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origins of public speaking chapter 2

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

introduction chapter outline: The art of public speaking was practiced chapter objectives: • Introduction long before the Greeks wrote about it in After reading this chapter, you should be • their treatises more than 2,500 years able to: o The Rise of Democracy ago. For Greek men, it was a way of o The Nature of life, a way of being, just like football 1. Identify the historical events that o Dialectics and and baseball are to us today. We led up to democracy and the o The Rhetorical Approach attribute today’s field of recognition of and • The ’s Adoption to the ancient Greeks because they were public speaking as art forms in of Rhetoric the first to systematize the art of public Athens, Greece. o ’s Influence Quintillion’s Influence speaking, which they called “rhetoric.” 2. Describe the nature of public o speaking in Athens during the 5th • The The art, or use of public speaking, is 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 ’s approach to • The Romans. Theirs was a time that didn’t dialectics and logic. o The Humanists The Rationalists have multimedia - television, radio, 4. Explain ’s descriptions of o • The Modern Period internet, movies, newspapers, and the rhetoric and public speaking. 5. Describe the Roman Republic’s o The Epistemological Tradition like - for getting their messages to the o The Belles Lettres Movement masses. Instead, the Greeks and adoption of rhetoric to public speaking. o The Elocutionary Movement Romans informed, praised, or persuaded 6. Elucidate Cicero’s influence on • Conclusion people the old fashion way - through the Roman Republic and public • Review Questions and Activities - otherwise known as the oral speaking. • Glossary tradition. That meant speaking face to 7. Describe the relevance of • References face with their . Quintillion’s influence on the

What we know today as the art of public Roman Empire, rhetoric, and public speaking. speaking has undergone a number of public speaking hasn’t changed, it has 8. Recognize the impact that St. changes since the days of Pericles, Augustine, Christianity, and the basically remained the same. However, Cicero, and . Public speaking Middle Ages had on rhetoric and as the“ field of communication is power: speech brought us through the Middle Ages, public speaking. transitioned from one era to another, so experienced a rebirth as a result of the 9. Clarify the roles that the did isthe to understand persuade,ing of to public convert, Renaissance, redefined to conquer and Renaissance, , and speaking.to compel” explain the known and unknown, the Humanists had on the rebirth -Ralph Waldo Emerson interpreted to perform theatrics, and of rhetoric and public speaking. God, that all-powerful 10. Explain the role that Classical finally, along this historical path from Creator of nature and the ancient Greeks and Romans, the art rhetoric and the advent of psychology in the 18th and 19th of public speaking was finally architect of the world, has centuries, known as the Modern reinvented to accommodate the Period, had on public speaking. impressed man with no electronic age of the twentieth and 11. Describe the influence of the character so proper to twenty-first centuries. Elocutionary Movement on distinguish him from other So what is public speaking? Has it public speaking. really changed since the days of the 12. Describe the restoration of public animals, as by the faculty of speaking in the United States. Greeks and Romans, St. Augustine, and speech. Descartes? Well, no, the concept of ~ Quintilian

