IN: Giambattista Vico (B. Giovan Battista Vico, 23 June 1668 - 23 January 1744) was an Italian political philosopher and rhetorician, historian and jurist, of the Age of Enlightenment. He criticized the expansion and development of modern rationalism, was an apologist for Classical Antiquity, a precursor of systematic and complex thought, in opposition to Cartesian analysis and other types of reductionism, and was the first expositor of the fundamentals of social science and of semiotics. The Latin aphorism Verum esse ipsum factum ("What is true is precisely what is made") coined by Vico is an early instance of constructivist epistemology. He inaugurated the modern field of the philosophy of history, and, although the term philosophy of history is not in his writings, Vico spoke of a "history of philosophy narrated philosophically."

Vico's version of rhetoric is product of his humanistic and pedagogic concerns. In the 1708 commencement speech De Nostri Temporis Studiorum Ratione (On the Order of the Scholarly Disciplines of Our Times), Vico said that whoever "intends a career in public life, whether in the courts, the senate, or the pulpit" should be taught to "master the art of topics and [to] defend both sides of a controversy, be it on Nature, Man, or politics, in a freer and brighter style of expression, so he can learn to draw on those arguments which are most probable and have the greatest degree of verisimilitude"; yet, in Scienza Nuova, Vico denounced defending both sides in controversies as false eloquence. As Royal Professor of Latin Eloquence, Vico prepared students for higher studies in the fields of Law and of Jurisprudence; thus, his lessons were about the formal aspects of the canon of rhetoric, including the arrangement and the delivery of an argument. Yet, Vico chose to emphasize the Aristotelian connection of rhetoric with logic and dialectic, thereby placing ends (rhetoric) at their center. Vico's objection to modern rhetoric is that it is disconnected from common sense (sensus communis), defined as the "worldly sense" that is common to all men. In lectures and throughout the body of his work, Vico's rhetoric begins from a central argument (medius terminus), which is to be clarified by following the order of things as they arise in our experience. Probability and circumstance retain their proportionate importance, and discovery -- reliant upon topics (loci) -- supersedes axioms derived through reflective, abstract thought. In the tradition of classical Roman rhetoric, Vico sets out to educate the orator (rhetorician) as the transmitter of the oratio, a speech with ratio (reason) at the centre. What is essential to the oratorical art (Gr. Retorike, rhetorike) is the orderly link between common sense and an end commensurate with oratory; an end that is not imposed upon the imagination from above (in the manner of the moderns and dogmatic Christianity), but that is drawn from common sense, itself. In the tradition of Socrates and Cicero, Vico's true orator will be midwife to the birth of "the true" (as an idea) from "the certain", the ignorance in the mind of the student. Rediscovery of "the most ancient wisdom" of the senses, a wisdom that is humana stultitia ("human foolishness"), Vico's emphases on the importance of civic life and of professional obligations are in the humanist tradition. He would call for a maieutic (jurisprudential) oratory art against the grain of the modern privilege of the dogmatic form of reason, in what he called the "geometrical method" of Rene Descartes and the logicians at the Port-Royal-des-Champs abbey.
QUESTION: What was unusual about Vico's rhetoric?
IN: Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born in Whiston, Lancashire, as the only child in the family. She later moved to Widnes, Cheshire, at a young age. Her parents married on 12 January 1971 and separated in 1978, when young Chisholm was four-and-a-half years old. Her father, Alan Chisholm, worked as a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company.

Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. She also released an album of show tunes. Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, more than any other female artist, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist - and the first British female artist - with the most singles at number 1 in the UK, and with a total of 14 songs that have risen to number 1 in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisolm is the first artist with most number 1 songs in the UK ranking history. On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself, alongside her business partner and manager, Nancy Phillips. The name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., which Chisholm is supporter.
QUESTION:
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?