1,167 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2017
    1. At the same time, Palmer deplored "emotive, subjective pietism"12 and empha-sized rationality in guiding the seeker to conviction.

      Beyond her conviction, which we have no reason to doubt, that one should avoid these, what other reasons might a female speaker have for positioning herself this way?

    2. Yes, the women could speak-but only if it was obvious that the Holy Spirit was providing their words.

      This is the most fascinating aspect here, which is not unprecedented. Think of the phrase handmaiden to truth that we earlier ran across. That seems to be at work here.

      This is, then, a really interesting end around the prohibition of women speaking.

    1. Douglass's complex rhetorical stance opened new possibilities for rhetoric in the Western cultural tradition.

      This is even more true now. As our readings late in the semester will perform, rhetoric is increasingly renewing its interest in the material alongside its longstanding interest in the body. Douglass speaks to these.

    2. to make common cause among ensla'ved black people, free but oppressed black people. and oppressed white working-class people.

      There is much to argument (implied here) that racism was an attempt to disenfranchise both blacks and working class whites. That is, racism was a tool by wealthy landowners to prevent whites and blacks from making common cause against them. To do this, racial tensions were inflamed or created in the first place.

    1. Alcohol constituted the "drug problem" of the age, and ii was largely a male problem, from which women suffered because it contributed to the physical abuse of women and children, diverted family finances from needed supplies, and encour-aged prostitution and other social ills.

      On the whole, Prohibition wasn't great, but its sources were complex and not without merit.

    2. Newman takes up the question of how people give credence to any proposition that is not subject to demonstration. He concludes that we assent quite justifiably to a great variety of propositions on the strength of accumulated probabilities, propositions for which we cannot adduce ir-refutable proof or a clear logical argument.

      This is a major area of concern because the realm of the probably is vast.

    1. This advocacy meme is widely used in law courts and political debates, and it can work well when the question at hand is one of taste or morality

      But although taste be ultimately founded on sensibility, it must not be considered as instinctive sensibility alone. Reason and good sense, as I before hinted, have so extensive an influence on all the operations and decisions of taste, that a thorough good taste may well be considered as a power compounded of natural sensibility to beauty, and of improved understanding" (957).

    2. But no one had claimed that the steel had melted, only that it had gotten hot enough to weaken and collapse, which it did.

      Campbell: "The like may be said of what is melted, or hardened, or otherwise altered by it. If then, for the first time, I try the influence of fire on any fossil, or other substance, whatever be the effect, I readily conclude that fire will always produce a similar effect on similar bodies. This conclusion is not founded on this single instance, but on this instance compared with a general experience of the regularity of this clement in all its operation" (918).

    1. “Who gets to do rhetoric?” 

      Very good question. We can see here how particular understandings of rhetoric necessarily assume (or even prescribe) certain kinds of bodies and minds and even environments.

    2. call this” community” developed rhetoric as opposed to “self” due to the fact that those around the young person shape the mind as they grow.

      Excellent. This answers my above question.

    3. taste being a self-developed form of rhetoric that changes with the passing of time.

      Interesting. I wonder what you mean by "self-developed"? Surely there is a social element here as well?

    4. Rhetoric is required in order to determine what is tasteful; therefore, taste is rhetorical. Their relationship is closely intertwined. 

      Has me thinking of Lanham's phrase: "social drama" and the idea that some of these dramas are more formal that others, which then makes me think about the different ways individuals can develop practice taste.

    5. Second, Hume’s Taste could be a rhetorical act itself; one’s Taste could produce some effect from an individual, including an alteration of his or her own Taste.

      This is a compelling line of thought. Taste as both a rhetorical cause and effect. Or, to put the question rhetorically, it's not necessarily what taste is but what taste does.

    6.  Appealing to a “common audience,” therefore, does not mean an orator must lower his/her standards of taste (Hume 839).

      Very good weaving of annotations in developing this response.

    7. “Beauty is no quality in things themselves. It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.”

      Is Hume actually arguing this position?

    8. Hume’s Taste can be understood as an amalgamation of personal preference or opinion and virtuosity.

      In part, yes. But taste also involves the object itself. Also, it is it just personal or also cultural and historical?

    1. I proceed to what is of more real use, to point ~ ~ . out the assistance that can be given, not with re-cl,"~ spect to the invention, but with respect to the dis-• •P . , position and conduct of arguments.

      Peter Ramus haunts us here.

    2. Conviction affects the understanding only; persuasion, the will and the practice. It is the businci.s of the philosopher to convince me of truth; it is the business of the orator to persuade me to act agreeably to it, by engaging my affections on its side. Conviction and persuasion do not always go together. They ought, indeed, to go together; and 111011/d do so, if our inclination regularly followed the dictates of our understanding.

      A very important move made here within the history of rhetoric.

    3. Every object which makes any impression on the human mind, is constantly accompanied with certain circumstances and relations, that strike us at the same time. It never presents itself to our view, isole, as the French express it; that is, inde-pendent of, and separ.ited from

      Yet more bundles.