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org

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

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org thoughts and/or actions of others. It is a argument. Both rhetoric and dialectic fundamental concept of a free society. are forms of critical analysis. Ian Harvey (1951) suggested that the Among the most significant thinkers of technique of persuasion is the technique the fifth century B.C. were the traveling of persuading free people to a pattern of lecturers known as . They were life; and persuasion is the only possible primarily teachers of political means of combining freedom and order. excellence who dealt with practical and That combination successfully achieved immediate issues of the day, and whose is the solution to the overriding investigations led in many instances to a problems of our time. Rhetoric philosophical . Unlike (persuasion), public speaking and and Plato, the sophists believed democracy are inextricable. As long as that absolute truth was unknowable and there is rhetoric, and public speaking to perhaps nonexistent, especially in the deliver that message, there will exist sphere of forensics and political life, democracy; and as long as there is where no universal principles could be democracy, there will exist rhetoric and accepted. Courses of action had to be public speaking. presented in persuasive fashion. Unlike the sophists, Socrates taught that truth I believe that the will of the was absolute and knowable and that a people is resolved by a strong clear distinction should be made leadership. Even in a To say that rhetoric played an between dialectic, the question and important role in Greek and Roman life answer method of obtaining the one democratic society, events would be an understatement. The correct answer, and rhetoric, which does depend on a strong leadership significance of rhetoric and oratory was not seem interested in the universal with a strong power of evident in Greek and Roman education. validity of the answer but only in its George Kennedy (1963) noted that persuasiveness for the moment. Plato persuasion, and not on the rhetoric played the central role in developed this criticism of rhetoric to opinion of the masses. ancient education. At about the age of such an extent that he is the most ~ Yitzhak Shamir fourteen, (only) boys were sent to the famous and most thorough-going of the school of the rhetorician for theoretical enemies of rhetoric. Plato preferred the instruction in public speaking, which the nature of rhetoric philosophical method of formal inquiry was an important part of the teaching of known as dialectic. Pericles’ democracy established the the sophists. Public speaking was basic need for training in public speaking. to the educational system of In making a speech one must Greek assemblies debated old and new (the most famous of the sophists); and it laws on a yearly basis. The courtrooms was even taught by Aristotle” (p.7). study three points: first, the that Solon reformed now bristled with means of producing litigation. Pericles’ juries numbered dialectics and logic between 500 and 2,000 people, so It is important to note that rhetoric and persuasion; second, the speaking at a public trial was similar to oratory are not the same, although we ; third the proper speaking at a public meeting. And to use rhetoric and oratory synonymously; nor are rhetoric and dialectic the same. arrangement of the various speak at a legislative assembly required th serious, highly developed, and refined Zeno of Elea (5 century B.C.), a Greek parts of the speech. debate, because at stake generally were mathematician and philosopher of the ~ Aristotle issues of peace and war. Murphy and Eleatic school, is considered to be the Katula (1995) stated that the Athenian inventor of dialectical reasoning. the rhetorical approach citizens realized that their very future However, it is Plato, another Greek Aristotle wrote that rhetoric is the often depended on their ability to speak philosopher and teacher of Aristotle, faculty of discovering in the particular persuasively. Public speaking was an and not Socrates, that we attribute the case all the available means of Olympic where the winner popularity of dialectical reasoning. persuasion. He cited four uses of received an olive wreath and was Dialectic can be defined as a debate rhetoric: (1) by it truth and justice paraded through his town like a hero. intended to resolve a conflict between maintain their natural superiority; (2) it Thus, Athens became a city of words, a two contradictory (or polar opposites), is suited to popular , since city dominated by the . Athens or apparently contradictory ideas or they cannot follow scientific witnessed the birth of what we know elements logically, establishing truths demonstration; (3) it teaches us to see today as rhetoric. on both sides rather than disproving one both sides of an issue, and to refute unfair arguments; and (4) it is a means

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org of self-defense. For Aristotle, rhetoric of character (ethos); and a knowledge of debate, one had to know the persuasive is the process of developing a persuasive the emotions (pathe). art of rhetoric and oratory, or public argument and oratory is the process of In summary, Plato had opposed rhetoric speaking. delivering that argument. He stated that to dialectic; Aristotle compared the two: Greek rhetoric appeared in republican the “authors of ‘Arts of Speaking’ have both have to do with things which are Rome in the middle of the second built up but a small portion of the art of within the field of knowledge of all men century B.C. The teachers of rhetoric rhetoric; because this art consists of and are not part of any specialized were Greek, and they taught in both proofs alone - all else is but accessory. science. They do not differ in nature, Greek and . Eventually Roman Yet these say nothing of but in subject and form: dialectic is teachers were produced. The enthymemes, the very body and primarily philosophical, rhetoric remarkable thing about Roman substance of persuasion” (Book 1, p. 1). political; dialectic consists of question rhetorical theory, wrote Murphy& and answer, rhetoric of a set speech. Katula (1995), is that it appeared for the Both can be reduced to a system and first time in its fullest form around 90 thus are properly called “art.” B.C., with very little direct evidence as to how it developed into its completed Rhetoric is the art of ruling form. Sometime after Aristotle, writers the minds of men. refined and identified the subject of rhetoric into five parts - Invention, ~ Plato Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. These five canons are still a Aristotle became the primary source of part of public speaking in education all later rhetorical theory. Eventually, today. Two Romans stand out as the dispute between rhetoric and quintessential figures of Roman in the time of Aristotle had rhetoric, Cicero and Quintilian. 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 participant in many of the significant special subject-matter, that is, it isn’t the roman republic political events of his time. He is limited to particular topics and nothing As Athens declined in power, a new force emerged, the Roman Republic. considered to be the greatest of the else. He claimed that certain forms of Roman , and was, among other persuasion come from outside and do The Senate was the only permanent things, a lawyer, politician, and not belong to the art itself. This refers governing body and the only body philosopher. to, for example, witnesses, forced where debate was possible. In order to 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 personal character that will win the confidence of the listener; (2) engaging the listener’s emotions; and (3) proving a truth, real or apparent, by argument. Aristotle concluded that the mastery of the art, then, called for (1) the power of logical reasoning (logos); a knowledge

