Richard Lanham's 'The Motive Of Eloquence'
Richard Lanham’s The Motive of Eloquence has provided us a very interesting and useful concept on the categorization of man. In that particular book, Lanham offers the readers the characteristics of what comprise homo seriosus or Serious Man and homo rhetoricus or Rhetorical Man. From the framework provided, I believe that such concept is not rigid that there is also the third category which refers to those who happen to occupy the characteristic of both Serious Man and Rhetorical Man. In this short essay, I present three figures which I believe fit in each of the aforementioned category. Those three figures are John Locke, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Maria W. Stewart.
Serious Man A figure taken in representing Serious Man is John Locke. This kind …show more content…
In promoting clarity when communicating about facts, Locke’s philosophical use of words which means that “such a use of them as may serve to convey the precise notions of things, and to express in general propositions certain and undoubted truths, which the mind may rest upon and be satisfied with in its search after a true knowledge” (817) serves this point well. Locke eventually makes it clear about the use of language as he asserts “the ends of language in our discourse with other beings chiefly these three: First, to make known one man’s thoughts or ideas to another; secondly, to do it with as much ease and quickness as possible; and, thirdly, thereby to convey the knowledge of things” (825). In a similar vein, Bizznell and Herzberg also notice Locke’s insistent on the need of clarity for the most part in discussing knowledge (815). They observe how Locke attacks Scholastic philosophy and rhetoric because of their “obscurities through disputation” and “ambiguities through excessive ornamentation” (815). Additionally, I find Locke’s viewpoint on rhetoric is very striking. The fact that he sees men enjoy themselves being deceived is quite intriguing.
It is evident how much men love to deceive and be deceived, since rhetoric, that powerful instrument of error and deceit, has
Serious Man A figure taken in representing Serious Man is John Locke. This kind …show more content…
In promoting clarity when communicating about facts, Locke’s philosophical use of words which means that “such a use of them as may serve to convey the precise notions of things, and to express in general propositions certain and undoubted truths, which the mind may rest upon and be satisfied with in its search after a true knowledge” (817) serves this point well. Locke eventually makes it clear about the use of language as he asserts “the ends of language in our discourse with other beings chiefly these three: First, to make known one man’s thoughts or ideas to another; secondly, to do it with as much ease and quickness as possible; and, thirdly, thereby to convey the knowledge of things” (825). In a similar vein, Bizznell and Herzberg also notice Locke’s insistent on the need of clarity for the most part in discussing knowledge (815). They observe how Locke attacks Scholastic philosophy and rhetoric because of their “obscurities through disputation” and “ambiguities through excessive ornamentation” (815). Additionally, I find Locke’s viewpoint on rhetoric is very striking. The fact that he sees men enjoy themselves being deceived is quite intriguing.
It is evident how much men love to deceive and be deceived, since rhetoric, that powerful instrument of error and deceit, has