,the ,,ethics of ,rhetoric ,the ,,ethics of ,rhetoric ,by ,,richard ,m4 ,,weaver ,thus it happens that rhetoric is an offshoot of dialectic and also of ethical studies4 --,,aristotle1 ,rhetoric ,illustration ,chicago ,,henry ,,regnery ,,company #aiec ,copyright #aiec by ,henry ,regnery ,company4 ,copyright under ,international ,copyright ,union4 ,manufactured in the ,united ,states of ,america4 ,library of ,congress ,catalog ,card ,number3 #ec-hgif4 ,second ,printing1 ,december1 #aifc ,table of ,contents ,,page ,i4 ,,the ,,phaedrus ,,and ,,the ,,nature ,,of ,,rhetoric #c ,,ii4 ,,dialectic ,,and ,,rhetoric ,,at ,,dayton1 ,,tennessee #bg ,,iii4 ,,edmund ,,burke ,,and ,,the ,,argument ,,from ,,circumstance #ee ,,iv4 ,,abraham ,,lincoln ,,and ,,the ,,argument ,,from ,,definition #he ,v4 ,,some ,,rhetorical ,,aspects ,,of ,,grammatical ,,categories #aae ,,vi4 ,,milton',s ,,heroic ,,prose #adc ,,vii4 ,,the ,,spaciousness ,,of ,,old ,,rhetoric #afd ,,viii4 ,,the ,,rhetoric ,,of ,,social ,,science #ahf ,,ix4 ,,ultimate ,,terms ,,in ,,contemporary ,,rhetoric #baa ,,index #bcc ,acknowledgments ,acknowledgments with thanks are due the following3 ,charles ,scribner's ,sons for the passage from ,allen ,tate's 8,the ,subway10 from ,poems #aibb-aidg2 ,karl ,shapiro and ,random ,house1 ,inc41 for the passage from ,essay on ,rime2 and the ,viking ,press1 ,inc41 for the passage from ,sherwood ,anderson's ,a ,story ,teller's ,story4 ,the ,,ethics of ,rhetoric ,chapter ,i ,,the ,,phaedrus ,,and ,,the ,,nature ,,of ,,rhetoric ,our subject begins with the threshold difficulty of defining the question which ,plato's ,phaedrus was meant to answer4 ,students of this justly celebrated dialogue have felt uncertain of its unity of theme1 and the tendency has been to designate it broadly as a discussion of the ethical and the beautiful4 ,the explicit topics of the dialogue are1 in order3 love1 the soul1 speechmaking1 and the spoken and written word1 or what is generally termed by us 8composition40 ,the development looks random1 and some of the most interesting passages appear jeux d'esprit4 ,the richness of the literary art diverts attention from the substance of the argument4 ,but a work of art which touches on many profound problems justifies more than one kind of reading4 ,our difficulty with the ,phaedrus may be that our interpretation has been too literal and too topical4 ,if we will bring to the reading of it even a portion of that imagination which ,plato habitually exercised1 we should perceive surely enough that it is consistently1 and from beginning to end1 about one thing1 which is the nature of rhetoric4#a ,again1 that point may have been missed because most readers conceive rhetoric to be a system of artifice rather than an idea1#b and the ,phaedrus1 for all its apparent divagation1 keeps very close to a single idea4 ,a study of its rhetorical structure1 especially1 may give us the insight which has been withheld1 while making us feel anew that ,plato possessed the deepest divining rod among the ancients4 ,for the imaginative interpretation which we shall now undertake1 we have both general and specific warrant4 ,first1 it scarcely needs pointing out that a ,socratic dialogue is in itself an example of transcendence4 ,beginning with something simple and topical1 it passes to more general levels of application2 and not infrequently1 it must make the leap into allegory for the final utterance4 ,this means1 of course1 that a ,socratic dialogue may be about its subject implicitly as well as explicitly4 ,the implicit rendering is usually through some kind of figuration because it is the nature of this meaning to be ineffable in any other way4 ,it is necessary1 therefore1 to be alert for what takes place through the analogical mode4 ,second1 it is a matter of curious interest that a warning against literal reading occurs at an early stage of the ,phaedrus4 ,here in the opening pages1 appearing as if to set the key of the theme1 comes an allusion to the myth of ,boreas and ,oreithyia4 ,on the very spot where the dialogue begins1 ,boreas is said to have carried off the maiden4 ,does ,socrates believe that this tale is really true8 ,or is he in favor of a scientific explanation of what the myth alleges8 ,athens had scientific experts1 and the scientific explanation was that the north wind had pushed her off some rocks where she was playing with a companion4 ,in this way the poetical story is provided with a factual basis4 ,the answer of ,socrates is that many tales are open to this kind of rationalization1 but that the result is tedious and actually irrelevant4 ,it is irrelevant because our chief concern is with the nature of the man1 and it is beside the point to probe into such matters while we are yet ignorant of ourselves4 ,the scientific criticism of ,greek mythology1 which may be likened to the scientific criticism of the myths of the ,bible in our own day1 produces at best 8a boorish sort of wisdom 7 740 ,it is a limitation to suppose that the truth of the story lies in its historicity4 ,the 8boorish sort of wisdom0 seeks to supplant poetic allegation with fact1 just as an archaeologist might look for the foundations of the ,garden of ,eden4 ,but while this sort of search goes on the truth flies off1 on wings of imagination1 and is not recoverable until the searcher attains a higher level of pursuit4 ,socrates is satisfied with the parable1 and we infer from numerous other passages that he believed that some things are best told by parable and some perhaps discoverable only by parable4 ,real investigation goes forward with the help of analogy4 8,freud without ,sophocles is unthinkable10 a modern writer has said4#c ,with these precepts in mind1 we turn to that part of the ,phaedrus which has proved most puzzling3 why is so much said about the absurd relationship of the lover and the non-lover8 ,socrates encounters ,phaedrus outside the city wall4 ,the latter has just come from hearing a discourse by ,lysias which enchanted him with its eloquence4 ,he is prevailed upon to repeat this discourse1 and the two seek out a shady spot on the banks of the ,ilissus4 ,now the discourse is remarkable because although it was 8in a way1 a love speech10 its argument was that people should grant favors to non-lovers rather than to lovers4 8,this is just the clever thing about it10 ,phaedrus remarks4 ,people are in the habit of preferring their lovers1 but it is much more intelligent1 as the argument of ,lysias runs1 to prefer a non-lover4 ,accordingly1 the first major topic of the dialogue is a eulogy of the non-lover4 ,the speech provides good subject matter for jesting on the part of ,socrates1 and looks like another exhibition of the childlike ingeniousness which gives the ,greeks their charm4 ,is it merely a piece of literary trifling8 ,rather1 it is ,plato's dramatistic presentation of a major thesis4 ,beneath the surface of repartee and mock seriousness1 he is asking whether we ought to prefer a neuter form of speech to the kind which is ever getting us aroused over things and provoking an expense of spirit4 ,sophistications of theory cannot obscure the truth that there are but three ways for language to affect us4 ,it can move us toward what is good2 it can move us toward what is evil2 or it can1 in hypothetical third place1 fail to move us at all4#d ,of course there are numberless degrees of effect under the first two heads1 and the third1 as will be shown1 is an approximate rather than an absolute zero of effect4 ,but any utterance is a major assumption of responsibility1 and the assumption that one can avoid that responsibility by doing something to language itself is one of the chief considerations of the ,phaedrus1 just as it is of contemporary semantic theory4 ,what ,plato has succeeded in doing in this dialogue1 whether by a remarkably effaced design1 or unconsciously through the formal pressure of his conception1 is to give us embodiments of the three types of discourse4 ,these are respectively the non-lover1 the evil lover1 and the noble lover4 ,we shall take up these figures in their sequence and show their relevance to the problem of language4 ,the eulogy of the non-lover in the speech of ,lysias1 as we hear it repeated to ,socrates1 stresses the fact that the non-lover follows a policy of enlightened self-interest4 ,first of all1 the non-lover does not neglect his affairs or commit extreme acts under the influence of passion4 ,since he acts from calculation1 he never has occasion for remorse4 ,no one ever says of him that he is not in his right mind1 because all of his acts are within prudential bounds4 ,the first point is1 in sum1 that the non-lover never sacrifices himself and therefore never feels the vexation which overtakes lovers when they recover from their passion and try to balance their pains with their profit4 ,and the non-lover is constant whereas the lover is inconstant4 ,the first argument then is that the non-lover demonstrates his superiority through prudence and objectivity4 ,the second point of superiority found in non-lovers is that there are many more of them4 ,if one is limited in one's choice to one's lovers1 the range is small2 but as there are always more non-lovers than lovers1 one has a better chance in choosing among many of finding something worthy of one's affection4 ,a third point of superiority is that association with the non-lover does not excite public comment4 ,if one is seen going about with the object of one's love1 one is likely to provoke gossip2 but when one is seen conversing with the non-lover1 people merely realize that 8everybody must converse with somebody40 ,therefore this kind of relationship does not affect one's public standing1 and one is not disturbed by what the neighbors are saying4 ,finally1 non-lovers are not jealous of one's associates4 ,accordingly they do not try to keep one from companions of intellect or wealth for fear that they may be outshone themselves4 ,the lover1 by contrast1 tries to draw his beloved away from such companionship and so deprives him of improving associations4 ,the argument is concluded with a generalization that one ought to grant favors not to the needy or the importunate1 but to those who are able to repay4 ,such is the favorable account of the non-lover given by ,lysias4 ,we must now observe how these points of superiority correspond to those of 8semantically purified0 speech4 ,by 8semantically purified speech0 we mean the kind of speech approaching pure notation in the respect that it communicates abstract intelligence without impulsion4 ,it is a simple instrumentality1 showing no affection for the object of its symbolizing and incapable of inducing bias in the hearer4 ,in its ideal conception1 it would have less power to move than #b #b #d1 since it is generally admitted that mathematical equations may have the beauty of elegance1 and hence are not above suspicion where beauty is suspect4 ,but this neuter language will be an unqualified medium of transmission of meanings from mind to mind1 and by virtue of its minds can remain in an unprejudiced relationship to the world and also to other minds4 ,since the characteristic of this language is absence of anything like affection1 it exhibits toward the thing being represented merely a sober fidelity1 like that of the non-lover toward his companion4 ,instead of passion1 it offers the serviceability of objectivity4 ,its 8enlightened self-interest0 takes the form of an unvarying accuracy and regularity in its symbolic references1 most1 if not all of which will be to verifiable data in the extramental world4 ,like a thrifty burgher1 it has no romanticism about it2 and it distrusts any departure from the literal and prosaic4 ,the burgher has his feet on the ground2 and similarly the language of pure notation has its point-by-point contact with objective reality4 ,as ,stuart ,chase1 one of its modern proponents1 says in ,the ,tyranny of ,words3 8,if we wish to understand the world and ourselves1 it follows that we should use a language whose structure corresponds to physical structure0#e 7italics his74 ,so this language is married to the world1 and its marital fidelity contrasts with the extravagances of other languages4 ,in second place1 this language is far more 8available40 ,whereas rhetorical language1 or language which would persuade1 must always be particularized to suit the occasion1 drawing its effectiveness from many small nuances1 a 8utility0 language is very general and one has no difficulty putting his meaning into it if he is satisfied with a paraphrase of that meaning4 ,the #hej words recommended for ,basic ,english1 for example1 are highly available in the sense that all native users of ,english have them instantly ready and learners of ,english can quickly acquire them4 ,it soon becomes apparent1 however1 that the availability is a heavy tax upon all other qualities4 ,most of what we admire as energy and fullness tends to disappear when mere verbal counters are used4 ,the conventional or public aspect of language can encroach upon the suggestive or symbolical aspect1 until the naming is vague or blurred4 ,in proportion as the medium is conventional in the widest sense and avoids all individualizing1 personalizing1 and heightening terms1 it is common1 and the commonness constitutes the negative virtue ascribed to the non-lover4 ,finally1 with reference to the third qualification of the non-lover1 it is true that neuter language does not excite public opinion4 ,this fact follows from its character outlined above4 ,rhetorical language on the other hand1 for whatever purpose used1 excites interest and with it either pleasure or alarm4 ,people listen instinctively to the man whose speech