    1. Another remark on this article that deserves our notice is, that the less improved in knowl-edge and discernment the hearers are, the easier it is for the speaker to work upon their passions, and by working on their passions, to obtain his end.

      This is a persistent view both since Campbell and preceding Campbell. Of course, it is predicated upon Campbell's previous divisions concerning imagination, passion, understanding.

    2. Part V. Connexion of Place

      This section is jumping out at me this time around. Keep it mind later on when we turn to discuss the elements of the rhetorical situation. Campbell opens up for discussing the material dimensions of rhetoric: not simply rhetoric as the discursive activity of humans, but as an emergent aspect of human and nonhuman relations. Also, recall here Rickert on the role of the caves themselves in the making of cave art.

    3. Here again there is commonly scope for argu-menl. 22 Probability results from evidence, and begets belief. Belief invigorates our ideas. Belief raised to the highest becomes certainty. Certainty flows either from the force of the evidence, real or apparent, that is produced: or without any evi-dence produced by the speaker, from the previ-ous notoriety of the fact.

      BOOM!. A lot to unpack here.

    4. On the contrary, they arc by nature, as will perhaps appear afterwards, more friendly to truth than to falsehood, and more easily retained in the cause of virtue, than in that of vice.

      Virtuosity is some evidence of virtue, to recall Lanham.

    5. Our eyes and hands and feet will give us the ~~'.r , same assistance in doing mischief as in doing ~. good; but it would not therefore be better for the "'""- world that all mankind were blind and lame

      A pretty powerful articulation of the weak defense,

    1. There is a danger that in-struction in advanced philosophical criticism may lead to an abnonnal growth of abstract intel-lectualism, and render young people unfit for the practice of eloquence.

      Think about the method of this course, which asks students to hesitate before what Vico calls "a habit of advanced speculative criticism."

    2. knew.much stiJI unknown to us

      Really think upon this: if knowledge is in some sense contextual and historical, think of what we do not know. That is, imagine that there is an inaccessible library somewhere filling up in equal measure and at the same rate as the library we can access.

  2. Jan 2017
    1. 1ginable, and fonnsthe pre­f the heroes. ''Whalisthis,") toJOSABl:,, fi nding her inHAN, the priest of BAAL, ifDAVID speak tothis trai­d, lest the earth shouldopen tdevour you both? Or lest uldfall and crushyou to­purpose? Why comesthe to poison theair, which we Tid presence'!"Suchsenti­.vith great applause on the , atLONDON the .spectators :h pleased lo hearAcmLLES 11 he was a clog inhis fore­is heart, or Jurrnm threaten lrubbing, ifshewill notbe lesarc also a blemish inany •hen they rise up to supcrsti­emsclves into every senli.e from any connection withsc for the poet, that the cus­had burthened life with somnies and observances, thatmpl from that yoke. It mustIS in PETRARCH to compareto JESUS Cl!RlST. Nor is it!l agreeable libertine, Boe­y to give thanks to Goo1die.s, for their assistance in,t hii; enemie.s.Mary Astel

    1. :J one more deeply than all . cl • • ~ m mo erauon. :f. , The lady of Andros 511-59] t rience to see an individual " II of his efforts on a single j ho has spent all his life on ; is, by far, more important '1 sec him inclined lo make ·3 Jlty to matters wholly for-1 e due lo the weakness of~ npts us to take an inordi.'~ s and in our own pursuits. ~ of delivering false judg-[ am particularly afraid of ews on eloquence, since I defense of my assignment lischargcd it, permit me to :ally indebted to any one · with pertinence and with heir intrinsic purport, the Jghl up, so as to free me te will be certain lo enlist re intent to do so. Thomas Sheridan

    1. nall let/er relating lo he arm is oflen placed fash with a preceding •served No. I. In such hat the position of the nd that the transverse s changed. Here each ·hole semicircle from ded. ,, I ol1.c~&.4.,~•;."-'J wt. ~~11'\·l~ Figure

    1. is not conformable to that which is required by lhe performance.

      This is again interesting as it bears upon the rhetorical work of an audience. We often tend to assume that rhetoric is someone a speaker does to an audience, but the work of the audience is also rhetoric.

    2. man in a fever would not ""-~3 insist on his palate as able to decide concerning -.+,. fl~vours

      A very crucial point here: judgment and discernment are themselves relational and contextual.

      That said, we would be wise to keep in mind the Lemos piece on norms and normalcy (as it bears upon bodies) as we read the rest of this paragraph.

    3. Hume considers the possibility that there is, indeed, complete relativism in this matter. But his purpose is to find ways to reduce or eliminate disagreement, to set a standard

      A rhetorical concern dating back to at least Aristotle: how to decide upon things in the realm of the probable rather than the absolute.

    1. Eloquence, like the fair sex, has too prevailing beauties in it to suffer itself ever to be spoken ~~-•k..l, against. And it is in vain to find fault with those arts of deceiving, wherein men find pleasure to be deceived.

      The continuation of the move to gender rhetoric/eloquence as feminine.

