Rhetoric as philosophy
Subtitle: the humanist tradition
By: Ernesto Grassi.
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Published: 1980
Place of publication: University Park
Language: eng
Number of pages: 122
Subjects: Rhetoric -- Philosophy.; Philosophy -- History.; Humanism -- History.; Humanists.
Description: By going back to the Italian humanist tradition and aspects of earlier Greek and Latin thought, Ernesto Grassi develops a conception of rhetoric as the basis of philosophy. Grassi explores the sense in which the first principles of rational thought come from the metaphorical power of the word. He finds the basis for his conception in the last great thinker of the Italian humanist tradition, Giambattista Vico (1668-1744). He concentrates on Vico's understanding of imagination and the sense of human ingenuity contained in metaphor. For Grassi, rhetorical activity is the essence and inner life of thought when connected to the metaphorical power of the word. Professor Grassi connects rhetoric with the power of language to bring the starting points for thought into being. This power of speech is at the basis of the philosophical and rational search for truth.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.