically pleasing, they were seen the modern period the epistemological tradition as having no connection to science and George Campbell (1719-1796) and truth” (p. 8). Dominated by the rationalism instituted by Descartes and Ramus, Richard Whately (1758-1859) Howell (1956) claimed that Ramus modern rhetoric continued to promote exemplify the best of the was a French scholar who made rhetoric the importance of science and epistemological tradition. Campbell subordinate to logic by placing philosophy over rhetoric. Francis authored The Philosophy of Rhetoric invention and organization under the Bacon (1561-1626) was a prominent (1776). He drew on Aristotle, Cicero, rubric of logic and leaving rhetoric with figure of the modern period. He was and Quintilian as well as faculty only style and delivery. Ramus argued concerned with the lack of scholarly psychology and empiricism (experience that invention should not be an progress during the Middle Ages and of the senses) of his times. Faculty intellectual process governed by sought to promote a revival of secular psychology attempted to explain human contingencies, as Aristotle or Cicero knowledge through an empirical behavior in terms of the five faculties of would have it. He presented invention examination of the world. His the mind - understanding, memory, as a rhetorical procedure that must definition of rhetoric suggests his effort imagination, passion, and will - and conform to the theory of logic. He to bring the power of language under Campbell’s definition of rhetoric was successfully argued that rhetoric must rational control, “. . . the duty of rhetoric directed to these faculties. Campbell

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org distinguished three types of evidence - mathematical axioms, derived through Gentleness corrects whatever reasoning; consciousness, or the result is offensive in our manner. of sensory stimulation; and common ~ Hugh Blair sense, an intuitive sense shared by virtually all humans (Foss et al., 1991). the elocutionary movement The elocutionary movement, the As one may bring himself to third rhetorical trend of the modern believe almost anything he is period, reached its height in the mid- inclined to believe, it makes eighteenth century. Before the Elocutionary Movement most scholars all the difference whether we of rhetoric quickly assimilated the Latin begin or end with the inquiry, elocutio (style) with the English word “What is truth?” elocution. However, by the eighteenth century scholars more accurately began ~ Richard Whately to regard elocution as the Latin pronunciato (delivery). This change in Richard Whately published Elements association gave rise to the Elocutionary of Rhetoric in 1828. His view of Movement, a movement that focused advocacy of the belletristic movement. rhetoric was similar to Campbell’s in its primarily on delivery. Although there He was a Presbyterian preacher and dependence on psychology, but he are many theorists associated with the occupied the Chair of Rhetoric and shifted from Campbell by making Elocutionary Movement, the most Belles Lettres at the University of argumentation the focus of the art of widely publicized is Thomas Sheridan. Edinburgh. He had a number of rhetoric. He is also known for his Sheridan was an Irish actor and educator publications, but his most well-known analysis of presumption [of innocence] of elocution. He wanted to reform the was the Lectures on Rhetoric and and burden of proof, which paved the educational system of Britain to correct Belles Lettres, which was based on his way for modern argumentation and the serious neglect of rhetorical lectures. Lectures is important because debate practices. The epistemologists delivery-elocution. This belief not only it drew on the works of Cicero and combined their knowledge of classical involved the voice, but also Quintilian and combined them with the rhetoric and contemporary psychology incorporated the entire person with modern works of Addison and Burke to to create rhetorics based on an facial expressions, gesture, posture and become one of the first whole language understanding of human nature. By movement. guides. Blair’s theories were founded in doing this, they introduced audience- the belief that the principles of rhetoric centered approaches to rhetoric and He steps on stage and draws evolve from the principles of nature. pioneered the way for contemporary the sword of rhetoric, and investigations with audience analysis. when he is through, someone is lying wounded and the belles lettres movement The second direction rhetoric took thousands of others are either in the modern period is known as the angry or consoled. belles lettre movement; the term, in ~ Pete Hamill French, literally means “fine or beautiful letters.” This is a departure from both the rationalists and However, the elocutionists of this elocutionists because this form of period regarded themselves as literature valued the aesthetic rhetoricians and their work as rhetoric. qualities of writing rather than any There were a number of reasons why informative value it may have. The the movement flourished. During the scope of what was considered to be eighteenth and nineteenth century an rhetoric broadened to include all of increasing number of professions the fine arts of the period, poetry, required the skill of public speaking. As music, drama, gardening and a result, a needed change from style to architecture, along with oral delivery developed in response to the discourse, writing and criticism. poor delivery styles of contemporary preachers, lawyers, and other public Hugh Blair is best known for his