    2. First, to make known one man's (r thoughts or ideas to another; Secondly, to do it with as much ease and quickness as possible; and, Thirdly, thereby to convey the knowledge of things: language is either abused or deficient, when it fails of any of these three.

      Another weak defense of language.

    3. White and sweet, yellow and bitter, carry a very obvious meaning with them, which every one precisely comprehends, or easily perceives he is ignorant of, and seeks to be informed. But what precise collection of simple ideas modesty or frugality stand for, in another's use, is not so certainly known

      An interesting progression here: to where might it ultimately lead?

    4. And hence we see that, in the interpretation of laws, whether divine or human, there is no end; comments beget com• ments, and explications make new matter for ex-plications; and of limiting, distinguishing, vary-ing the signification of these moral words there is no end.

      "There is no end." Another useful way to think through rhetoric in light of Muckelbauer.

      But, of course, there are often temporary ends achieved.

    5. These reflections lead \ ..μ.., -&AA:>.-lc..-~ Locke to insist on the need for clarity, especially in discussing knowledge. He at-~ tacks Scholastic philosophy for creating obscurities through disputation, and he at-wi.....+-~ tacks rhetoric for increasing ambiguities through excessive ornamentation.

      This is a good nutshell here.

    6. ohn Locke powerfully aflccted the direction of rhetoric, and every other intellectual endeavor a~ well. in the eighteenth century.

      So, then, in what ways (or how) was he able to do this: to impact rhetoric. What does this claim reveal about the scope and province of rhetoric.

    1. The science of variation like the clinical gaze was believed to unearth all sides of truth and was therefore effectively applied as a form of industrial management in order to cope with population growth.

      This debate/division continues today in the care v. cure debate and in various approaches to bedside manner

    1. new technology, a particular form of decision-making, the incarnation of a new epistemology, the carriers of a new ideology, and even as a veritable modern myth

      all with bearing upon rhetoric

    2. Semantic confusion may in fact signal a threshold moment when it behooves us to revise entrenched assumptions about people and machines.

      "a spot were ambiguity necessarily arises"

    3. His book is not for readers who think the devil is in the details; it is centered rather on a sweeping Faustian bargain: “humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power.”

      ...hum...

    4. Algorithms, we have realized, can be carriers of shady interests and vehicles of corporate guile. And so, as a new batch of commentators urge, we must “make algorithms accountable.”

      Charles Stross

    1. Rhetoric selects,

      There is an interesting construction of agency here: rhetoric is treated as the subject of the sentence. Rhetoric does the selecting. This suggests, perhaps unwittingly, the kinds of claims Rickert makes about rhetoric as less a tool than a capacity or even a force. We participate in rhetoric, but we don't necessarily control it.

    1. Rhetoric is the home of uncertainty and doubt that we go to in order to find harmony and sustenance in things that do.

      This sentence captures the oscillation that Lanham describes.

      (And do make sure that your microresponses do engage the readings, your own annotations and the annotations of others.)

    2. Although the sophists took great pride in their rhetorical methods, the Greeks frowned upon their usage of the methods and found the act to be distrustful.

      The great historical irony of mistrusting something so seemingly important to the workings of the world.

    1. TheStrongDefensearguesthat,sincetruthcomestohumankindinsomanydiverseanddisagreeingforms,wecannotbaseapolityuponit.

      This is really something to think through. It challenges much of Western thought as well as the goals of higher education. I cannot help but think of the current phrase post-truth in this context.

    2. Restrictingrhetorictostyleanddelivery,Ramussolvesthe"Q"ques-tionbydefinition.Rhetoricisacosmetic,andbadgirlswearmakeupaswellasgoodones,probablybetter.

      With Ramus, goodness and badness precede (and so exceed) rhetoric. Also, Lanham's gendered example is no accident. Recall our discussion of Plato's gendered use of cosmetic and cookery. Learn more on feminism and the sophists.

    3. fyouseparatethedisciplineofdiscourseintoessenceandornament,intophilosophyandrhetoric,andmakeeachaseparatediscipline,itmakesthemeasiertothinkabout.Thusbeginsmoderninquiry'slonghistoryoflookingforitslostkeysnotwhereitlostthembutunderthelamppost,wheretheyareeasiertofind.

      This is potential an answer to LoLo's question of Muckelbauer.

    1. symbol

      Etymology: Greek σύμβολον mark, token, ticket, ‘tessera’, < σύν sym- prefix + root of βολή , βόλος a throw (compare συμβάλλειν to put together, < σύν sym- prefix + βάλλειν to throw)

      See the excellent documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Trailer here. There is a lovely discussion of Paleolithic hunting techniques, which collect around the throwing of spears. The film thus brings together both the projections of the spears and the projections upon the cave walls. And just as hunting is not a representative task but rather a performative task design to produce an effect, so too are the cave paintings.

    2. Nor can rhetoricsimply arrive as a package deal. Rather, it coalesces out of multiple cultural, material, andsemiotic strands that are mutually entangled and coevolving.

      This is the ethos of this course. Rickert's argument also resonates with Muckelbauer's "Returns of the Question."