There is nothing more pleasing to God who governs the world than men united by social bonds. . . .
---Petrarch
Petrarch sums up rhetoric's return to a more social, more interactive role than it had been relegated to during the middle ages. Scholasticism emphasized an authoritarian and closed approach to learning, and although instruction was rational and orderly (something unlike the MOO, I imagine), much of the content used for instruction was taken out of context, therefore, losing its original meaning. Where the Middle Ages valued rhetoric for sermons and letter writing--again emphasizing one-sided forms of persuasion--rhetoric gains status in the Renaissance as "an aid to moral contemplation and personal refinement" (p. 156) as well as "a means of winning political power through argument and persuasion" (p. 157).
Rhetoric, in fact, becomes a tool for the responsible citizen as many humanists believed that one had a responsibility for civic involvement, the idea of vita activa. In terms of today's politics, I would like to think we are more humanistic in our approach to civic duty, but watching the many of the news programs, we see examples from all affiliations that seem to exemplify more of the scholastic approach--senteniae taken out of context (without the excuse of centuries separating the original text from the portrayed snippet).
Another part of the reading I noted this week was the humanist's ability to use rhetoric as a tool to discover truth or knowledge and still maintain a religious belief. Valla, in particular, rejects the middle ages' approach to religion which was to "correct error" in the corrupt mind. Conversely, he saw rhetoric as a means to make religion more public and active, creating a belief system, like that of the responsible citizen where one was expected to engage.
Deb,
ReplyDeleteIn the social responsibility lens, we can see at least seeds of Isocrates (morality) and Cicero (social advancement) among other rhetors. Overall, rhetoric seems to have grown from a largely academic prospect (as we saw in Greece and Rom) to something with more widespread function and something that is more accessible to larger audiences. Thus, overall, one might argue that society as a whole, through the expansion of rhetoric, has become a bit smarter and a bit more sophisticated, and a bit more empowered.
Cris
It seems to me, too, that many of us have lost our ways as citizens in America. Maybe we are too busy with soccer practices and blogging and the like, but civic engagement throughout the population, from top to bottom, seems to be a core element of a well-functioning democracy, not the situation we have now in which every senator is a millionaire (at least) and corporations are considered people and one-way communication (TV ads, fliers, candidates who don't do interviews with anyone who might ask a tough question) dictates the power structures in the country. Part of the problem, I think, is Americans in general are not being trained in enough depth to be citizens, who are responsible for the best country in the world, not their own personal self-serving achievements, leaving everyone else behind. We instead are taught to be ruthless competitors, wiping out everyone in our paths, including each other.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brett that as Americans we have become very self-centered. I recently read a research article on community service and high school students. The researchers found that students who were required to participate or voluntarily participated in community service were more likely to vote and participate in political forums. Students often continued to participate in community service activities after graduating college as well. I found this interesting in that perhaps by participating in activities that benefited someone other than themselves they were able to see that they are not the only ones in the world. Perhaps it would benefit students to develop better rhetoric skills as well to be able to benefit the community with their voice as well as their hands.
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