Research Article| May 01 1992 J. S. Mill as a Nineteenth-Century Humanist John F. Tinkler John F. Tinkler Department of Rhetoric and Communication Studies, University of Virginia, One Dawson's Row, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Rhetorica (1992) 10 (2): 165–191. https://doi.org/10.1525/rh.1992.10.2.165 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation John F. Tinkler; J. S. Mill as a Nineteenth-Century Humanist. Rhetorica 1 May 1992; 10 (2): 165–191. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/rh.1992.10.2.165 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentRhetorica Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1992, The International Society for the History of Rhetoric1992 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

he purpose of present paper is to draw attention to some complexities involved in Paul O. Kristeller's classic formulation of nature of Renaissance humanism. According to KristeUer, in a lecture first deUvered in 1954 and reissued most recently in 1979, the humanists of Renaissance were professional successors of medieval Italian didatores, and inherited from them various patterns of epistolography and public oratory, aU more or less deternuned by customs and practical needs of later medieval society. Yet medieval didatores were no classical scholars and used no classical models for their compositions. It was novel contribution of humanists to add firm belief that in order to write and to speak well it was necessary to study and to imitate ancients.' The neat picture of humanism that emerges is of a professional commitment to classicize rhetorical practice of medieval world.