betrays inclination4 ,it does not matter what the inclination is toward1 but we may say that the greater the degree of inclination1 the greater the curiosity or response4 ,hence a 8style0 in speech always causes one to be a marked man1 and the public may not be so much impressed--at least initially--by what the man is for or against as by the fact that he has a style4 ,the way therefore to avoid public comment is to avoid the speech of affection and to use that of business1 since1 to echo the original proposition of ,lysias1 everybody knows that one must do business with others4 ,from another standpoint1 then1 this is the language of prudence4 ,these are the features which give neuter discourse an appeal to those who expect a scientific solution of human problems4 ,in summing up the trend of meaning1 we note that ,lysias has been praising a disinterested kind of relationship which avoids all excesses and irrationalities1 all the dementia of love4 ,it is a circumspect kind of relationship1 which is preferred by all men who wish to do well in the world and avoid tempestuous courses4 ,we have compared its detachment with the kind of abstraction to be found in scientific notation4 ,but as an earnest of what is to come let us note1 in taking leave of this part1 that ,phaedrus expresses admiration for the eloquence1 especially of diction1 with which the suit of the non-lover has been urged4 ,this is our warning of the dilemma of the non-lover4 ,now we turn to the second major speech of the dialogue1 which is made by ,socrates4 ,notwithstanding ,phaedrus' enthusiastic praise1 ,socrates is dissatisfied with the speech of the non-lover4 ,he remembers having heard wiser things on the subject and feels that he can make a speech on the same theme 8different from this and quite as good40 ,after some playful exchange1 ,socrates launches upon his own abuse of love1 which centers on the point that the lover is an exploiter4 ,love 77 is defined as the kind of desire which overcomes rational opinion and moves toward the enjoyment of personal or bodily beauty4 ,the lover wishes to make the object of his passion as pleasing to himself as possible2 but to those possessed by this frenzy1 only that which is subject to their will is pleasant4 ,accordingly1 everything which is opposed1 or is equal or better1 the lover views with hostility4 ,he naturally therefore tries to make the beloved inferior to himself in every respect4 ,he is pleased if the beloved has intellectual limitations because they have the effect of making him manageable4 ,for a similar reason he tries to keep him away from all influences which might 8make a man of him10 and of course the greatest of these is divine philosophy4 ,while he is working to keep him intellectually immature1 he works also to keep him weak and effeminate1 with such harmful result that the beloved is unable to play a man's part in crises4 ,the lover is1 moreover1 jealous of the possession of property because this gives the beloved an independence which he does not wish him to have4 ,thus the lover in exercising an unremitting compulsion over the beloved deprives him of all praiseworthy qualities1 and this is the price the beloved pays for accepting a lover who is 8necessarily without reason40 ,in brief1 the lover is not motivated by benevolence toward the beloved1 but by selfish appetite2 and ,socrates can aptly close with the quotation3 8,as wolves love lambs1 so lovers love their loves40 ,the speech is on the single theme of exploitation4 ,it is important for us to keep in mind the object of love as here described1 because another kind of love with a different object is later introduced into the dialogue1 and we shall discuss the counterpart of each4 ,as we look now for the parallel in language1 we find ourselves confronting the second of the three alternatives3 speech which influences us in the direction of what is evil4 ,this we shall call base rhetoric because its end is the exploitation which ,socrates has been condemning4 ,we find that base rhetoric hates that which is opposed1 or is equal or better because all such things are impediments to its will1 and in the last analysis it knows only its will4 ,truth is the stubborn1 objective restraint which this will endeavors to overcome4 ,base rhetoric is therefore always trying to keep its objects from the support which personal courage1 noble associations1 and divine philosophy provide a man4 ,the base rhetorician1 we may say1 is a man who has yielded to the wrong aspects of existence4 ,he has allowed himself to succumb to the sights and shows1 to the physical pleasures which conspire against noble life4 ,he knows that the only way he can get a following in his pursuits 7and a following seems necessary to maximum enjoyment of the pursuits7 is to work against the true understanding of his followers4 ,consequently the things which would elevate he keeps out of sight1 and the things with which he surrounds his 8beloved0 are those which minister immediately to desire4 ,the beloved is thus emasculated in understanding in order that the lover may have his way4 ,or as ,socrates expresses it1 the selfish lover contrives things so that the beloved will be 8most agreeable to him and most harmful to himself40 ,examples of this kind of contrivance occur on every hand in the impassioned language of journalism and political pleading4 ,in the world of affairs which these seek to influence1 the many are kept in a state of pupillage so that they will be most docile to their 8lovers40 ,the techniques of the base lover1 especially as exemplified in modern journalism1 would make a long catalogue1 but in general it is accurate to say that he seeks to keep the understanding in a passive state by never permitting an honest examination of alternatives4 ,nothing is more feared by him than a true dialectic1 for this not only endangers his favored alternative1 but also gives the 8beloved0--how clearly here are these the 8lambs0 of ,socrates' figure--some training in intellectual independence4 ,what he does therefore is dress up one alternative in all the cheap finery of immediate hopes and fears1 knowing that if he can thus prevent a masculine exercise of imagination and will1 he can have his way4 ,by discussing only one side of an issue1 by mentioning cause without consequence or consequence without cause1 acts without agents or agents without agency1#f he often successfully blocks definition and cause-and-effect reasoning4 ,in this way his choices are arrayed in such meretricious images that one can quickly infer the juvenile mind which they would attract4 ,of course the base rhetorician today1 with his vastly augmented power of propagation1 has means of deluding which no ancient rhetor in forum or market place could have imagined4 ,because ,socrates has now made a speech against love1 representing it as an evil1 the non-lover seems to survive in estimation4 ,we observe1 however1 that the non-lover1 instead of being celebrated1 is disposed of dialectically4 8,so1 in a word1 ,i say that the non-lover possesses all the advantages that are opposed to the disadvantages we found in the lover40 ,this is not without bearing upon the subject matter of the important third speech1 to which we now turn4 ,at this point in the dialogue1 ,socrates is warned by his monitory spirit that he has been engaging in a defamation of love despite the fact that love is a divinity4 8,if love is1 as indeed he is1 a god or something divine1 he can be nothing evil2 but the two speeches just now said that he was evil40 ,these discourses were then an impiety--one representing non-love as admirable and the other attacking love as base4 ,socrates resolves to make amends1 and the recantation which follows is one of the most elaborate developments in the ,platonic system4 ,the account of love which emerges from this new position may be summarized as follows4 ,love is often censured as a form of madness1 yet not all madness is evil4 ,there is a madness which is simple degeneracy1 but on the other hand there are kinds of madness which are really forms of inspiration1 from which come the greatest gifts conferred on man4 ,prophecy is a kind of madness1 and so too is poetry4 8,the poetry of the sane man vanishes into nothingness before that of the inspired madman40 ,mere sanity1 which is of human origin1 is inferior to that madness which is inspired by the gods and which is a condition for the highest kind of achievement4 ,in this category goes the madness of the true lover4 ,his is a generous state which confers blessings to the ignoring of self1 whereas the conduct of the non-lover displays all the selfishness of business3 8the affection of the non-lover1 which is alloyed with mortal prudence and follows mortal and parsimonious rules of conduct will beget in the beloved soul the narrowness which common folk praise as virtue2 it will cause the soul to be a wanderer upon the earth for nine thousand years and a fool below the earth at last40 ,it is the vulgar who do not realize that the madness of the noble lover is an inspired madness because he has his thoughts turned toward a beauty of divine origin4 ,now the attitude of the noble lover toward the beloved is in direct contrast with that of the evil lover1 who1 as we have seen1 strives to possess and victimize the object of his affections4 ,for once the noble lover has mastered the conflict within his own soul by conquering appetite and fixing his attention upon the intelligible and the divine1 he conceives an exalted attitude toward the beloved4 ,the noble lover now 8follows the beloved in reverence and awe40 ,so those who are filled with this kind of love 8exhibit no jealousy or meanness toward the loved one1 but endeavor by every means in their power to lead him to the likeness of the god whom they honor40 ,such is the conversion by which love turns from the exploitative to the creative4 ,here it becomes necessary to bring our concepts together and to think of all speech having persuasive power as a kind of 8love40#g ,thus1 rhetorical speech is madness to the extent that it departs from the line which mere sanity lays down4 ,there is always in its statement a kind of excess or deficiency which is immediately discernible when the test of simple realism is applied4 ,simple realism operates on a principle of equation or correspondence2 one thing must match another1 or1 representation must tally with thing represented1 like items in a tradesman's account4 ,any excess or deficiency on the part of the representation invokes the existence of the world of symbolism1 which simple realism must deny4 ,this explains why there is an immortal feud between men of business and the users of metaphor and metonymy1 the poets and the rhetoricians4#h ,the man of business1 the narrow and parsimonious soul in the allusion of ,socrates1 desires a world which is a reliable materiality4 ,but this the poet and rhetorician will never let him have1 for each1 with his own purpose1 is trying to advance the borders of the imaginative world4 ,a primrose by the river's brim will not remain that in the poet's account1 but is promptly turned into something very much larger and something highly implicative4 ,he who is accustomed to record the world with an abacus cannot follow these transfigurations2 and indeed the very occurrence of them subtly undermines the premise of his business4 ,it is the historic tendency of the tradesman1 therefore1 to confine passion to quite narrow channels so that it will not upset the decent business arrangements of the world4 ,but if the poet1 as the chief transformer of our picture of the world1 is the peculiar enemy of this mentality1 the rhetorician is also hostile when practicing the kind of love proper to him4 ,the 8passion0 in his speech is revolutionary1 and it has a practical end4 ,we have now indicated the significance of the three types of lovers2 but the remainder of the ,phaedrus has much more to say about the nature of rhetoric1 and we must return to one or more points to place our subject in a wider context4 ,the problem of rhetoric which occupied ,plato persistently1 not only in the ,phaedrus but also in other dialogues where this art is reviewed1 may be best stated as a question3 if truth alone is not sufficient to persuade men1 what else remains that can be legitimately added8 ,in one of the exchanges with ,phaedrus1 ,socrates puts the question in the mouth of a personified ,rhetoric3 8,i do not compel anyone to learn to speak without knowing the truth1 but if my advice is of any value1 he learns that first and then acquires me4 ,so what ,i claim is this1 that without my help the knowledge of the truth does not give the art of persuasion40 ,now rhetoric as we have discussed it in relation to the lovers consists of truth plus its artful presentation1 and for this reason it becomes necessary to say something more about the natural order of dialectic and rhetoric4 ,in any general characterization rhetoric will include dialectic1#i but for the study of method it is necessary to separate the two4 ,dialectic is a method of investigation whose object is the establishment of truth about doubtful propositions4 ,aristotle in the ,topics gives a concise statement of its nature4 8,a dialectical problem is a subject of inquiry that contributes either to choice or avoidance1 or to truth and knowledge1 and that either by itself1 or as a help to the solution of some other such problem4 ,it must1 moreover1 be something on which either people hold no opinion either way1 or the masses hold a contrary opinion to the philosophers1 or the philosophers to the masses1 or each of them among themselves40#aj ,plato is not perfectly clear about the distinction between