Tag Archive
Perfect does not mean Virtuous
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 mea-surement and medicine” (4-5). Are these perfect syllogisms? Does virtue truly fall into the... »
Commentary 3
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 you wore that to the party,” or “Do you have a bun in the... »
Ramus vs. Vico: How Should Rhetoric be Taught?
Of what exactly should a curriculum in rhetoric consist? In “Arguments in Rhetoric Against Quintilian,” Peter Ramus wants to isolate matters he considers essential to the study of rhetoric—style and delivery—leaving dialectical matters to other disciplines. In “On the Study Methods of Our Time,” Giambattista Vico wants to integrate rhetoric with instruction in other... »
Simplify the Complex? (Com. #2–5001)
In spite of all his trash talking, Peter Ramus presents an interesting Argument in Rhetoric Against Quintilian. Ramus seems to be quite opposed to Quintilian’s muddling of the definitions of artistic domains. Specifically, he wants to distinguish the art of rhetoric from the art of dialectics. The reason he states, “…if the arts were... »