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Chapter review questions and activities review questions 1. What historical events gave rise to Athens establishing democracy for its citizens? 2. Who was Draco, and what did he do in Athens? 3. Under whose reign did Athens enjoy its greatest glory, and why? 4. Who was Plato, and what form of inquiry did he advocate? 5. Who was Aristotle, and what is he most noted for? 6. What did the Romans borrow from the Greeks and how did they improve upon it? 7. Why was Cicero considered to be the greatest Roman orator? 8. What did Quintilian contribute to the art of persuasion? 9. What role did rhetoric play in education in the Middle Ages? 10. The Renaissance gave birth to the Humanists and Rationalists. Can you describe the differences between the two and name two representatives from each and their contributions to persuasion? 11. What is the “epistemological tradition” and who best represent this movement?

activities 1. Create two teams of at least three students per team. One team will represent the dialectical approach to problem solving and the other team will represent the Aristotelian rhetorical tradition. One team will attempt to explain how a problem is solved and conclusions arrived at through the dialectical approach, the other through the rhetorical approach. The problem to be solved will be created by student consensus.

2. The Humanists and Rationalists viewed persuasion from differing perspectives. Students should form teams that represent each perspective, choose an issue, then argue or advocate for their side using each perspective, and then compare the process of problem-solving to see how they arrived at their conclusions.

3. Review the approaches that Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian held toward rhetoric, then identify and compare and contrast the similarities and differences between them and how these differences advanced the art of public speaking.

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glossary

Atticism Pericles An expression characterized by conciseness and Responsible for the installation of a pure democracy to elegance. maintain popular support, a liberalized judicial system to Dialectic include poor citizens so that they could serve on juries, Dialecticcan be defined as a debate intended to resolve a and the establishment of a popular legislative assembly to conflict between two contradictory (or polar opposites), review annually all laws. In addition, he established the or apparently contradictory ideas or elements logically, right for any Athenian citizen to propose or oppose a law establishing truths on both sides rather than disproving during assembly. Pericles’ democracy established the one argument. need for training in public speaking. Philosophical Relativism Draco In 621 B.C., the citizens of Athens commissioned Draco, Philosophical relativism is the concept that points of an elder citizen considered to be the wisest of the Greeks, philosophical views have no absolute truth or validity, to codify the laws, which had remained an oral form of having only relative subjective value according to custom and tradition. He began the tradition of law, differences in perception and thought. where cases were decided on clearly enunciated crimes Renaissance and penalties determined by statute rather than by the The Renaissance is the name of the great intellectual and whims of the nobility. His laws helped constitute a surge cultural movement of the revival of interest in classical in Athenian democracy. culture that occurred in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Elocutionary Movement René Descartes Elocutionary Movement is a movement that focused René Descartes is one of the most important Western primarily on delivery. It not only involved the voice, but philosophers of the past few centuries. He was also an also incorporated the entire person with facial original physicist, physiologist and mathematician who expressions, gesture, posture and movement. attempted to restart philosophy in a fresh direction. Epistemology Rhetoric Epistemology is the study of the origin, nature, methods, Rhetoric is the faculty of discovering in the particular and limits of human knowledge. case all the available means of persuasion. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus Sophists Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, also referred to as 5th century B.C. Greek philosophers and teachers who Quintilian, was a celebrated orator, rhetorician, Latin speculated on theology, metaphysics, and the sciences, teacher and writer who promoted rhetorical theory and who were characterized by Plato as superficial from ancient Greece and from the height of Roman manipulators of rhetoric and dialectic rhetoric. (thefreedictionary.com) Marcus Tullius Cicero St. Augustine Marcus Tullius Cicero is considered to be the greatest of St. Augustine had been a teacher of rhetoric before the Roman orators, and was, among other things, a converting to Christianity in 386, and is considered to be lawyer, politician, and philosopher. the only major thinker on rhetoric associated with the Middle Ages. Oratory The ability to speak with rhetorical skill and eloquence. Syllogism A syllogism is a deductive form of argument, proceeding from a generalization to a specific application. It is a systematic arrangement of arguments consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

Zeno of Elea th Zeno of Elea was a 5 century B.C. Greek mathematician and philosopher of the Eleatic school who is considered to be the inventor of dialectical reasoning.

