Emerson and the Democratization of Plato's “True Rhetoric”

Philosophy & Rhetoric May 2015

Emerson and the Democratization of Plato's “True Rhetoric”

Roger Thompson Stony Brook University

Abstract

ABSTRACTRalph Waldo Emerson's theory of rhetoric has been the subject of ongoing inquiry that has moved Emerson further and further outside a line of Platonic thinkers in order to make his discussion of rhetoric applicable to contemporary discussions about civic discourse and the public sphere. Such accounts, however, subtly undermine the complexity of Emerson's attempts to reconcile transcendentalism with democracy. Understanding Emerson as involved in a project to not only democratize language and rhetorical theory but also Plato, the representative of truth seeking and idealism, clarifies precisely how Emerson understands the power of rhetoric and philosophy to shape and enact democracy. Emerson was trying to find a place for Platonic idealism in the shaping of a young country, and in doing so, he reconfigured what might seem today to be irreconcilable dualities. For Emerson the split between the spiritual and the material world does not implicitly prioritize one domain over the other. Instead, Emerson negotiates the terrain between the worlds and suggests ultimately that language and action are means of straddling them and realizing real change in society. If ideals are in some way external in Emerson's metaphysics, they are no less accessible by every person who attends to his or her own experience in the world. Rhetoric, for Emerson, brings those poles together.

Journal: Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published: 2015-05-22
DOI: 10.5325/philrhet.48.2.0117
Open Access: Closed
Topics: rhetorical theory public rhetoric

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Cites in this index (1)

Thompson (2007)

“Habit of Heat”: Emerson, Belletristic Rhetoric, and the Role of the Imagination

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