Chapter 8
Enlightenment Rhetoric
Chapter Overview
Chapter Eight takes up rhetorical scholarship in the eighteenth century, from Vico’s interests in the origins of human thought processes to Thomas Sheridan’s theory of eloquence. Theorists explored include Giambattista Vico, George Campbell, Sheridan, Hugh Blair, Lord Kames, Richard Whately, Margaret Cavendish, and Maria Edgeworth. It is noted that concern for the British nation’s development and welfare marks much of British Enlightenment rhetorical theory. Campbell’s “scientific” interest in the rhetoric of the human mind is explored, as is Whately’s treatment of rhetoric as centered on matters of argument. The Belletristic Movement’s interest in the power of beautiful language is also considered, as is Maria Edgeworth’s satire.
Review Questions
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Margaret Cavendish is seen as one of the first English women to write with the intention of seeking publication. She challenged the period’s views on the role of women writers, their style, and chosen genres of writing. While most women were expected to write devotional literature, romances, or recipe books, she chose to write plays, poems, philosophy, and scientific works.
Vico emphasized the power of language and imagination when approaching and understanding the world, while Descartes focused on the mathematical and scientific. Vico thought that Descartes’s disdain for rhetoric and emphasis on demonstrable proof ignored the fundamental ways in which humans thought about and experienced the world.
During this time, rhetoric was re-emphasized by the Church through preaching in response to a rise in skepticism. The public had access to education in rhetoric because of a shift in scholarship from Latin to English. Urbanization meant that rural people moved to cities and desired to learn “proper” English to further their social status.
The Belletristic Movement sought an increased British interest in literature and writing. These goals shifted rhetorical focus from crafting arguments to developing an appealing style. The Belletristic Movement emphasized literary criticism and writing.
Hugh Blair saw rhetoric as more than just honing eloquence for professional life. Rhetorical training was preparation for life; rhetoric taught eloquence, style, taste, and contemplation. Taste developed a cultured approach to both public and private life. He believed that taste was key to balancing a life of work, and finding enjoyment in one’s leisure time.
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Essay Questions
- Identify the various social forces that compelled British people to seek education in rhetoric during the eighteenth century. Identify two major rhetorical movements during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that were educational in nature, and the methods and goals of each movement. Link specific authors and works to each movement.
- Compare and contrast the rhetorical theories of Giambattista Vico, George Campbell, Hugh Blair, and Richard Whately. What were the specific concerns or goals of each? What would a student of rhetoric have learned from each writer? Which theory do you find the most interesting, and why.
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Recommended Readings
Want to learn more? Check out these bonus readings!
On Rhetoric in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Stephen H. Browne. “Shandyean Satire and the Rhetorical Arts in Eighteenth-Century England.” The Southern Communication Journal 55 (Winter, 1990): 191–205.
James L. Golden and Edward P. J. Corbett. The Rhetoric of Blair, Campbell, and Whately. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc., 1968.
Wilbur Samuel Howell. Eighteenth-Century British Logic and Rhetoric. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971.
On Giambattista Vico
Joseph Mali, The Rehabilitation of Myth: Vico’s “New Science” (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
Michael Mooney, Vico in the Tradition of Rhetoric (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985).
By Giambattista Vico
On the Study Methods of Our Time, VII.
On Thomas Sheridan
Wallace A. Bacon. “The Elocutionary Career of Thomas Sheridan.” Speech Monographs 31 (March 1964): 1–53.
By Thomas Sheridan
A Discourse: Being Introductory to His Course of Lectures on Elocution and the English Language. (1759) Los Angeles, CA: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1969.
A Course of Lectures on Elocution. London: 1762.
A General Dictionary of the English Language. London: 1780.
On George Campbell
Vincent Bevilaqua. “Philosophical Origins of George Campbell’s Philosophy of Rhetoric.” Speech Monographs 32 (1965): 1–12.
Lloyd Bitzer. “Hume’s Philosophy in George Campbell’s The Philosophy of Rhetoric.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 2 (1969): 136–166.
Douglas Ehninger. “George Campbell and the Revolution in Inventional Theory.” Southern Speech Journal 15 (May 1950): 270–276.
Dominic LaRusso. “Root or Branch? A Reexamination of Campbell’s ‘Rhetoric.’” Western Speech 32 (1968): 85–91.
Douglas McDermott. “George Campbell and the Classical Tradition.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 49 (1963): 403–409.
By George Campbell
The Philosophy of Rhetoric. (1776) Ed. Lloyd F. Bitzer. Carbondale, IL: University of Southern Illinois Press, 1963. Dissertation on Miracles. London: 1762.
On the Belletristic Movement
Barbara Warnick. The Sixth Canon: Belletristic Rhetorical Theory and Its French Antecedents. Columbia SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1993.
By Hugh Blair
Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. (1783) Ed. Harold Harding. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1965.