Advances in the History of Rhetoric Jul 2015

Milton, Hobbes, and Rhetorical Freedom

Ned O’Gorman

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that for John Milton in Paradise Lost and Areopagitica freedom was a rhetorical quality of action: an ethical capacity to address a situation by means of language. I contrast Milton’s approach to that of Thomas Hobbes, for whom freedom was only a state. These reflections suggest that Milton’s rhetorical freedom, a capacity to act amid oppositions by virtue of the wisdom and power of discourse, offers the outlines of an alternate modernity.

Journal
Advances in the History of Rhetoric
Published
2015-07-03
DOI
10.1080/15362426.2015.1081527
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Topics
multimodality multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (1)

  1. O'Gorman (2013)
    Hobbes, Desire, and the Democratization of Rhetoric
    Advances in the History of Rhetoric
Also cites 11 works outside this index ↓
  1. Allen (2004)
    Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown vs. Board of Education
     ↗
  2. Bouwsma (1968)
    Venice and the Defense of Republican Liberty: Renaissance Values in the Age of the Counte…
     ↗
  3. Garsten (2006)
    Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment
     ↗
  4. Hariman (2003)
    Prudence: Classical Virtue, Postmodern Practice
     ↗
  5. Marshall (2010)
    Vico and the Transformation of Rhetoric in Early Modern Europe
     ↗
  6. Martinich (2007)
    The Bible and Protestantism in Leviathan.
     ↗
  7. Nelson (2001)
    “‘True Liberty’: Isocrates and Milton’s Areopagitica
    Milton Studies  ↗
  8. Oldman (2007)
    “Milton, Grotius, and the Law of War: A Reading of Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes
    Studies in Philology  ↗
  9. Pettit (1999)
    Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government
     ↗
  10. Pettit (2012)
    On the People’s Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy
     ↗
  11. Rosenblatt (2006)
    Renaissance England’s Chief Rabbi: John Selden
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

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