positive and dialectical terms4 ,in one passage#aa he contrasts the 8positive0 terms 8iron0 and 8silver0 with the 8dialectical0 terms 8justice0 and 8goodness02 yet in other passages his 8dialectical0 terms seem to include categorizations of the external world4 ,thus ,socrates indicates that distinguishing the horse from the ass is a dialectical operation2#ab and he tells us later that a good dialectician is able to divide things by classes 8where the natural joints are0 and will avoid breaking any part 8after the manner of a bad carver40#ac ,such1 perhaps1 is ,aristotle's dialectic which contributes to truth and knowledge4 ,but there is a branch of dialectic which contributes to 8choice or avoidance10 and it is with this that rhetoric is regularly found joined4 ,generally speaking1 this is a rhetoric involving questions of policy1 and the dialectic which precedes it will determine not the application of positive terms but that of terms which are subject to the contingency of evaluation4 ,here dialectical inquiry will concern itself not with what is 8iron0 but with what is 8good40 ,it seeks to establish what belongs in the category of the 8just0 rather than what belongs in the genus ,canis4 ,as a general rule1 simple object words such as 8iron0 and 8house0 have no connotations of policy1 although it is frequently possible to give them these through speech situations in which there is added to their referential function a kind of impulse4 ,we should have to interpret in this way 8,fire60 or 8,gold60 because these terms acquire something through intonation and relationship which places them in the class of evaluative expressions4 ,any piece of persuasion1 therefore1 will contain as its first process a dialectic establishing terms which have to do with policy4 ,now a term of policy is essentially a term of motion1 and here begins the congruence of rhetoric with the soul which underlies the speculation of the ,phaedrus4 ,in his myth of the charioteer1 ,socrates declares that every soul is immortal because 8that which is ever moving is immortal40 ,motion1 it would appear from this definition1 is part of the soul's essence4 ,and just because the soul is ever tending1 positive or indifferent terms cannot partake of this congruence4 ,but terms of tendency--goodness1 justice1 divinity1 and the like--are terms of motion and therefore may be said to comport with the soul's essence4 ,the soul's perception of goodness1 justice1 and divinity will depend upon its proper tendency1 while at the same time contacts with these in discourse confirm and direct that tendency4 ,the education of the soul is not a process of bringing it into correspondence with a physical structure like the external world1 but rather a process of rightly affecting its motion4 ,by this conception1 a soul which is rightly affected calls that good which is good2 but a soul which is wrongly turned calls that good which is evil4 ,what ,plato has prepared us to see is that the virtuous rhetorician1 who is a lover of truth1 has a soul of such movement that its dialectical perceptions are consonant with those of a divine mind4 ,or1 in the language of more technical philosophy1 this soul is aware of axiological systems which have ontic status4 ,the good soul1 consequently1 will not urge a perversion of justice as justice in order to impose upon the commonwealth4 ,insofar as the soul has its impulse in the right direction1 its definitions will agree with the true nature of intelligible things4 ,there is1 then1 no true rhetoric without dialectic1 for the dialectic provides that basis of 8high speculation about nature0 without which rhetoric in the narrower sense has nothing to work upon4 ,yet1 when the disputed terms have been established1 we are at the limit of dialectic4 ,how does the noble rhetorician proceed from this point on8 ,that the clearest demonstration in terms of logical inclusion and exclusion often fails to win assent we hardly need state2 therefore1 to what does the rhetorician resort at this critical passage8 ,it is the stage at which he passes from the logical to the analogical1 or it is where figuration comes into rhetoric4 ,to look at this for a moment through a practical illustration1 let us suppose that a speaker has convinced his listeners that his position is 8true0 as far as dialectical inquiry may be pushed4 ,now he sets about moving the listeners toward that position1 but there is no way to move them except through the operation of analogy4 ,the analogy proceeds by showing that the position being urged resembles or partakes of something greater and finer4 ,it will be represented1 in sum1 as one of the steps leading toward ultimate good4 ,let us further suppose our speaker to be arguing for the payment of a just debt4 ,the payment of the just debt is not itself justice1 but the payment of this particular debt is one of the many things which would have to be done before this could be a completely just world4 ,it is just1 then1 because it partakes of the ideal justice1 or it is a small analogue of all justice 7in practice it will be found that the rhetorician makes extensive use of synecdoche1 whereby the small part is used as a vivid suggestion of the grandeur of the whole74 ,it is by bringing out these resemblances that the good rhetorician leads those who listen in the direction of what is good4 ,in effect1 he performs a cure of souls by giving impulse1 chiefly through figuration1 toward an ideal good4 ,we now see the true rhetorician as a noble lover of the good1 who works through dialectic and through poetic or analogical association4 ,however he is compelled to modulate by the peculiar features of an occasion1 this is his method4 ,it may not be superfluous to draw attention to the fact that what we have here outlined is the method of the ,phaedrus itself4 ,the dialectic appears in the dispute about love4 ,the current thesis that love is praiseworthy is countered by the antithesis that love is blameworthy4 ,this position is fully developed in the speech of ,lysias and in the first speech of ,socrates4 ,but this position is countered by a new thesis that after all love is praiseworthy because it is a divine thing4 ,of course1 this is love on a higher level1 or love re-defined4 ,this is the regular process of transcendence which we have noted before4 ,now1 having rescued love from the imputation of evil by excluding certain things from its definition1 what does ,socrates do8 ,quite in accordance with our analysis1 he turns rhetorician4 ,he tries to make this love as attractive as possible by bringing in the splendid figure of the charioteer4#ad ,in the narrower conception of this art1 the allegory is the rhetoric1 for it excites and fills us with desire for this kind of love1 depicted with many terms having tendency toward the good4 ,but in the broader conception the art must include also the dialectic1 which succeeded in placing love in the category of divine things before filling our imaginations with attributes of divinity4#ae ,it is so regularly the method of ,plato to follow a subtle analysis with a striking myth that it is not unreasonable to call him the master rhetorician4 ,this goes far to explain why those who reject his philosophy sometimes remark his literary art with mingled admiration and annoyance4 ,the objection sometimes made that rhetoric cannot be used by a lover of truth because it indulges in 8exaggerations0 can be answered as follows4 ,there is an exaggeration which is mere wantonness1 and with this the true rhetorician has nothing to do4 ,such exaggeration is purely impressionistic in aim4 ,like caricature1 whose only object is to amuse1 it seizes upon any trait or aspect which could produce titillation and exploits this without conscience4 ,if all rhetoric were like this1 we should have to grant that rhetoricians are persons of very low responsibility and their art a disreputable one4 ,but the rhetorician we have now defined is not interested in sensationalism4 ,the exaggeration which this rhetorician employs is not caricature but prophecy2 and it would be a fair formulation to say that true rhetoric is concerned with the potency of things4 ,the literalist1 like the anti-poet described earlier1 is troubled by its failure to conform to a present reality4 ,what he fails to appreciate is that potentiality is a mode of existence1 and that all prophecy is about the tendency of things4 ,the discourse of the noble rhetorician1 accordingly1 will be about real potentiality or possible actuality1 whereas that of the mere exaggerator is about unreal potentiality4 ,naturally this distinction rests upon a supposal that the rhetorician has insight1 and we could not defend him in the absence of that condition4 ,but given insight1 he has the duty to represent to us the as yet unactualized future4 ,it would be1 for example1 a misrepresentation of current facts but not of potential ones to talk about the joys of peace in a time of war4 ,during the ,second ,world ,war1 at the depth of ,britain's political and military disaster1 ,winston ,churchill likened the future of ,europe to 8broad sunlit uplands40 ,now if one had regard only for the hour1 this was a piece of mendacity such as the worst charlatans are found committing2 but if one took ,churchill's premises and then considered the potentiality1 the picture was within bounds of actualization4 ,his 8exaggeration0 was that the defeat of the enemy would place ,europe in a position for long and peaceful progress4 ,at the time the surface trends ran the other way2 the actuality was a valley of humiliation4 ,yet the hope which transfigured this to 8broad sunlit uplands0 was not irresponsible1 and we conclude by saying that the rhetorician talks about both what exists simply and what exists by favor of human imagination and effort4#af ,this interest in actualization is a further distinction between pure dialectic and rhetoric4 ,with its forecast of the actual possibility1 rhetoric passes from mere scientific demonstration of an idea to its relation to prudential conduct4 ,a dialectic must take place in vacuo1 and the fact alone that it contains contraries leaves it an intellectual thing4 ,rhetoric1 on the other hand1 always espouses one of the contraries4 ,this espousal is followed by some attempt at impingement upon actuality4 ,that is why rhetoric1 with its passion for the actual1 is more complete than mere dialectic with its dry understanding4 ,it is more complete on the premise that man is a creature of passion who must live out that passion in the world4 ,pure contemplation does not suffice for this end4 ,as ,jacques ,maritain has expressed it3 8love 444 is not directed at possibilities or pure essences2 it is directed at what exists2 one does not love possibilities1 one loves that which exists or is destined to exist40#ag ,the complete man1 then1 is the 8lover0 added to the scientist2 the rhetorician to the dialectician4 ,understanding followed by actualization seems to be the order of creation1 and there is no need for the role of rhetoric to be misconceived4 ,the pure dialectician is left in the theoretical position of the non-lover1 who can attain understanding but who cannot add impulse to truth4 ,we are compelled to say 8theoretical position0 because it is by no means certain that in the world of actual speech the non-lover has more than a putative existence4 ,we have seen previously that his speech would consist of strictly referential words which would serve only as designata4 ,now the question arises3 at what point is motive to come into such language8 ,kenneth ,burke in ,a ,grammar of ,motives has pointed to 8the pattern of embarrassment behind the contemporary ideal of a language that will best promote good action by entirely eliminating the element of exhortation or command4 ,insofar as such a project succeeded1 its terms would involve a narrowing of circumference to a point where the principle of personal action is eliminated from language1 so that an act would follow from it only as a non-sequitur1 a kind of humanitarian after-thought40#ah ,the fault of this conception of language is that scientific intention turns out to be enclosed in artistic intention and not vice versa4 ,let us test this by taking as an example one of those 8fact-finding committees0 so favored by modern representative governments4 ,a language in which all else is suppressed in favor of nuclear meanings would be an ideal instrumentality for the report of such a committee4 ,but this committee1 if it lived up to the ideal of its conception1 would have to be followed by an 8attitude-finding committee0 to tell us what its explorations really mean4 ,in real practice the fact-finding committee understands well enough that it is also an attitude-finding committee1 and where it cannot show inclination through language of tendency1 it usually manages to do so through selection and arrangement of the otherwise inarticulate facts4 ,to recur here to the original situation in the dialogue1 we recall that the eloquent ,lysias1 posing as a non-lover1 had concealed designs upon ,phaedrus1 so that his fine speech was really a sheep's clothing4 ,socrates discerned in him a 8peculiar craftiness40 ,one must suspect the same today of many who ask us to place our faith in the neutrality of their discourse4 ,we cannot deny that there are degrees of objectivity in the reference of speech4 ,but this is not the same as an assurance that a vocabulary of reduced meanings will solve the problems of mankind4 ,many of those problems will have to be handled1 as ,socrates well knew1 by the student of souls1 who must primarily make use of the language of tendency4 ,the soul is impulse1 not simply cognition2 and finally one's interest