Humanist Controversies:

Steven Mailloux Loyola Marymount University

Abstract

AbstractThis article discusses two twentieth-century examples of humanist controversies in order to demonstrate some rhetorical paths of thought involved in developing and securing rhetorical humanism within philosophy and rhetorical studies. The article begins with Martin Heidegger's antihumanist provocation and examines Ernesto Grassi's response in his revisionist interpretation of a nonmetaphysical Renaissance humanism. Next it takes up the post-Heideggerian moment of late twentieth-century postmodern critiques, including attacks on humanist foundationalism and essentialist notions of agency, and compares Grassi's defense of rhetorical humanism within Continental philosophy to Michael Leff's reinterpretation of Ciceronian humanism within communication studies. Both Grassi and Leff propose a rhetorical humanist alternative to Heidegger's and postmodernism's philosophical antihumanism. These two rhetoricians demonstrate an interpretive power and a rhetorical creativity that not only revitalize rhetorical humanism in the present age but also provide valuable resources for its extension into the future.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2012-06-01
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.45.2.0134
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Philosophy & Rhetoric

References (43)

  1. Althusser, Louis. 1969. “Marxism and Humanism.” In For Marx, 219–47. Trans. Ben Brewster. New York: Pantheon.
  2. Althusser, Louis. 2003. The Humanist Controversy and Other Writings. Trans. G. M. Goshgarian. Ed. François Ma…
  3. Celenza, Christopher S. 2004. The Lost Italian Renaissance: Humanists, Historians, and Latin's Legacy. Baltim…
  4. Conley, Thomas M. 1990. Rhetoric in the European Tradition. New York: Longman.
  5. Eden, Kathy. 1997. Hermeneutics and the Rhetorical Tradition: Chapters in the Ancient Legacy and Its Humanist…
Show all 43 →
  1. Foerster, Norman, ed. 1930. Humanism and America: Essays on the Outlook of Modern Civilisation. New York: Far…
  2. Foss, Sonja K., Karen A. Foss, and Robert Trapp. 2002. Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric. 3rd ed. Prospec…
  3. Gaonkar, Dilip Parameshwar. 1997. “The Idea of Rhetoric in the Rhetoric of Science.” In Rhetorical Hermeneuti…
  4. Giustiniani, Vito R. 1985. “Homo, Humanus, and the Meanings of ‘Humanism.’” Journal of the History of Ideas 4…
  5. Grassi, Ernesto. 1983. Heidegger and the Question of Renaissance Humanism: Four Studies. Binghamton, NY: Cent…
  6. Grassi, Ernesto. 1988a. “The Rehabilitation of Rhetorical Humanism: Regarding Heidegger's Anti-Humanism.” Tra…
  7. Grassi, Ernesto. 1988b. Renaissance Humanism: Studies in Philosophy and Poetics. Trans. Walter F. Veit. Bingh…
  8. Grassi, Ernesto. 2001. Rhetoric as Philosophy: The Humanist Tradition. Trans. John Michael Krois and Azizeh A…
  9. Grattan, C. Hartley, ed. 1930. The Critique of Humanism: A Symposium. New York: Brewer and Warren.
  10. Heidegger, Martin. 1969. “The Onto-theo-logical Constitution of Metaphysics.” In Identity and Difference, 42–…
  11. Heidegger, Martin. 1977. “Letter on Humanism.” Trans. Frank A. Capuzzi and J. Glenn Gray. In Basic Writings, …
  12. Hoeveler, David, Jr. 1977. The New Humanism: A Critique of Modern America, 1900-1940. Charlottesville: Univer…
  13. Kahn, Victoria. 1997. “Humanism and the Resistance to Theory.” In Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: A Re…
  14. Knight, Margaret, and Jim Herrick, eds. 1995. Humanist Anthology: From Confucius to Attenborough. Rev. ed. Am…
  15. Kraye, Jill, ed. 1996. The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  16. Kristeller, Paul Oskar. 1988. “Humanism.” In The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy, ed. Charles B. …
  17. Kuklick, Bruce. 1977. The Rise of American Philosophy: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1860-1930. New Haven, CT: Ya…
  18. Lanham, Richard A. 1993. The Electronic Word: Democracy, Technology, and the Arts. Chicago: University of Chi…
  19. Leff, Michael. 1986. “Genre and Paradigm in the Second Book of De Oratore.” Southern Journal of Speech 51 (4)…
  20. Leff, Michael. 1989. “Burke's Ciceronianism.” In The Legacy of Kenneth Burke, ed. Herbert W. Simons and Trevo…
  21. Leff, Michael. 1990. “Decorum and Rhetorical Interpretation: The Latin Humanistic Tradition and Contemporary …
  22. Leff, Michael. 1996. “Agency, Performance, and Interpretation in Thucydides' Account of the Mytilene Debate.”…
  23. Leff, Michael. 1997a. “Hermeneutical Rhetoric.” In Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time: A Reader, ed. Walte…
  24. Leff, Michael. 1997b. “The Idea of Rhetoric as Interpretive Practice: A Humanist's Response to Gaonkar.” In R…
  25. Leff, Michael. 1998. “Cicero's Pro Murena and the Strong Case for Rhetoric.” Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 (1…
  26. Leff, Michael. 2003. “Tradition and Agency in Humanistic Rhetoric.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 36 (2): 135–47.
  27. Mailloux, Steven. 1989. Rhetorical Power. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
  28. Mailloux, Steven. 1998. Reception Histories: Rhetoric, Pragmatism, and American Cultural Politics. Ithaca, NY…
  29. Mailloux, Steven. 2006. Disciplinary Identities: Rhetorical Paths of English, Speech, and Composition. New Yo…
  30. Mendelson, Michael. 1997. “Everything Must Be Argued: Rhetorical Theory and Pedagogical Practice in Cicero's …
  31. Porrovecchio, Mark J. 2011. F. C. S. Schiller and the Dawn of Pragmatism: The Rhetoric of a Philosophical Reb…
  32. Rubini, Rocco. 2008. “Philology as Philosophy: The Sources of Ernesto Grassi's Postmodern Humanism.” Annali d…
  33. Sartre, Jean-Paul. 1948. Existentialism and Humanism. Trans. Philip Mairet. London: Methuen.
  34. Schiappa, Edward. 2003. Protagoras and Logos: A Study in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric, 2nd ed. Columbia: Uni…
  35. Sloane, Thomas O. 1997. On the Contrary: The Protocol of Traditional Rhetoric. Washington, DC: Catholic Unive…
  36. Sprague, Rosamond Kent, ed. 1972. The Older Sophists. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
  37. Struever, Nancy S. 1970. The Language of History in the Renaissance: Rhetoric and Historical Consciousness in…
  38. Struever, Nancy S. “Grassi's Choice.” 2009. Unpublished paper presented at the conference of the Internationa…