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

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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

rhetorical education in England and on rhetoric associated with the Middle America. Ages. Rhetoric played a role in From the death of Quintilian (about education in the Middle Ages as one of the three great liberal arts. Along with A.D. 100) until the fall of the Roman Empire (A.D. 410), there was very little logic and grammar, rhetoric is contribution to the rhetorical doctrine. considered part of the trivium of learning, similar in function to the There was a Greek cultural movement in the second and third centuries A.D. West’s three R’s of reading, writing and

(although some sources place this arithmetic today. movement during the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.) called the “Second Sophistic,” centered in Athens (Barrett, Quintilian emphasized the value of 1987). However, the art of oratory rhetoric as a moral force in the focused more on excessive performance community. “My aim,” said Quintilian, (delivery) and professional speech “is the education of the perfect orator” making rather than the art of intellectual (I. Pref. 8). Since the function of the development. There isn’t a total gap orator is to advance the cause of truth between Quintilian and medieval and good government, Quintilian said rhetoric. This period produced works he must by definition be a good man by Victorinus, who wrote a systematic morally and not just an effective commentary on Cicero’s rhetoric, speaker. According to Gwynn (1926) Aquila Romanus, Fortunatianus, and this was a revolutionary doctrine in the Sulpitius Victor. They are mentioned development of rhetoric: Aristotle saw because they reflect the type of rhetoric as morally neutral, a human rhetorical education common to the tool whose moral character resided in third and fourth centuries and provide a the speaker not the art. Quintilian saw bridge between classical and medieval rhetoric as a means for a better self- rhetoric. governing society; to make moral goodness integral to oratory. A thing is not necessarily true How does Quintilian’s perspective on because badly uttered, nor Christianity rhetoric compare to Plato, Aristotle, and false because spoken The clearest bridge to the Middle Ages, Cicero? Plato defined rhetoric as a according to Murphy and Katula (1995), philosophy rather than an art, an magnificently. is found in the De doctrina christiana of unnecessary tool. Plato was concerned ~ Saint Augustine Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D.). more with the truth than Quintilian, Augustine divided his work into four while Aristotle believed that rhetoric books. The first three deal with “sign,” was “finding the available means of the middle ages or “that which is used to signify persuasion.” Quintilian challenged this St. Augustine something else” (Robertson, 1958). For definition because he felt that Aristotle The Middle Ages (400-1400 A.D.) example, language was for Augustine a had omitted the fact that anyone, not followed the Second Sophistic set of conventional signs which human just the learned, can persuade. To movement, wrote Foss, Foss and Trapp beings agree to show each other to Quintilian, rhetoric was “the good man (1991), and during this period, rhetoric convey ideas and feelings. He posited speaking well” (Honeycutt, 2007). became aligned with preaching, letter that the world itself is a sign of God. writing, and education. As Christianity Quintilian’s system of rhetorical Augustine argued that human beings grew in power, rhetoric was condemned needed to know the nature of signs in education aimed at the creation of the as a pagan art; many Christians believed ideal Roman orator: a virtuous, order to understand the language of the