in rhetoric depends on how much poignancy one senses in existence4#ai ,rhetoric moves the soul with a movement which cannot finally be justified logically4 ,it can only be valued analogically with reference to some supreme image4 ,therefore when the rhetorician encounters some soul 8sinking beneath the double load of forgetfulness and vice0 he seeks to re-animate it by holding up to its sight the order of presumptive goods4 ,this order is necessarily a hierarchy leading up to the ultimate good4 ,all of the terms in a rhetorical vocabulary are like links in a chain stretching up to some master link which transmits its influence down through the linkages4 ,it is impossible to talk about rhetoric as effective expression without having as a term giving intelligibility to the whole discourse1 the ,good4 ,of course1 inferior concepts of the ,good may be and often are placed in this ultimate position2 and there is nothing to keep a base lover from inverting the proper order and saying1 8,evil1 be thou my good40 ,yet the fact remains that in any piece of rhetorical discourse1 one rhetorical term overcomes another rhetorical term only by being nearer to the term which stands ultimate4 ,there is some ground for calling a rhetorical education necessarily an aristocratic education in that the rhetorician has to deal with an aristocracy of notions1 to say nothing of supplementing his logical and pathetic proofs with an ethical proof4 ,all things considered1 rhetoric1 noble or base1 is a great power in the world2 and we note accordingly that at the center of the public life of every people there is a fierce struggle over who shall control the means of rhetorical propagation4 ,today we set up 8offices of information10 which like the sly lover in the dialogue1 pose as non-lovers while pushing their suits4 ,but there is no reason to despair over the fact that men will never give up seeking to influence one another4 ,we would not desire it to be otherwise2 neuter discourse is a false idol1 to worship which is to commit the very offense for which ,socrates made expiation in his second speech4 ,since we want not emancipation from impulse but clarification of impulse1 the duty of rhetoric is to bring together action and understanding into a whole that is greater than scientific perception4#bj ,the realization that just as no action is really indifferent1 so no utterance is without its responsibility introduces1 it is true1 a certain strenuousity into life1 produced by a consciousness that 8nothing is lost40 ,yet this is preferable to that desolation which proceeds from an infinite dispersion or feeling of unaccountability4 ,even so1 the choice between them is hardly ours to make2 we did not create the order of things1 but being accountable for our impulses1 we wish these to be just4 ,thus when we finally divest rhetoric of all the notions of artifice which have grown up around it1 we are left with something very much like ,spinoza's 8intellectual love of ,god40 ,this is its essence and the fons et origo of its power4 ,it is 8intellectual0 because1 as we have previously seen1 there is no honest rhetoric without a preceding dialectic4 ,the kind of rhetoric which is justly condemned is utterance in support of a position before that position has been adjudicated with reference to the whole universe of discourse#ba--;and of such the world always produces more than enough4 ,it is 8love0 because it is something in addition to bare theoretical truth4 ,that element in addition is a desire to bring truth into a kind of existence1 or to give it an actuality to which theory is indifferent4 ,now what is to be said about our last expression1 8of ,god08 ,echoes of theological warfare will cause many to desire a substitute for this1 and we should not object4 ,as long as we have in ultimate place the highest good man can intuit1 the relationship is made perfect4 ,we shall be content with 8intellectual love of the ,good40 ,it is still the intellectual love of good which causes the noble lover to desire not to devour his beloved but to shape him according to the gods as far as mortal power allows4 ,so rhetoric at its truest seeks to perfect men by showing them better versions of themselves1 links in that chain extending up toward the ideal1 which only the intellect can apprehend and only the soul have affection for4 ,this is the justified affection of which no one can be ashamed1 and he who feels no influence of it is truly outside the communion of minds4 ,rhetoric appears1 finally1 as a means by which the impulse of the soul to be ever moving is redeemed4 ,it may be granted that in this essay we have gone some distance from the banks of the ,ilissus4 ,what began as a simple account of passion becomes by transcendence an allegory of all speech4 ,no one would think of suggesting that ,plato had in mind every application which has here been made1 but that need not arise as an issue4 ,the structure of the dialogue1 the way in which the judgments about speech concentre1 and especially the close association of the true1 the beautiful1 and the good1 constitute a unity of implication4 ,the central idea is that all speech1 which is the means the gods have given man to express his soul1 is a form of eros1 in the proper interpretation of the word4 ,with that truth the rhetorician will always be brought face to face as soon as he ventures beyond the consideration of mere artifice and device4 ,chapter ,,ii ,,dialectic ,,and ,,rhetoric ,,at ,,dayton1 ,,tennessee ,we have maintained that dialectic and rhetoric are distinguishable stages of argumentation1 although often they are not distinguished by the professional mind1 to say nothing of the popular mind4 ,dialectic is that stage which defines the subject satisfactorily with regard to the logos1 or the set of propositions making up some coherent universe of discourse2 and we can therefore say that a dialectical position is established when its relation to an opposite has been made clear and it is thus rationally rather than empirically sustained4 ,despite the inconclusiveness of ,plato on this subject1 we shall say that facts are never dialectically determined--although they may be elaborated in a dialectical system--and that the urgency of facts is never a dialectical concern4 ,for similar reasons ,professor ,adler1 in his searching study of dialectic1 maintains the position that 8,facts1 that is non-discursive elements1 are never determinative of dialectic in a logical or intellectual sense44440#bb ,what a successful dialectic secures for any position therefore1 as we noted in the opening chapter1 is not actuality but possibility2 and what rhetoric thereafter accomplishes is to take any dialectically secured position 7since positive positions1 like the 8position0 that water freezes at #cb;,f41 are not matters for rhetorical appeal7 and show its relationship to the world of prudential conduct4 ,this is tantamount to saying that what the specifically rhetorical plea asks of us is belief1 which is a preliminary to action4 ,it may be helpful to state this relationship through an example less complex than that of the ,platonic dialogue4 ,the speaker who in a dialectical contest has taken the position that 8magnanimity is a virtue0 has by his process of opposition and exclusion won our intellectual assent1 inasmuch as we see the abstract possibility of this position in the world of discourse4 ,he has not1 however1 produced in us a resolve to practice magnanimity4 ,to accomplish this he must pass from the realm of possibility to that of actuality2 it is not the logical invincibility of 8magnanimity0 enclosed in the class 8virtue0 which wins our assent2 rather it is the contemplation of magnanimity sub specie actuality4 ,accordingly when we say that rhetoric instills belief and action1 we are saying that it intersects possibility with the plane of actuality and hence of the imperative4#bc ,a failure to appreciate this distinction is responsible for many lame performances in our public controversies4 ,the effects are1 in outline1 that the dialectician cannot understand why his demonstration does not win converts2 and the rhetorician cannot understand why his appeal is rejected as specious4 ,the answer1 as we have begun to indicate1 is that the dialectic has not made reference to reality1 which men confronted with problems of conduct require2 and the rhetorician has not searched the grounds of the position on which he has perhaps spent much eloquence4 ,true1 the dialectician and the rhetorician are often one man1 and the two processes may not lie apart in his work2 but no student of the art of argumentation can doubt that some extraordinary confusions would be prevented by a knowledge of the theory of this distinction4 ,beyond this1 representative government would receive a tonic effect from any improvement of the ability of an electorate to distinguish logical positions from the detail of rhetorical amplification4 ,the ,british1 through their custom of putting questions to public speakers and to officers of government in ,parliament1 probably come nearest to getting some dialectical clarification from their public figures4 ,in the ,united ,states1 where there is no such custom1 it is up to each disputant to force the other to reveal his grounds2 and this1 in the ardor of shoring up his own position rhetorically1 he often fails to do with any thoroughness4 ,it should therefore be profitable to try the kind of analysis we have explained upon some celebrated public controversy1 with the object of showing how such grasp of rhetorical theory could have made the issues clearer4 ,for this purpose1 it would be hard to think of a better example than the ,scopes 8evolution0 trial of a generation ago4 ,there is no denying that this trial had many aspects of the farcical1 and it might seem at first glance not serious enough to warrant this type of examination4 ,yet at the time it was considered serious enough to draw the most celebrated trial lawyers of the country1 as well as some of the most eminent scientists2 moreover1 after one has cut through the sensationalism with which journalism and a few of the principals clothed the encounter1 one finds a unique alignment of dialectical and rhetorical positions4 ,the background of the trial can be narrated briefly4 ,on ,march #ba1 #aibe1 the state of ,tennessee passed a law forbidding the teaching of the theory of evolution in publicly supported schools4 ,the language of the law was as follows3 ,section #a4 ,be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of ,tennessee1 that it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the universities1 normals and all other public schools of the state1 which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the state1 to teach any theory that denies the story of the ,divine creation of man as taught in the ,bible1 and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals4 ,that same spring ,john ,t4 ,scopes1 a young instructor in biology in the high school at ,dayton1 made an agreement with some local citizens to teach such a theory and to cause himself to be indicted therefor with the object of testing the validity of the law4 ,the indictment was duly returned1 and the two sides prepared for the contest4 ,the issue excited the nation as a whole2 and the trial drew as opposing counsel ,clarence ,darrow1 the celebrated ,chicago lawyer1 and ,william ,jennings ,bryan1 the former political leader and evangelical lecturer4 ,the remarkable aspect of this trial was that almost from the first the defense1 pleading the cause of science1 was forced into the role of rhetorician2 whereas the prosecution1 pleading the cause of the state1 clung stubbornly to a dialectical position4 ,this development occurred because the argument of the defense1 once the legal technicalities were got over1 was that evolution is 8true40 ,the argument of the prosecution was that its teaching was unlawful4 ,these two arguments depend upon rhetoric and dialectic respectively4 ,because of this circumstance1 the famous trial turned into an argument about the orders of knowledge1 although this fact was never clearly expressed1 if it was ever discerned1 by either side1 and that is the main subject of our analysis4 ,but before going into the matter of the trial1 a slight prologue may be in order4 ,it is only the first step beyond philosophic navete to realize that there are different orders of knowledge1 or that not all knowledge is of the same kind of thing4 ,adler1 whose analysis ,i am satisfied to accept to some extent1 distinguishes the orders as follows4 ,first there is the order of facts about existing physical entities4 ,these constitute the simple data of science4 ,next come the statements which are statements about these facts2 these are the propositions or theories of science4 ,next there come the statements about these statements3 8,the propositions which these last statements express form a partial universe of discourse which is the body of philosophical opinion40#bd ,to illustrate in sequence3 the anatomical measurements of ,pithecanthropus erectus would be knowledge of the first order4 ,a theory based on these measurements which placed him in a certain group of related organisms would be knowledge of the second order4 ,a statement about the value or the implications of the theory of this placement would be knowledge of the third order2 it would be the judgment of a scientific theory from a dialectical position4 ,it is at once apparent that the ,tennessee 8anti-evolution0 law was a statement of the third class4 ,that is to say1 it was neither a collection of scientific facts1 nor a statement about those facts 7i4e41 a theory or a generalization72 it was a