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references Protagoras and Meno. Baltimore, Robertson, D.W. (1958). Saint MD: Penguin Books. Augustine on Christian Doctrine. Atkins, J.W.H. (1952). Literary Harvey, I. (1951). The Technique of New York: Library of Liberal Arts. Criticism in Antiquity. London: Persuasion. London: The Falcon Rolfe, J.C. (1963). Cicero and His Methuen. Press. Influence. New York: Cooper Barrett, H. (1987). The Sophists: Honeycutt, L. (2007). Square. Rhetoric, Democracy, and Plato’s http://honeyl.public.iastate.edu/qui Virtualology.com (2007). Retrieve on Idea of Sophistry. Novato, CA; ntilian/index.html January 26, 2007 from Chandler & Sharp Publishers. Howell, W.S. (1956). Logic and http://www.virtualology.com/rheto Bowra, C.M. (1957). The Greek Rhetoric in England, 1500-1700. ricaltheory/peterramus.com/ Experience. New York: The New New York: Russell & Russell. American Library Ijsseling, S. (1976). Rhetoric and photo credits Campbell, G. (1776). The Philosophy Philosophy in Conflict: An of Rhetoric. Bitzer, L., ed. (1963). Historical Survey. The Hague: P. 1 The Parthenon by Lisa Schreiber P. 2 Pericles’ Funeral Oration by Phillip von Carbondale: Southern Illinois Martinus. Foltz University Press. Golden, J.L.; Berquist, G.F.; Coleman, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discur so_funebre_pericles.PNG Clark, D. L. (1957). Rhetoric in Greco- W.E. (1983). The Rhetoric of P. 3 Parc de Versailles. Isocrates, Pierre Granier rd Roman Education. Westport, CT: Western Thought, 3 ed.. (1684-1688) ; Photo by Coyau Greenwood. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parc_ de_Versailles,_Rond- Cooper, L. (1952). The Greek Genius Gwynn, Aubrey. Roman Education Point_des_Philosophes,_Isocrate,_Pierre_Granier_ and Its Influence. Ithaca, N.Y. from Cicero to Quintilian. Oxford: MR1870_04.jpg P. 4 The School of Athens [Plato and Aristotle] Corbett, E.P.J. (1965). Classical Clarendon Press, 1926. by Raffaello Rhetoric for the Modern Student. Inch, E.S.; Warnick, B.; Endres, D. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanzi o_01_Plato_Aristotle.jpg New York: Oxford University (2006). Critical Thinking and P. 4 Cicero Denounces Catiline by Cesare Press. Communication. New York: Maccari (1840 – 1919) Pearson Education, Inc. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commo Dick, H.C., ed. (1955). Selected ns/a/a3/Maccari-Cicero.jpg Writings of Francis Bacon. New Kennedy, G. (1963). The Art of P. 5 Quintillian by Unknown York: Modern Library. Persuasion in Greece. Princeton: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quinti lian.jpg Ehninger, D., ed. (1963). Richard University Press. p. 6 Saint Augustine by Sandro Bottecelli http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_ Whately, Elements of Rhetoric. Larson, Charles, U. (1995). Augustine_Portrait.jpg Carbondale: Southern Illinois Persuasion: Reception and P. 7 Shakespeare by John Taylor ? University Press. Responsibility. 7th ed. Belmont, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shake CA: Wadsworth Publishing. speare.jpg Fearnside, W.W. (1980). About P. 7 Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer by Thinking. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Murphy James J. and Katula, R.A. Unknown Prenticed-Hall, Inc. (1995). A Synoptic History of http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commo nd ns/5/5b/Friedrich_Immanuel_Niethammer.jpg Freeley, A.J. & Steinberg, D.L. (2005). Classical Rhetoric. 2 ed. Davis: P. 8 Francis Bacon by Unknown th Ca. Hermagoras Press. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commo Argumentation and Debate, 11 ns/6/65/Francis_Bacon.jpg ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Oliver, R.T. (1950). Persuasive P. 8 Renes Descartes by Frans Hals (1649 – Publishing Co. Speaking. New York: Longmans, 1700) Green and Co. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frans_ Freeman, K. (1963). The Murder of Hals_-_Portret_van_Ren%C3%A9_Descartes.jpg Herodes. New York: W.W. Norton, Quintilian. (1987). Carbondale: Illinois P. 9 Hugh Blair by John Kay http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hugh_ Inc. University Press. "Revised and Blair.jpg Foss, S.K.; Foss, K.A.; Trapp, R. enlarged version of On the early P. 9 Thomas Sheridan by Roger Ingpen http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thom (1991). Contemporary Perspectives education of the citizen-orator, published by Bobbs-Merrill as_Sheridan.jpg on Rhetoric. Prospect Heights, IL: P. 10 Diogenes brings a plucked chicken to Plato Waveland Press. Company, 1965." by Anonymous http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anony Grimaldi, W.M.A. (1980). Aristotle, Reike, R.D.; Sillars, M.O.; Peterson, mous_- Rhetoric I: A Commentary: New T.R. (2005). Argumentation and _Diogenes_brings_a_plucked_chicken_to_Plato.jpg P. 10 Cicero by Unlnown York: Fordham University Press. Critical Thinking. New York: Pearson Education, Inc. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cicero Guthrie, W.K.C. (1956). Plato, .jpg

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