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Bible, and then needed to understand The Renaissance is the name of the Cicero and one of the texts he found, the rhetoric in order to explain the Christian great intellectual and cultural movement Brutus, a handbook on rhetoric, became message, and then teach it to others. He of the revival of interest in classical one of the most important books in the believed every Christian was obligated that occurred in the 14th, 15th, Renaissance. Quintilian later became to spread Christ’s message (e.g. and 16th centuries. The Renaissance the basis of the humanistic education Matthew 18:20), thus, rhetoric became began in Italy as a major revolt against curriculum. The most important an obligation to every Christian. an intellectually barren medieval spirit, influences on Petrarch were Cicero and His influence prevailed, and the and especially against , in Augustine. He took from Cicero the Christian Church adopted the favor of intellectual freedom. A hunger principles of composing Latin and much Ciceronian rhetoric as a guide to developed for all things classical. of his philosophy; and from Augustine preachers. Saint Augustine is Greek scholars were encouraged to he derived his ideas about the sometimes called ‘the last classical man travel to Italy. Florence became the relationship of the human to the divine. and the first medieval man.’ With cradle of classical revival. Latin classics Throughout the Renaissance, the single respect to rhetoric, Foss, Foss & Trapp were in demand. Libraries were built. most important author, classical or (1991) stated that this is certainly true, And schools for the study of Greek and otherwise, during the entire humanist and it is possible to see him an agent of Latin in their classic forms were opened movement is Cicero. in Rome and other major cities. communication from one age to another. Love is the crowning grace of the renaissance humanity, the holiest right of The end of the Middle Ages was witnessed by the birth of the the soul, the golden link Renaissance (1400-1600), and with it which binds us to duty and the rise of , a movement that truth, the redeeming principle brought such thinkers and writers as Petrarch, Francis Bacon, Albertus that chiefly reconciles the Magnus, Joseph Webbe, Ben Jonson, heart to life, and is prophetic William Shakespeare, Thomas More, of eternal good. Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, and Kant. This emergence also produced ~ Petrarch the great discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton. In Interested in the human world as architecture it brought about the revival constructed through language, rather of the classical style. And in the fine than the natural world, the Humanists arts it inspired new schools of painting focused on the human in Italy, such as Raphael, Leonardo, epistemologically. They emphasized Bellini, Michael Angelo, Giorgione, and the world of human culture and the Flemish school in the Netherlands. the humanists language, believing in the power of the The second period of the Renaissance word not only because it gives those produced a continued passion for with a command of it special advantage classical study, which was later coined in daily interactions, but because of its “Humanism” in 1808 by a German inherent capacity to disclose to the educator, F.J. Niethammer, to describe a world of humans. The Italian program of study distinct from scientific Humanists believed rhetoric, not and engineering educational programs. philosophy, to be the primary discipline Of all the practices of Renaissance because it is through language that Europe, nothing is used to distinguish humans gain access to the world (Foss, the Renaissance from the Middle Ages Foss & Trapp, 1991). more than humanism as both a program the rationalists and a philosophy. A second trend in rhetoric also began The humanists began by rediscovering during the Renaissance -- a trend that lost Latin texts, rather than searching for dominated the theories of rhetoric to classical Greek extants. The two most follow. Rationalism, represented by the important classical authors of the work of Peter Ramus (1515-1572) and Renaissance were Cicero and René Descartes (1596-1650), sought Quintilian, not Aristotle or Plato. objective, scientific truths that would Petrarch spearheaded the rediscovery of exist for all time. Foss, Foss & Trapp

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

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Richard Whately published Elements of Sheridan was an Irish actor and educator Rhetoric in 1828. His view of rhetoric of elocution. He wanted to reform the was similar to Campbell’s in its educational system of Britain to correct dependence on psychology, but he the serious neglect of rhetorical shifted from Campbell by making delivery-elocution. This belief not only argumentation the focus of the art of involved the voice, but also rhetoric. He is also known for his incorporated the entire person with analysis of presumption [of innocence] facial expressions, gesture, posture and and burden of proof, which paved the movement. way for modern argumentation and debate practices. The epistemologists He steps on stage and draws combined their knowledge of classical the sword of rhetoric, and rhetoric and contemporary psychology to create based on an when he is through, someone understanding of human nature. By is lying wounded and doing this, they introduced audience- thousands of others are either centered approaches to rhetoric and pioneered the way for contemporary angry or consoled. investigations with audience analysis. He was a Presbyterian preacher and ~ Pete Hamill occupied the Chair of Rhetoric and the belles lettres movement However, the elocutionists of this period Belles Lettres at the University of The second direction rhetoric took in the regarded themselves as rhetoricians and Edinburgh. He had a number of modern period is known as the belles their work as rhetoric. There were a lettre movement; the term, in French, publications, but his most well-known number of reasons why the movement literally means “fine or beautiful was the Lectures on Rhetoric and flourished. During the eighteenth and Belles Lettres, which was based on his letters.” This is a departure from both nineteenth century an increasing number lectures. Lectures is important because the rationalists and elocutionists because of professions required the skill of this form of literature valued the it drew on the works of Cicero and public speaking. As a result, a needed Quintilian and combined them with the aesthetic qualities of writing rather than change from style to delivery developed modern works of Addison and Burke to any informative value it may have. The in response to the poor delivery styles of scope of what was considered to be become one of the first whole language contemporary preachers, lawyers, and guides. Blair’s theories were founded in rhetoric broadened to include all of the other public figures. the belief that the principles of rhetoric fine arts of the period, poetry, , Foss et al. (1991) explain that like the evolve from the principles of nature. drama, gardening and architecture, epistemologists, the elocutionists were along with oral discourse, writing and Gentleness corrects whatever concerned about contributing to a more criticism. scientific understanding of the human is offensive in our manner. being and believed that their ~ observations on voice and gesture - characteristics unique to humans - the elocutionary movement constituted such contribution. The The elocutionary movement, the third elocutionists also sought to determine rhetorical trend of the modern period, the effects of delivery on the various reached its height in the mid-eighteenth faculties of the mind, thus continuing century. Before the Elocutionary the link with modern psychology. Movement most scholars of rhetoric The practices the elocutionists promoted quickly assimilated the Latin elocutio eventually led to their demise. Toward (style) with the English word elocution. the end of their success the public began However, by the eighteenth century to see rhetoric as empty, insincere scholars more accurately began to speaking that hid behind the mask of regard elocution as the Latin sophistication. It declined as a subject pronunciato (delivery). This change in matter of study and of teaching. As association gave rise to the Elocutionary college curriculum became more diverse Movement, a movement that focused and specialized, new departments were primarily on delivery. Although there formed that did not include rhetoric as a are many theorists associated with the multidisciplinary art, rather, instruction Hugh Blair is best known for his Elocutionary Movement, the most was generally limited to departments of advocacy of the belletristic movement. widely publicized is Thomas Sheridan. English - until a major shift again