statement about a statement 7the scientists' statement7 purporting to be based on those facts4 ,it was1 to use ,adler's phrase1 a philosophical opinion1 though expressed in the language of law4 ,now since the body of philosophical opinion is on a level which surmounts the partial universe of science1 how is it possible for the latter ever to refute the former8 ,in short1 is there any number of facts1 together with generalizations based on facts1 which would be sufficient to overcome a dialectical position8 ,throughout the trial the defense tended to take the view that science could carry the day just by being scientific4 ,but in doing this1 one assumes that there are no points outside the empirical realm from which one can form judgments about science4 ,science1 by this conception1 must contain not only its facts1 but also the means of its own evaluation1 so that the statements about the statements of science are science too4 ,the published record of the trial runs to approximately three hundred pages1 and it would obviously be difficult to present a digest of all that was said4 ,but through a carefully selected series of excerpts1 it may be possible to show how blows were traded back and forth from the two positions4 ,the following passages1 though not continuous1 afford the clearest picture of the dialectical-rhetorical conflict which underlay the entire trial4 ,,the ,,court 7in charging the grand jury7 ,you will bear in mind that in this investigation you are not interested to inquire into the policy of this legislation4#be ,,the ,,defense ,mr4 ,darrow3 ,i don't suppose the court has considered the question of competency of evidence4 ,my associates and myself have fairly definite ideas as to it1 but ,i don't know how the counsel on the other side feel about it4 ,i think that scientists are competent evidence--or competent witnesses here1 to explain what evolution is1 and that they are competent on both sides4 ,,the ,,prosecution ,attorney-,general ,stewart3 ,if the ,court please1 in this case1 as ,mr4 ,darrow stated1 the defense is going to insist on introducing scientists and ,bible students to give their ideas on certain views of this law1 and that1 ,i am frank to state1 will be resisted by the state as vigorously as we know how to resist it4 ,we have had a conference or two about the matter1 and we think that it isn't competent evidence2 that is1 it is not competent to bring into this case scientists who testify as to what the theory of evolution is or interpret the ,bible or anything of that sort4 ,,the ,,defense ,mr4 ,neal3 ,the defendant moves the court to quash the indictment in this case for the following reasons3 ,in that it violates ,sec4 #ab1 ,art4 ,,xi1 of the ,constitution of ,tennessee3 8,it shall be the duty of the general assembly in all future periods of the government to cherish literature and science44440 ,i want to say that our main contention after all1 may it please your honor1 is that this is not a proper thing for any legislature1 the legislature of ,tennessee or the legislature of the ,united ,states1 to attempt to make and assign a rule in regard to4 ,in this law there is an attempt to pronounce a judgment and a conclusion in the realm of science and in the realm of religion4 ,,the ,,prosecution ,mr4 ,mc,kenzie3 ,under the law you cannot teach in the common schools the ,bible4 ,why should it be improper to provide that you cannot teach this other theory8 ,,the ,,defense ,mr4 ,darrow3 ,can a legislative body say1 8,you cannot read a book or take a lesson or make a talk on science until you first find out whether you are saying against ,genesis08 ,it can unless that constitutional provision protects me4 ,it can4 ,can it say to the astronomer1 you cannot turn your telescope upon the infinite planets and suns and stars that fill space1 lest you find that the earth is not the center of the universe and that there is not any firmament between us and the heaven8 ,can it8 ,it could--except for the work of ,thomas ,jefferson1 which has been woven into every state constitution in the ,union1 and has stayed there like a flaming sword to protect the rights of man against ignorance and bigotry1 and when it is permitted to overwhelm them then we are taken in a sea of blood and ruin that all the miseries and tortures and carrion of the middle ages would be as nothing4444 ,if today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach it in the public schools1 tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools1 and the next year you can make it a crime to teach it to the hustings or in the church4 ,at the next session you may ban books and the newspapers4 ,mr4 ,dudley ,field ,malone3 ,so that there shall be no misunderstanding and that no one shall be able to misinterpret or misrepresent our position we wish to state at the beginning of the case that the defense believes that there is a direct conflict between the theory of evolution and the theories of creation as set forth in the ,book of ,genesis4 ,neither do we believe that the stories of creation as set forth in the ,bible are reconcilable or scientifically correct4 ,mr4 ,arthur ,garfield ,hays3 ,our whole case depends upon proving that evolution is a reasonable scientific theory4 ,,the ,,prosecution ,mr4 ,william ,jennings ,bryan1 ,jr4 7in support of a motion to exclude expert testimony73 ,it is1 ,i think1 apparent to all that we have now reached the heart of this case1 upon your honor's ruling1 as to whether this expert testimony will be admitted largely determines the question of whether this trial from now on will be an orderly effort to try the case upon the issues1 raised by the indictment and by the plea or whether it will degenerate into a joint debate upon the merits or demerits of someone's views upon evolution4444 ,to permit an expert to testify upon this issue would be to substitute trial by experts for trial by jury4444 ,,the ,,defense ,mr4 ,hays3 ,are we entitled to show what evolution is8 ,we are entitled to show that1 if for no other reason than to determine whether the title is germane to the act4 ,,the ,,prosecution ,mr4 ,william ,jennings ,bryan3 ,an expert cannot be permitted to come in here and try to defeat the enforcement of a law by testifying that it isn't a bad law and it isn't--,i mean a bad doctrine--no matter how these people phrase the doctrine--no matter how they eulogize it4 ,this is not the place to prove that the law ought never to have been passed4 ,the place to prove that1 or teach that1 was to the state legislature4444 ,the people of this state passed this law1 the people of the state knew what they were doing when they passed the law1 and they knew the dangers of the doctrine--that they did not want it taught to their children1 and my friends1 it isn't--your honor1 it isn't proper to bring experts in here and try to defeat the purpose of the people of this state by trying to show that this thing they denounce and outlaw is a beautiful thing that everybody ought to believe in4444 ,it is this doctrine that gives us ,nietzsche1 the only great author who tried to carry this to its logical conclusion1 and we have the testimony of my distinguished friend from ,chicago in his speech in the ,loeb and ,leopold case that #ej1jjj volumes have been written about ,nietzsche1 and he is the greatest philosopher in the last hundred years1 and have him pleading that because ,leopold read ,nietzsche and adopted ,nietzsche's philosophy of the super-man1 that he is not responsible for the taking of human life4 ,we have the doctrine--,i should not characterize it as ,i should like to characterize it--the doctrine that the universities that had it taught1 and the professors who taught it1 are much more responsible for the crime that ,leopold committed than ,leopold himself4 ,that is the doctrine1 my friends1 that they have tried to bring into existence1 they commence in the high schools with their foundation of evolutionary theory1 and we have the word of the distinguished lawyer that this is more read than any other in a hundred years1 and the statement of that distinguished man that the teachings of ,nietzsche made ,leopold a murderer4444 7,mr4 ,bryan reading from a book by ,darrow7 8,i will guarantee that you can go to the ,university of ,chicago today--into its big library and find over #a1jjj volumes of ,nietzsche1 and ,i am sure ,i speak moderately4 ,if this boy is to blame for this1 where did he get it8 ,is there any blame attached because somebody took ,nietzsche's philosophy seriously and fashioned his life on it8 ,and there is no question in this case but what it is true4 ,then who is to blame8 ,the university would be more to blame than he is4 ,the scholars of the world would be more to blame than he is4 ,the publishers of the world--and ,nietzsche's books are published by one of the biggest publishers in the world--are more to blame than he is4 ,your honor1 it is hardly fair to hang a #ai-year-old boy for the philosophy that was taught him at the university40444 ,your honor1 we first pointed out that we do not need any experts in science4 ,here is one plain fact1 and the statute defines itself1 and it tells the kind of evolution it does not want taught1 and the evidence says that this is the kind of evolution that was taught1 and no number of scientists could come in here1 my friends1 and override that statute or take from the jury its right to decide this question1 so that all the experts they could bring would mean nothing4 ,and when it comes to ,bible experts1 every member of the jury is as good an expert on the ,bible as any man they could bring1 or that we could bring4 ,,the ,,defense ,mr4 ,malone3 ,are we to have our children know nothing about science except what the church says they shall know8 ,i have never seen any harm in learning and understanding1 in humility and open-mindedness1 and ,i have never seen clearer the need of that learning than when ,i see the attitude of the prosecution1 who attack and refuse to accept the information and intelligence1 which expert witnesses will give them4 ,,the ,,prosecution ,mr4 ,stewart3 ,now what could these scientists testify to8 ,they could only say as an expert1 qualified as an expert upon this subject1 ,i have made a study of these things and from my standpoint as such an expert1 ,i say that this does not deny the story of divine creation4 ,that is what they would testify to1 isn't it8 ,that is all they could testify about4 ,now1 then1 ,i say under the correct construction of the act1 that they cannot testify as to that4 ,why8 ,because in the wording of this act the legislature itself construed the instrument according to their intention4444 ,what was the general purpose of the legislature here8 ,it was to prevent teaching in the public schools of any county in ,tennessee that theory which says that man is descended from a lower order of animals4 ,that is the intent and nobody can dispute it under the shining sun of this day4 ,,the ,,court ,now upon these issues as brought up it becomes the duty of the ,court to determine the question of the admissibility of this expert testimony offered by the defendant4 ,it is not within the province of the ,court under these issues to decide and determine which is true1 the story of divine creation as taught in the ,bible1 or the story of the creation of man as taught by evolution4 ,if the state is correct in its insistence1 it is immaterial1 so far as the results of this case are concerned1 as to which theory is true2 because it is within the province of the legislative branch1 and not the judicial branch of the government to pass upon the policy of a statute2 and the policy of this statute having been passed upon by that department of the government1 this court is not further concerned as to its policy2 but is interested only in its proper interpretation and1 if valid1 its enforcement4444 ,therefore the court is content to sustain the motion of the attorney-general to exclude expert testimony4 ,,the ,,prosecution ,mr4 ,stewart 7during ,mr4 ,darrow's cross-examination of ,mr4 ,bryan73 ,i want to interpose another objection4 ,what is the purpose of this examination8 ,mr4 ,bryan3 ,the purpose is to cast ridicule upon everybody who believes in the ,bible1 and ,i am perfectly willing that the world shall know that these gentlemen have no other purpose than ridiculing every ,christian who believes in the ,bible4 ,,the ,,defense ,mr4 ,darrow3 ,we have the purpose of preventing bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the education of the ,united ,states1 and you know it1 and that is all4 ,statements of ,noted ,scientists as ,filed into ,record by ,defense ,counsel ,charles ,h4 ,judd1 ,director of ,school of ,education1 ,university of ,chicago3 ,it will be impossible1 in my judgment1 in the state university1 as well as in the normal schools1 to teach adequately psychology or the science of education without making constant reference to all the facts of mental development which are included in the general doctrine of evolution4444 ,whatever may be the constitutional rights of legislatures to prescribe the general course of study of public schools it will1 in my judgment1 be a serious national disaster if the attempt is successful to determine the details to be taught in the schools through the vote of legislatures rather than as a result of scientific investigation4 ,jacob ,g4 ,lipman1 ,dean of the ,college of ,agriculture1 ,state ,university of ,new ,jersey3 ,with these facts and interpretations of organic evolution left out1 the agricultural colleges and experimental stations could not render effective service to our great agricultural industry4 ,wilbur ,a4 ,nelson1 ,state ,geologist of ,tennessee3 ,it1 therefore1 