Rhetoric as Philosophy: The Humanist TraditionBy 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. Originally published in English in 1980, Rhetoric as Philosophy has been out of print for some time. In his foreword to this reprint edition, Burke scholar Timothy W. Crusius rues the lack of concentrated attention to Grassi because "what he had to say about rhetoric is at least as significant as, for example, what Kenneth Burke taught us". |
Contents
Rhetoric and Philosophy | 18 |
Historical and Theoretical Premises of | 35 |
Rhetoric as the Ground of Society 889 | 68 |
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activity apodictic appears archai arises Aristotle basis beginning Bruni Cassandra character Cicero classical antiquity concept concern concrete connection critical Dante deduction derived Descartes dialectic emotive episteme Ernesto Grassi expression fantasy formal framework functional circle fundamental G. W. F. Hegel German Idealism Giambattista Vico Gorgias Greek hence historical human world humanist tradition Ibid images imagistic ingenious ingenium insight insofar interpretation inventio inventive Italian Humanism Kenneth Burke Latin Leonardo Bruni logic logos Mannerists meaning metaphor Muses nature object orator original passions phenomena Pico Plato poet poetic poetry political Poliziano premises primacy problem proof purely rational question Quintilian rational knowledge rational language rational process rational speech rationalistic reality reason reference rejection relationship René Thom res and verba reveals rhetoric and philosophy rhetorical speech scientific thought sense sensory situation subject matter task texts theoretical theory thesis things tion truth union of res unity valid Vico Vico's word