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Chapter 2 Origins of Public Speaking www.publicspeakingproject.org occurred in the development of rhetoric in the United States in 1910. In 1914 a new association, the Speech Communication Association, was formed in the United States by a small group of public speaking teachers who wanted to restore the rich qualities and scope that were once attributed to rhetoric. Today, this organization is called the National Communication Association. The design of Rhetoric is to remove those Prejudices that lie in the way of Truth, to Reduce the Passions to the Government of Reasons; to place our Subject in a Right Light, and excite our Hearers to a due consideration of it. ~ Mary Astell

summary We have explored a brief history of rhetoric, the basis for persuasion, from the time of Aristotle to the beginning of the twentieth century. This exploration faculties in order to be a “good citizen” classical art of public speaking, a new is by no means complete, but it is who could serve the state well. And breath for public discourse and intended to provide you with a serving the state well meant having the education, and the emergence of particular understanding about rhetoric. ability to think well and to discover and humanist and rationalist thinkers. And From Aristotle to Saint Augustine, we develop sound arguments. Second, it we have learned that the art of public gave a person the oratorical skills speaking was, for a short time in the late see that rhetoric served a threefold th th purpose: first, it was a tool designed to necessary to convince a decision-maker 19 and early 20 centuries, used as a develop and cultivate one’s mental or decision-making body, that they means for entertainment. should adhere to a particular argument. Today, persuasion has taken many And third, all of this could only be forms, with rhetoric being just one of attained if one had moral fiber - ethos - these forms. We know that people will in both thought and character. These say and do most anything to get their conditions were seminal for the way, whether that be in politics, sales, classicists in their pursuit of advancing religion or advertising, and whether the art of rhetoric. Eventually, new what they attempt to do is ethical or not. thoughts and trends distorted, altered, As you continue to read this on-line and at times, removed these conditions. text, remember one fundamental The Greeks and Romans held one’s premise: that public speaking, character to the highest degree, and no ultimately, is all about affecting human man could be rhetorically successful if behavior; about getting people to do they did not possess this quality. something they normally would not Rhetoric brought us through the Middle want to do. The key to public speaking Ages and St. Augustine as a unifying is effectively answering the question, figure. The Renaissance gave us a “How do I create a message that will rebirth of the Greek and Roman connect with my audience?”

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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 include poor citizens so that they could serve on juries, Dialectic Dialecticcan be defined as a debate intended to resolve a and the establishment of a popular legislative assembly to review annually all laws. In addition, he established the conflict between two contradictory (or polar opposites), right for any Athenian citizen to propose or oppose a law or apparently contradictory ideas or elements logically, establishing truths on both sides rather than disproving during assembly. Pericles’ democracy established the need for training in public speaking. one argument. Philosophical Relativism Draco Philosophical relativism is the concept that points of In 621 B.C., the citizens of Athens commissioned Draco, philosophical views have no absolute truth or validity, an elder citizen considered to be the wisest of the Greeks, to codify the laws, which had remained an oral form of having only relative subjective value according to differences in perception and thought. custom and tradition. He began the tradition of law, 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, , 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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