appears that it would be impossible to study or teach geology in ,tennessee or elsewhere1 without using the theory of evolution4 ,kirtley ,f4 ,mather1 ,chairman of the ,department of ,geology1 ,harvard ,university3 ,science has not even a guess as to the original source or sources of matter4 ,it deals with immediate causes and effects4444 ,men of science have as their aim the discovery of facts4 ,they seek with open eyes1 willing to recognize it1 as ,huxley said1 even if it 8sears the eyeballs40 ,after they have discovered truth1 and not till then1 do they consider what its moral implications may be4 ,thus far1 and presumably always1 truth when found is also found to be right1 in the moral sense of the word4444 ,as ,henry ,ward ,beecher said1 forty years ago1 8,if to reject ,god's revelation in the book is infidelity1 what is it to reject ,god's revelation of himself in the structure of the whole globe80 ,maynard ,m4 ,metcalf1 ,research ,specialist in ,zoology1 ,johns ,hopkins ,university3 ,intelligent teaching of biology or intelligent approach to any biological science is impossible if the established fact of evolution is omitted4 ,horatio ,hackett ,newman1 ,professor of ,zoology1 ,university of ,chicago3 ,evolution has been tried and tested in every conceivable way for considerably over half a century4 ,vast numbers of biological facts have been examined in the light of this principle and without a single exception they have been entirely compatible with it4444 ,the evolution principle is thus a great unifying and integrating scientific conception4 ,any conception that is so far-reaching1 so consistent1 and that has led to so much advance in the understanding of nature1 is at least an extremely valuable idea and one not lightly to be cast aside in case it fails to agree with one's prejudices4 ,thus the two sides lined up as dialectical truth and empirical fact4 ,the state legislature of ,tennessee1 acting in its sovereign capacity1 had passed a measure which made it unlawful to teach that man is connatural with the animals through asserting that he is descended from a 8lower order0 of them4 7,there was some sparring over the meaning of the technical language of the act1 but this was the general consensus47 ,the legal question was whether ,john ,t4 ,scopes had violated the measure4 ,the philosophical question1 which was the real focus of interest1 was the right of a state to make this prescription4 ,we have referred to the kind of truth which can be dialectically established1 and here we must develop further the dialectical nature of the state's case4 ,as long as it maintained this dialectical position1 it did not have to go into the 8factual0 truth of evolution1 despite the outcry from the other side4 ,the following considerations1 then1 enter into this 8dialectical0 prosecution4 ,by definition the legislature is the supreme arbiter of education within the state4 ,it is charged with the duty of promoting enlightenment and morality1 and to these ends it may establish common schools1 require attendance1 and review curricula either by itself or through its agents4 ,the state of ,tennessee had exercised this kind of authority when it had forbidden the teaching of the ,bible in the public schools4 ,now if the legislature could take a position that the publicly subsidized teaching of the ,bible was socially undesirable1 it could1 from the same authority1 take the same position with regard to a body of science4 ,some people might feel that the legislature was morally bound to encourage the propagation of the ,bible1 just as some of those participating in the trial seemed to think that it was morally bound to encourage the propagation of science4 ,but here again the legislature is the highest tribunal1 and no body of religious or scientific doctrine comes to it with a compulsive authority4 ,in brief1 both the ,ten ,commandments and the theory of evolution belonged in the class of things which it could elect or reject1 depending on the systematic import of propositions underlying the philosophy of the state4 ,the policy of the anti-evolution law was the same type of policy which ,darrow had by inference commended only a year earlier in the famous trial of ,loeb and ,leopold4 ,this clash is perhaps the most direct in the ,scopes case and deserves pointing out here4 ,darrow had served as defense counsel for the two brilliant university graduates who had conceived the idea of committing a murder as a kind of intellectual exploit1 to prove that their powers of foresight and care could prevent detection4 ,the essence of ,darrow's plea at their trial was that the two young men could not be held culpable--at least in the degree the state claimed--because of the influences to which they had been exposed4 ,they had been readers of a system of philosophy of allegedly anti-social tendency1 and they were not to be blamed if they translated that philosophy into a sanction of their deed4 ,the effect of this plea obviously was to transfer guilt from the two young men to society as a whole1 acting through its laws1 its schools1 its publications1 etc4 ,now the key thing to be observed in this plea was that ,darrow was not asking the jury to inspect the philosophy of ,nietzsche for the purpose either of passing upon its internal consistency or its contact with reality4 ,he was asking precisely what ,bryan was asking of the jury at ,dayton1 namely that they take a strictly dialectical position outside it1 viewing it as a partial universe of discourse with consequences which could be adjudged good or bad4 ,the point to be especially noted is that ,darrow did not raise the question of whether the philosophy of ,nietzsche expresses necessary truth1 or whether1 let us say1 it is essential to an understanding of the world4 ,he was satisfied to point out that the state had not been a sufficiently vigilant guardian of the forces molding the character of its youth4 ,but the prosecution at ,dayton could use this line of argument without change4 ,if the philosophy of ,nietzsche were sufficient to instigate young men to criminal actions1 it might be claimed with even greater force that the philosophy of evolution1 which in the popular mind equated man with the animals1 would do the same4 ,the state's dialectic here simply used one of ,darrow's earlier definitions to place the anti-evolution law in a favorable or benevolent category4 ,in sum3 to ,darrow's previous position that the doctrine of ,nietzsche is capable of immoral influence1 ,bryan responded that the doctrine of evolution is likewise capable of immoral influence1 and this of course was the dialectical countering of the defense's position in the trial4 ,there remains yet a third dialectical maneuver for the prosecution4 ,on the second day of the trial ,attorney-,general ,stewart1 in reviewing the duties of the legislature1 posed the following problem3 8,supposing then that there should come within the minds of the people a conflict between literature and science4 ,then what would the legislature do8 ,wouldn't they have to interpret8444 ,wouldn't they have to interpret their construction of this conflict which one should be recognized or higher or more in the public schools80 ,this point was not exploited as fully as its importance might seem to warrant2 but what the counsel was here declaring is that the legislature is necessarily the umpire in all disputes between partial universes4 ,therefore if literature and science should fall into a conflict1 it would again be up to the legislature to assign the priority4 ,it is not bound to recognize the claims of either of these exclusively because1 as we saw earlier1 it operates in a universe with reference to which these are partial bodies of discourse4 ,the legislature is the disposer of partial universes4 ,accordingly when the ,attorney-,general took this stand1 he came the nearest of any of the participants in the trial to clarifying the state's position1 and by this we mean to showing that for the state it was a matter of legal dialectic4 ,there is little evidence to indicate that the defense understood the kind of case it was up against1 though naturally this is said in a philosophical rather than a legal sense4 ,after the questions of law were settled1 its argument assumed the substance of a plea for the truth of evolution1 which subject was not within the scope of the indictment4 ,we have1 for example1 the statement of ,mr4 ,hays already cited that the whole case of the defense depended on proving that evolution is a 8reasonable scientific theory40 ,of those who spoke for the defense1 ,mr4 ,dudley ,field ,malone seems to have had the poorest conception of the nature of the contest4 ,i must cite further from his plea because it shows most clearly the trap from which the defense was never able to extricate itself4 ,on the fifth day of the trial ,mr4 ,malone was chosen to reply to ,mr4 ,bryan1 and in the course of his speech he made the following revealing utterance3 8,your honor1 there is a difference between theological and scientific men4 ,theology deals with something that is established and revealed2 it seeks to gather material which they claim should not be changed4 ,it is the ,word of ,god and that cannot be changed2 it is literal1 it is not to be interpreted4 ,that is the theological mind4 ,it deals with theology4 ,the scientific mind is a modern thing1 your honor4 ,i am not sure ,galileo was the one who brought relief to the scientific mind2 because1 theretofore1 ,aristotle and ,plato had reached their conclusions and processes1 by metaphysical reasoning1 because they had no telescope and no microscope40 ,the part of this passage which gives his case away is the distinction made at the end4 ,mr4 ,malone was asserting that ,aristotle and ,plato got no further than they did because they lacked the telescope and the microscope4 ,to a slight extent perhaps ,aristotle was what we would today call a 8research scientist10 but the conclusions and processes arrived at by the metaphysical reasoning of the two are dialectical1 and the test of a dialectical position is logic and not ocular visibility4 ,at the risk of making ,mr4 ,malone a scapegoat we must say that this is an abysmal confusion of two different kinds of inquiry which the ,greeks were well cognizant of4 ,but the same confusion1 if it did not produce this trial1 certainly helped to draw it out to its length of eight days4 ,it is the assumption that human laws stand in wait upon what the scientists see in their telescopes and microscopes4 ,but harking back to ,professor ,adler3 facts are never determinative of dialectic in the sense presumed by this counsel4 ,exactly the same confusion appeared in a rhetorical plea for truth which ,mr4 ,malone made shortly later in the same speech4 ,then he said3 8,there is never a duel with truth4 ,the truth always wins and we are not afraid of it4 ,the truth is no coward4 ,the truth does not need the law4 ,the truth does not need the forces of government4 ,the truth does not need ,mr4 ,bryan4 ,the truth is imperishable1 eternal and immortal and needs no human agency to support it4 ,we are ready to tell the truth as we understand it and we do not fear all the truth that they can present as facts40 ,it is instantly apparent that this presents truth in an ambiguous sense4 ,malone begins with the simplistic assumption that there is a 8standard0 truth1 a kind of universal1 objective1 operative truth which it is heinous to oppose4 ,that might be well enough if the meaning were highly generic1 but before he is through this short passage he has equated truth with facts--the identical confusion which we noted in his utterance about ,plato and ,aristotle4 ,now since the truth which dialectic arrives at is not a truth of facts1 this peroration either becomes irrelevant1 or it lends itself to the other side1 where1 minus the concluding phrase1 it could serve as a eulogium of dialectical truth4 ,such was the dilemma by which the defense was impaled from the beginning4 ,to some extent it appears even in the expert testimony4 ,on the day preceding this speech by ,malone1 ,professor ,maynard ,metcalf had presented testimony in court regarding the theory of evolution 7this was on the fourth day of the trial2 ,judge ,raulston did not make his ruling excluding such testimony until the sixth day7 in which he made some statements which could have been of curious interest to the prosecution4 ,they are effectually summarized in the following excerpt3 8,evolution and the theories of evolution are fundamentally different things4 ,the fact of evolution is a thing that is perfectly and absolutely clear4444 ,the series of evidences is so convincing that ,i think it would be entirely impossible for any normal human being who was conversant with the phenomena to have even for a moment the least doubt even for the fact of evolution1 but he might have tremendous doubts as to the truth of any hypothesis44440 ,we first notice here a clear recognition of the kinds of truth distinguished by ,adler1 with the 8fact0 of evolution belonging to the first order and theories of evolution belonging to the second4 ,the second1 which is referred to by the term 8hypothesis10 consists of facts in an elaboration4 ,we note furthermore that this scientist has called them fundamentally different things--so different that one is entitled to have not merely doubts but 8tremendous doubts0 about the second4 ,now let us imagine the dialecticians of the opposite side approaching him with the following4 ,you have said1 ,professor ,metcalf1 that the fact of evolution and the various theories of evolution are two quite different things4 ,you have also said that the theories of evolution are so debatable