Despite our attempts at “everyone’s a winner” in the U.S., we still have a competitive mentality that seems like it’s engrained into our DNA. We have contests for everything (hotdog eating anyone?), and reward people who come in first, oftentimes…
Classes
Parent for all the individual classes
Week 5: Incoherence of the Incoherence
by kmontero • • 0 Comments
“The Incoherence of the Incoherence” written by Averroes challenges al-Ghazali’s argument in his text “The Incoherence of the Philosophers”. Al-Ghazali’s work attacks philosophers (specifically Aristotle) with 20 points, challenging many Aristotlelian beliefs regarding the eternity of the world and God’s “will”. …
Ramus & His Ad-Hominem
by Shirley Miranda • • 0 Comments
Hello MaryAnn, Although I am late in responding to your questions (I was out of town in a conference), I hope it is not too late. I’d like to focus on the ad hominem attacks on Quintilian because I think often times…
From Arguments in Rhetoric against Quintilian
by Shirley Miranda • • 0 Comments
Although I started my reading agreeing with Ramus in that too many people too often are wiling to accept what they first hear or read without putting too much thought into it or without taking the time to properly and…
Ramus and His Ad Hominem
by Shirley Miranda • • 0 Comments
Hello MaryAnn, Although I am late in responding to your questions (I was out of town in a conference), I hope it is not too late. I’d like to focus on the ad hominem attacks on Quintilian because I think often…
Philosopher on Attack Week 3
by simi dhaliwal • • 0 Comments
After reading the Ramus article, I feel many of the rhetoricians we have read share one quality, attack. Ramus’ approach on arguing his ideas is charged with insulting words and persuasive appeal to the audience to hate Quintilian’s ideas. He…
Bain
by simi dhaliwal • • 0 Comments
Alex I like your response on the Bain reading, I would like to elaborate on your ideas with some examples. Bain requires a specific structure to argument, which I feel is contradictory to many of the philosophers we have read.…
Perfect does not mean Virtuous
by lminnis209 • • 1 Comment
When speaking of Quintilian’s assessment that a perfect orator must necessarily be a good man, Ramus uses the comparisons that “the grammarian is…not defined as skilled in speaking, writing, and singing” and “the geometrician is not defined as skilled in…
Easier to Tell a Lie
by lminnis209 • • 0 Comments
“It frequently occurs, in fact, that orators in a law court have greater difficulty with a case which is based on truth, but does not seem so, than with a case that is false but plausible” (Vico 13). Do you…
Commentary 3
by Alex Janney • • 0 Comments
As I was reading Ramus for this week, I felt a little bit like I do when I get e-mail messages from friends and I can’t hear their tone of voice. Those messages that say things like, “I can’t believe…