Originally published in English in 1980, Rhetoric as Philosophy has been out of print for some time. The reviews of that English edition attest to the importance of Ernesto Grassi’s work. By going back to the Italian humanist tradition and aspects of earlier Greek and Latin thought, Ernesto Grassi develops a conception of rhetoric as the basis of philosophy. Grassi explores the sense in which the first principles of rational thought come from the metaphorical power of the word. He finds (...) the basis for his conception in the last great thinker of the Italian humanist tradition, Giambattista Vico (1668–1744). He concentrates on Vico’s understanding of imagination and the sense of human ingenuity contained in metaphor. For Grassi, rhetorical activity is the essence and inner life of thought when connected to the metaphorical power of the word. (shrink)

By going back to the Italian humanist tradition and aspects of earlier Greek and Latin thought Ernesto Grassi develops a conception of rhetoric as the basis of philosophical thought. In the development of modern philosophy since Descartes and Locke rhetoric has been seen as superfluous to knowledge. Rhetoric has been commonly understood as the speech that plays on the emotions the use of thought and words to persuade, rather than their use as the basis to seek knowledge. How does the (...) mind generate the principles upon which rational thought is based? Rational thinking exploits the logical power of the word, but logic never enlightens us on the nature of its own starting points. Grassi explores the sense in which the first principles of rational thought come from the metaphorical power of the word. He finds the basis for his conception in the last thinker of the Italian humanist tradition, Giambattista Vice, in Vice's understanding of imagination and the sense of human ingenuity contained in the metaphor. Professor Grassi connects rhetoric with the power of language to bring the starting points for thought into being. This power of speech is at the basis of the philosophical and rational search for truth. (shrink)

Heidegger's affirmation is categorical: “… the thinking expressed in Being and Time is against humanism”. Heidegger's thesis is not only categorical, it is also polemical. He maintains that the humanist conception does not grasp man's essence, and it is for this reason that he is opposed to humanism, which is a doctrine that “has not thought profoundly enough of man's humanitas.

Con ocasión del centenario del nacimiento de Ernesto Grassi, nacido en Milán el 2 de mayo de 1902, Cuadernos sobre Vico publica a continuación el primer texto donde Grassi interpreta en 1940 el De nostri temporis studiorum ratione, ya dentro de la línea de la tradición del humanismo retórico, a cuyo rescate y estudio dedicaría el autor italo-germano buena parte de su vida. En la reveladora claridad de las páginas de Ernesto Grassi en torno a La crítica de Vico a (...) la supremacía del saber - para nosotros la parte más importante de este amplio trabajo sobre El comienzo del pensamiento moderno. De la pasión y la experiencia de lo originario, publicado en la capital alemana por el editor Helmut Küpper en el año 1940-, el lector de Cuadernos sobre Vico podrá descubrir inmediatamente ese singular humus viquiano que durante más de medio siglo propició la radical circunstancia especulativa y el pensamiento del autor de Vico y el humanismo. Ensayos sobre Vico, Heidegger y la retórica .La dirección de Cuadernos sobre Vico agradece al prof. Emilio Hidalgo-Serna la autorización para publicar la traducción de este importante ensayo de Grassi, inédito hasta ahora en español.On the centenary of Ernesto Grassi's birth, born in Milan on May 2 1902, Cuadernos sobre Vico publishes in Spanish the first text where Grassi interprets De nostri temporis studiorum ratione, already inside the line of the tradition of the rhetorical humanism, that he rescue and study. In the rewatching clarity of Ernesto Grassi's pages concerning Vico's critique to the supremacy of to knowledge -for us the most important part of this wide work The beginning of the modern thought, published in Germany for the editor Helmut Küpper in the year 1940-, the reader of Cuadernos sobre Vico will be able to discover immediately this singular humus vichian that during more than half a century caused the radical speculative circumstance and the thought of the author of Vico and the Humanism. Essays on Vico, Heidegger and the Rhetoric.The Editors of Cuadernos sobre Vico are grateful to prof. Emilio Hidalgo-Serna by the authorization to publish the translation in Spanish of Grassi's essay. (shrink)

El problema del anti-humanismo de Heidegger se clarifica a la luz del valor propio y real del humanismo, cuyos principales temas alcanzarán con Vico su máximo significado y expresión. Se debate por ello el problema generado por la identificación del humanismo con una actitud metafísica tradicional de indiferenciación ontológica, cuando, dilucidando el humanismo retórico, se entiende que el pensamiento humanista no comienza con el problema de los entes sino con el de la preeminencia de la palabra, y, especialmente, de la (...) palabra metafórica, generando un filosofar retórico. El antihumanismo heideggeriano se afianza, por tanto, en un conocimiento indirecto del humanismo con los prejuicios de las interpretaciones modernas, y no en el conocimiento del específico y original valor de éste. La rehabilitación del humanismo retórico nos muestra asimismo que la tesis heideggeriana de la prioridad de la palabra poética y metafórica nos conduce al punto crucial para nosotros: la especificidad del pensamiento humanístico no comienza –en su nuevo y particular filosofar– con el problema de los entes, sino con el de la palabra, a saber, de la palabra metafórica y retórica. La cuestión que se trata, por tanto, va más allá de una discusión sobre Heidegger, enfrentándonos con importantes problemas históricos y teoréticos. The dilemma of Heidegger's anti-humanism is clarified in the light of the real and proper value of humanism itself, whose principal themes reach through Vico their highest significance and expression. This work debates the problem generated by the identification of humanism with a traditional metaphysical attitude of ontological indifferentation; when elucidating rhetorical humanism it is understood that humanist thought does not begin with the problem of the beings but with the preeminence of the word, especially the metaphoric word, giving risk to a rhetorical philosophizing. In such a way, the anti-humanism of Heidegger is strengthened by an indirect knowledge of humanism with the prejudices of modem interpretations, and not in the knowledge of its own specific and original value. The rehabilitation of the rhetorical humanism show us more over, that the Heideggerian thesis of the priority of the poetic and metaphoric words brings us to the most important point for us: the specificity of humanistic thought that does not –in its particular and new philosophizing– begin with the problem of beings, but with that of the word, namely poetic, metaphorical and rhetorical word. Thus, the question dealt with, goes beyond a discussion of Heidegger, to confront important historical and theoretical problems. (shrink)

These essays discuss Vico's conception of metaphor and the imagination as unique elements in the history of Western philosophy that allow Vico to formulate a new relationship between rhetoric and philosophy. On this basis, rhetorical forms of thought and senses of language are shown to be at the basis of philosophical thought. Philosophy is understood as an enterprise that cannot overlook its traditional roots in poetic and rhetorical senses of the word. Connections between this point of view and Heidegger's analysis (...) of language and Being are shown. (shrink)

Bd. 1. Die Theorie des Schönen in der Antike.

Este libro, que fue escrito como introduccion al problema de la palabra en el Humanismo, senala la eficacia de la retorica y el devenir de sus funciones filosoficas dentro de la tradicion latina. Explica, ademas, por que los humanistas no parten del problema de los entes ni de una concepcion a priori, sino del proceso historico en el cual se nos manifiesta la realidad.