Abstract

Reviews 443 Stephen McKenna, Adam Smith: The Rhetoric of Propriety (Rhetoric in the Modern Era), Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006. x + 184 pp. ISBN 0-7914-6581-0 In a roundabout effort at offering praise, allow me to preface this review with information about the reviewer. I value histories that connect Adam Smith s "neoclassical aesthetic values"—such as "propriety and taste"—to social dynamics such as "class difference." McKenna derides this work as z reductivist" and "inadequate by itself" (p. 57), opting instead to focus on the history of ideas, the long intellectual heritage behind Smith's rhetorical theory. Despite reservations about such intellectual history, I admire Adam Smith: The Rhetoric ofPropriety. The question arises: What has McKenna done to impress this otherwise skeptical reviewer? To begin with, McKenna uncovers and explores Smith's debt to past rhetoricians, such as Plato, Gorgias, Aristotle, and Cicero. After summarily dismissing Marxist and post-structuralist accounts of propriety, McKenna explains why Adam Smith's rhetorical theory should be glossed in ancient Greek and Latin. Previous scholarship has depicted Smith as a "new" or "neo­ classical" rhetorician. Following others, such as Gloria Vivenza, McKenna chronicles Smith's dependence on earlier sources, particularly his ground­ ing in classical rhetoric. If Smith is among the first modern social scientists, then not just Smith himself, but economics and sociology as well, owe a debt to classical rhetorical theory. McKenna focuses on six precepts that characterize a classical view of propriety and that were appropriated by Adam Smith. In this genealogy, propriety 1) participates in the natural order of things, 2) is often recognized through the visual senses, 3) leads to a pleasurable aesthetic experience, 4) requires public performance, 5) involves a mean between extremes, 6) and depends upon circumstances (pp. 28-29). McKenna follows traditional tributaries as they feed an 18th-century British stream of rhetorical theory. For instance, the arch-stylist Gorgias feeds into David Hume's epistemological skepticism and the Scotsman's attention to pathetic appeal (pp. 31-32). Plato's insistence that propriety include a regard for the different types of soul contributes to Adam Smith's effort at promoting a stylistic plasticity able to mold various character types (p. 36). McKenna also follows contemporary contributions to Smith's rhetorical theory. In the writings of John Locke and the Royal Society, we see propriety defined in terms of the "plain style" so popular among empirical scientists. In the writings of Frances Hutcheson and Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury, we witness a relation among notions of "common sense,' rhetorical propriety, and the moral/aesthetic sensibility. Bernard Lamy and François Fénelon attend to propriety's aesthetic dimension, thus influencing Henry Home Lord Karnes, David Hume, and Joseph Addison. McKenna reminds his reader that Adam Smith remains the focal point by explaining how Smith positioned his own work on propriety against this lively and discordant set of voices. For instance, M^cKenna explains that Smith set 444 RHETORICA himself against Hutcheson and Fénelon by denying an innate moral sense, yet Smith readily adopted Lamy's contention that people recognize propriety through the visual senses (pp. 62-64). Chapters 2 and 3 amount to a narratio of past and contemporary sources to prepare the reader for McKenna's remaining confirmatio about Smith's rhetorical theory The last two substantive chapters treat Adam Smith's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres alongside his Theory ofMoral Sentiments, arguing against the common scholarly belief that the Theory laid the moral and ethical ground­ work for the Lectures. Rather, McKenna contends that the Lectures underpin the Theory by exploring "the basic elements of human thought and action," which make ethical behavior possible (p. 76). McKenna also explains that Smith brought something new to the conversation about propriety: "Smith's idea that the intention to communicate a given passion or affection originates in sympathy is an entirely new contribution to the theory of the rhetorical propriety" (p. 88). Seemingly mundane moments, such as Smith's extensive discussion of direct and indirect description, become fascinating when seen through McKenna's illuminating perspective. Allow one extended quote to exemplify but by no means exhaustively capture the...