or questionable that you can conceive of much difference of opinion about them4 ,now if there is an order of knowledge above this order of theories1 which order you admit to be somewhat speculative1 a further order of knowledge which is philosophical or evaluative1 is it not likely that there would be in this realm still more alternative positions1 still more room for doubt or difference of opinion8 ,and if all this is so1 would you expect people to assent to a proposition of this order in the same way you expect them to assent to1 say1 the proposition that a monkey has vertebrae8 ,and if you do make these admissions1 can you any longer maintain that people of opposite views on the teaching of evolution are simply defiers of the truth8 ,this is how the argument might have progressed had some ,greek ,darwin thrown ,athens into an uproar2 but this argument was1 after all1 in an ,american court of law4 ,it should now be apparent from these analyses that the defense was never able to meet the state's case on dialectical grounds4 ,even if it had boldly accepted the contest on this level1 it is difficult to see how it could have won1 for the dialectic must probably have followed this course3 ,first ,proposition1 ,all teaching of evolution is harmful4 ,counter ,proposition1 ,no teaching of evolution is harmful4 ,resolution1 ,some teaching of evolution is harmful4 ,now the resolution was exactly the position taken by the law1 which was that some teaching of evolution 7i4e41 the teaching of it in state-supported schools7 was an anti-social measure4 ,logically speaking1 the proposition that 8,some teaching of evolution is harmful10 does not exclude the proposition that 8,some teaching of evolution is not harmful10 but there was the fact that the law permitted some teaching of evolution 7e4g41 the teaching of it in schools not supported by the public funds74 ,in this situation there seemed nothing for the defense to do but stick by the second proposition and plead for that proposition rhetorically4 ,so science entered the juridical arena and argued for the value of science4 ,in this argument the chief topic was consequence4 ,there was ,malone's statement that without the theory of evolution ,burbank would not have been able to produce his results4 ,there was ,lipman's statement that without an understanding of the theory of evolution the agricultural colleges could not carry on their work4 ,there were the statements of ,judd and ,nelson that large areas of education depended upon a knowledge of evolution4 ,there was the argument brought out by ,professor ,mather of ,harvard3 8,when men are offered their choice between science1 with its confident and unanimous acceptance of the evolutionary principle1 on the one hand1 and religion1 with its necessary appeal to things unseen and improvable1 on the other1 they are much more likely to abandon religion than to abandon science4 ,if such a choice is forced upon us1 the churches will lose many of their best educated young people1 the very ones upon whom they must depend for leadership in coming years40 ,we noted at the beginning of this chapter that rhetoric deals with subjects at the point where they touch upon actuality or prudential conduct4 ,here the defense looks at the policy of teaching evolution and points to beneficial results4 ,the argument then becomes3 these important benefits imply an important beneficial cause4 ,this is why we can say that the pleaders for science were forced into the non-scientific role of the rhetorician4 ,the prosecution incidentally also had an argument from consequences1 although it was never employed directly4 ,when ,bryan maintained that the philosophy of evolution might lead to the same results as the philosophy of ,nietzsche had led with ,loeb and ,leopold1 he was opening a subject which could have supplied such an argument1 say in the form of a concrete instance of moral beliefs weakened by someone's having been indoctrinated with evolution4 ,but there was really no need3 as we have sought to show all along1 the state had an immense strategic advantage in the fact that laws belong to the category of dialectical determinations1 and it clung firmly to this advantage4 ,an irascible exchange which ,darrow had with the judge gives an idea of the frustration which the defense felt at this stage4 ,there had been an argument about the propriety of a cross-examination4 ,the ,court3 ,colonel ,darrow1 what is the purpose of cross-examination8 ,mr4 ,darrow3 ,the purpose of cross-examination is to be used on trial4 ,the ,court3 ,well1 isn't that an effort to ascertain the truth8 ,mr4 ,darrow3 ,no1 it is an effort to show prejudice4 ,nothing else4 ,has there been any effort to ascertain the truth in this case8 ,why not bring in the jury and let us prove it8 ,the truth referred to by the judge was whether the action of ,scopes fell within the definition of the law2 the truth referred to by ,darrow was the facts of evolution 7not submitted to the jury as evidence72 and 8prejudice0 was a crystallized opinion of the theory of evolution1 expressed now as law4 ,if we have appeared here to assign too complete a forensic victory to the prosecution1 let us return1 by way of recapitulating the issues1 to the relationship between positive science and dialectic4 ,many people1 perhaps a majority in this country1 have felt that the position of the ,state of ,tennessee was absurd because they are unable to see how a logical position can be taken without reference to empirical situations4 ,but it is just the nature of logic and dialectic to be a science without any content as it is the nature of biology or any positive science to be a science of empirical content4 ,we see the nature of this distinction when we realize that there is never an argument1 in the true sense of the term1 about facts4 ,when facts are disputed1 the argument must be suspended until the facts are settled4 ,not until then may it be resumed1 for all true argument is about the meaning of established or admitted facts4 ,and since this meaning is always expressed in propositions1 we can say further that all argument is about the systematic import of propositions4 ,while that remains so1 the truth of the theory of evolution or of any scientific theory can never be settled in a court of law4 ,the court could admit the facts into the record1 but the process of legal determination would deal with the meaning of the facts1 and it could not go beyond saying that the facts comport1 or do not comport1 with the meanings of other propositions4 ,thus its task is to determine their place in a system of discourse and if possible to effect a resolution in accordance with the movement of dialectic4 ,it is necessary that logic in its position as ultimate arbiter preserve this indifference toward that actuality which is the touchstone of scientific fact4 ,it is plain that those who either expected or hoped that science would win a sweeping victory in the ,tennessee courtroom were the same people who believe that science can take the place of speculative wisdom4 ,the only consolation they had in the course of the trial was the embarrassment to which ,darrow brought ,bryan in questioning him about the ,bible and the theory of evolution 7during which ,darrow did lead ,bryan into some dialectical traps74 ,but in strict consideration all of this was outside the bounds of the case because both the facts of evolution and the facts of the ,bible were 8items not in discourse10 to borrow a phrase employed by ,professor ,adler4 ,that is to say1 their correctness had to be determined by scientific means of investigation1 if at all2 but the relationship between the law and theories of man's origin could be determined only by legal casuistry1 in the non-pejorative sense of that phrase4 ,as we intimated at the beginning1 a sufficient grasp of what the case was about would have resulted in there being no case1 or in there being quite a different case4 ,as the events turned out science received1 in the popular estimation1 a check in the trial but a moral victory1 and this only led to more misunderstanding of the province of science in human affairs4 ,the law of the ,state of ,tennessee won a victory which was regarded as pyrrhic because it was generally felt to have made the law and the lawmakers look foolish4 ,this also was a disservice to the common weal4 ,both of these results could have been prevented if it had been understood that science is one thing and law another4 ,an understanding of that truth would seem to require some general dissemination throughout our educated classes of a ,summa ,dialectica4 ,this means that the educated people of our country would have to be so trained that they could see the dialectical possibility of the opposites of the beliefs they possess4 ,and that is a very large order for education in any age4 ,chapter ,,iii ,,edmund ,,burke ,,and ,,the ,,argument ,,from ,,circumstance ,we are now in position to affirm that the rhetorical study of an argument begins with a study of the sources4 ,but since almost any extended argument will draw upon more than one source we must look1 to answer the inquiry we are now starting1 at the prevailing source1 or the source which is most frequently called upon in the total persuasive effort4 ,we shall say that this predominating source gives to the argument an aspect1 and our present question is1 what can be inferred from the aspect of any argument or body of arguments about the philosophy of its maker8 ,all men argue alike when they argue validly because the modes of inference are formulas1 from which deviation is error4 ,therefore we characterize inference only as valid or invalid4 ,but the reasoner reveals his philosophical position by the source of argument which appears most often in his major premise because the major premise tells us how he is thinking about the world4 ,in other words1 the rhetorical content of the major premise which the speaker habitually uses is the key to his primary view of existence4 ,we are of course excluding artful choices which have in view only ad hoc persuasions4 ,putting the matter now figuratively1 we may say that no man escapes being branded by the premise that he regards as most efficacious in an argument4 ,the general importance of this is that major premises1 in addition to their logical function as part of a deductive argument1 are expressive of values1 and a characteristic major premise characterizes the user4 ,to see this principle in application1 let us take three of the chief sources of argument recognized by the classical rhetoricians4 ,we may look first at the source which is genus4 ,all arguments made through genus are arguments based on the nature of the thing which is said to constitute the genus4 ,what the argument from genus then says is that 8generic0 classes have a nature which can be predicated of their species4 ,thus man has a nature including mortality1 which quality can therefore be predicated of the man ,socrates and the man ,john ,smith4 ,the underlying postulate here1 that things have a nature1 is of course a disputable view of the world1 for it involves the acceptance of a realm of essence4 ,yet anyone who uses such source of argument is committed to this wider assumption4 ,now it follows that those who habitually argue from genus are in their personal philosophy idealists4 ,to them the idea of genus is a reflection of existence4 ,we are saying1 accordingly1 that arguments which make predominant use of genus have an aspect through this source1 and that the aspect may be employed to distinguish the philosophy of the author4 ,it will be found1 to cite a concrete example1 that ,john ,henry ,newman regularly argues from genus2 he begins with the nature of the thing and then makes the application4 ,the question of what a university is like is answered by applying the idea of a university4 ,the question of what man ought to study is answered by working out a conception of the nature of man4 ,and we shall find in a succeeding essay that ,abraham ,lincoln1 although he has become a patron for liberals and pragmatists1 was a consistent user of the argument from genus4 ,his refusal to hedge on the principle of slavery is referable to a fixed concept of the nature of man4 ,this1 then1 will serve to characterize the argument from genus4 ,another important source of argument is similitude4 ,whereas those who argue from genus argue from a fixed class1 those who argue from similitude invoke essential 7though not exhaustive7 correspondences4 ,if one were to say1 for example1 that whatever has the divine attribute of reason is likely to have also the divine attribute of immortality1 one would be using similitude to establish a probability4 ,thinkers of the analogical sort use this argument chiefly4 ,if required to characterize the outlook it implies1 we should say that it expresses belief in a oneness of the world1 which causes all correspondence to have probative value4 ,proponents of this view tend to look toward some final1 transcendental unity1 and as we might expect1 this type of argument is used widely by poets and religionists4#bf ,john ,bunyan used it constantly2 so did ,emerson4 ,a third type we shall mention1 the type which provides our access to ,burke1 is the argument from circumstance4 ,the argument from circumstance is1 as the name suggests1 the nearest of all arguments to purest expediency4 ,this argument merely reads the circumstances--the 8facts standing around0--and accepts them as coercive1 or allows them to dictate the decision4 ,if one should say1 8,the city must be surrendered because the besiegers are so numerous10 one would be arguing not from genus1 or similitude1 but from a present circumstance4 ,the expression 8,in view of the situation1 what else are you going to do80 constitutes a sort of proposition-form for this type of argument4 ,such argument savors of urgency rather than of perspicacity2 and it seems to be preferred by those who are easily impressed by existing tangibles4 ,whereas the argument from consequence attempts a forecast of results1 the argument from circumstance attempts only an estimate of current conditions or pressures4 ,by thus making present circumstance the overbearing consideration1 it keeps from sight even the nexus of cause and effect4 ,it is the least philosophical of all the sources of argument1 since theoretically it stops at the level of perception of fact4 ,burke is widely respected as a conservative who was intelligent enough to provide solid philosophical foundations for his conservatism4 ,it is perfectly true that many of his observations upon society have a conservative basis2 but if one studies the kind of argument which ,burke regularly employed when at grips with concrete policies1 one discovers a strong addiction to the argument from circumstance4 ,now for reasons which will be set forth in detail later1 the argument from circumstance is the argument philosophically appropriate to the liberal4 ,indeed1 one can go much further and say that it is the argument fatal to conservatism4 ,however much ,burke eulogized tradition and fulminated against the ,french ,revolution1 he was1 when judged by what we are calling aspect of argument1 very far from being a conservative2 and we suggest here that a man's method of argument is a truer index in his beliefs than his explicit profession of principles4 ,here is a means whereby he is revealed in his work4 ,burke's voluminous controversies give us ample opportunity to test him by this rule4 ,there is some point in beginning with ,burke's treatment of the existing ,catholic question1 an issue which drew forth one of his earliest political compositions and continued to engage his attention throughout his life4 ,as early as #agfe he had become concerned with the extraordinary legal disabilities imposed upon ,catholics in ,ireland1 and about this time he undertook a treatise entitled ,tract on the ,popery ,laws4 ,despite the fact that in this treatise ,burke professes belief in natural law1 going so far as to assert that all human laws are but declaratory1 the type of argument he uses chiefly is the secular argument from circumstance4 ,after a review of the laws and penalties1 he introduces his 8capital consideration40 ,the first and most capital consideration with regard to this1 as to every object1 is the extent of it4 ,and here it is necessary to premise3 this system of penalty and incapacity has for its object no small sect or obscure party1 but a very numerous body of men--a body which comprehends at least two thirds of the whole nation3 it amounts to #b1hjj1jjj souls1 a number sufficient for the materials constituent of a great people4#bg ,he then gave his reason for placing the circumstance first4 ,this consideration of the magnitude of the object ought to attend us through the whole inquiry3 if it does not always affect the reason1 it is always decisive on the importance of the question4 ,it not only makes itself a more leading point1 but complicates itself with every other part of the matter1 giving every error1 minute in itself1 a character and a significance from its application4 ,it is therefore not to be wondered at1 if we perpetually recur to it in the course of this essay4#bh ,the ,tract was planned in such a way as to continue this thought1 while accompanying it with discussion of the impediment to national prosperity1 and of 8the impolicy of those laws1 as they affect the national security40 ,this early effort established the tenor of his thinking on the subject4 ,while representing ,bristol in ,parliament1 ,burke alienated a part of his constituency by supporting ,sir ,george ,savile's measure to ease the restraints upon ,catholics4 ,in the famous ,speech to the ,electors of ,bristol he devoted a large portion of his time to a justification of that course1 and here1 it is true1 he made principal use of the argument from genus 78justice07 and from consequence4 ,the argument from circumstance is not forgotten1 but is tucked away at the end to persuade the 8bigoted enemies to liberty40 ,there1 using again his criterion of the 8magnitude of the object10 he said3 ,gentlemen1 it is possible you may not know that the people of that persuasion in ,ireland amount to at least sixteen or seventeen hundred thousand souls4 ,i do not at all exaggerate the number4 ,a nation to be persecuted6 ,whilst we were masters of the sea1 embodied with ,america and in alliance with half the powers of the continent1 we might1 perhaps1 in that remote corner of ,europe1 afford to tyrannize with impunity4 ,but there is a revolution in our affairs which makes it prudent for us to be just4#bi ,during the last decade of his life1 ,burke wrote a series of letters upon the ,catholic question and upon ,irish affairs1 in which1 of course1 this question figured largely4 ,in #agib came ,a ,letter to ,sir ,hercules ,langrishe1 ,m4,p41 upon the propriety of admitting ,catholics to the elective franchise4 ,here we find him taking a pragmatic view of liberality toward ,catholics4 ,he reasoned as follows regarding the restoration of the franchise3 ,if such means can with any probability be shown1 from circumstances1 rather to add strength to our mixed ecclesiastical and secular constitution1 than to weaken it2 surely they are means infinitely to be preferred to penalties1 incapacities1 and proscriptions continued from generation to generation4#cj ,in this instance the consideration of magnitude took a more extended form3 ,how much more1 certainly1 ought they the disqualifying laws to give way1 when1 as in our case1 they affect1 not here and there1 in some particular point or in their consequence1 but universally1 collectively and directly1 the fundamental franchises of a people1 equal to the whole inhabitants of several respectable kingdoms and states1 equal to the subjects of the kings of ,sardinia or of ,denmark2 equal to those of the ,united ,netherlands1 and more than are to be found in all the states of ,switzerland4 ,this way of proscribing men by whole nations1 as it were1 from all the benefits of the constitution to which they were born1 ,i never can believe to be politic or expedient1 much less necessary for the existence of any state or church in the world4#ca ,greatly exercised over events in ,france1 ,burke came to think of ,christianity as the one force with enough cohesion to check the spread of the ,revolution4 ,then in #agie he wrote the ,letter to ,william ,smith1 ,esq4 ,here he described ,christianity as 8the grand prejudice 444 which holds all the other prejudices together02#cb and such prejudices1 as he visualized them1 were essential to the fabric of society4 ,he told his correspondent candidly3 8,my whole politics1 at present1 center in one point2 and to this the merit or demerit of every measure 7with me7 is referable2 that is1 what will most promote or depress the cause of ,jacobinism40#cc ,in a second letter to ,sir ,hercules ,langrishe1 written in the same year1 he could say3 8,in the ,catholic ,question ,i considered only one point4 ,was it at the time1 and in the circumstances1 a measure which tended to promote the concord of the citizens40#cd ,only once did ,burke approach the question of religion through what may be properly termed an argument from definition4 ,in the last year of his life he composed ,a ,letter on the ,affairs of ,ireland1 one passage of which considers religion not in its bearing upon some practical measure1 but with reference to its essential nature4 ,let every man be as pious as he pleases1 and in the way that he pleases2 but it is agreeable neither to piety nor to policy to give exclusively all manner of civil privileges and advantages to a negative religion--such is the ,protestant without a certain creed2 and at the same time to deny those privileges to men whom we know to agree to an iota in every one positive doctrine1 which all of us1 who profess religion authoritatively taught in ,england1 hold ourselves1 according to our faculties1 bound to believe4#ce ,it is not purely an argument from definition1 but it contains such an argument1 and so contrasts with his dominant position on a subject which engaged much of his thought and seems to have filled him with sincere feeling4 ,we shall examine him now on another major subject to engage his statesmanship1 the rebellion of the ,north ,american ,colonies against ,great ,britain4 ,by common admission today1 ,burke's masterpiece of forensic eloquence is the speech moving his resolutions for conciliation with that disaffected part of the ,empire1 delivered in the ,house of ,commons on ,march #bb1 #agge4 ,in admiring the felicities with which this great oration undoubtedly abounds1 it is easy to overlook the fact that it is from beginning to end an argument from circumstance4 ,it is not an argument about rights or definitions1 as ,burke explicitly says at two or three points2 it is an argument about policy as dictated by circumstances4 ,its burden is a plea to conciliate the colonies because they are waxing great4 ,no subtlety of interpretation is required to establish this truth1 because we can substantially establish it in the express language of ,burke himself4 ,to see the aspect of this argument1 it is useful to begin by looking at the large alternatives which the orator enumerates for ,parliament in the exigency4 ,the first of these is to change the spirit of the ,colonies by rendering it more submissive4 ,circumventing the theory of the relationship of ruler and ruled1 ,burke sets aside this alternative as impractical4 ,he admits that an effort to bring about submission would be 8radical in its principle0 7i4e41 would have a root in principle72 but he sees too many obstacles in geography1 ethnology1 and other circumstances to warrant the trial4 ,the second alternative is to prosecute the ,colonists as criminal4 ,at this point1 the 8magnitude of the object0 again enters his equation1 and he would distinguish between the indictment of a single individual and the indictment of a whole people as things different in kind4 ,the number and vigor of the ,americans constitute an embarrassing circumstance4 ,therefore his thought issues in the oft-quoted statement 8,i do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people40#cf ,this was said1 it should be recalled1 despite the fact that history is replete with proceedings against rebellious subjects4#cg ,but ,burke had been an agent for the colony of ,new ,york2 he had studied the geography and history of the ,colonies with his usual industry2 and we may suppose him to have had a much clearer idea than his colleagues in ,parliament of their power to support a conflict4 ,it is understandable1 by this view1 that his third alternative should be 8to comply with the ,american spirit as necessary40 ,he told his fellow ,commoners plainly that his proposal had nothing to do with the legal right of taxation4 8,my consideration is narrow1 confined1 and wholly limited to the policy of the question40#ch ,this policy he later characterizes as 8systematic indulgence40 ,the outcome of this disjunctive argument is then a measure to accommodate a circumstance4 ,the circumstance is that ,america is a growing country1 of awesome potentiality1 whose strength1 both actual and imminent1 makes it advisable for the ,mother ,country to overlook abstract rights4 ,in a peroration1 the topic of abstract rights is assigned to those 8vulgar and mechanical politicians10 who are 8not fit to turn a wheel in the machine0 of ,empire4#ci ,with this conclusion in mind1 it will be instructive to see how the orator prepared the way for his proposal4 ,the entire first part of his discourse may be described as a depiction of the circumstance which is to be his source of argument4 ,after a circumspect beginning1 in which he calls attention to the signs of rebellion and derides the notion of 8paper government10 he devotes a long and brilliant passage to simple characterization of the ,colonies and their inhabitants4 ,the unavoidable effect of this passage is to impress upon his hearers the size and resources of this portion of the ,empire4 ,first he takes up the rapidly growing population1 then the extensive trade1 then the spirit of enterprise1 and finally the personal character of the ,colonists themselves4 ,outstanding even in this colorful passage is his account of the ,new ,england whaling industry4 ,whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice1 and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of ,hudson's ,bay and ,davis's ,straits1 whilst we are looking for them beneath the ,arctic ,circle1 we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold1 that they are at the antipodes1 and engaged under the frozen ,serpent of the ,south4 ,falkland ,island1 which seemed too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition1 is but a stage and resting-place in the progress of their victorious industry4 ,nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the accumulated winter of both the poles4 ,we know that whilst some of them draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of ,africa1 others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game along the coast of ,brazil4 ,no sea but what is vexed by their fisheries2 no climate that is not witness to their toils4 ,neither the perseverance of ,holland1 nor the activity of ,france1 nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of ,english enterprise ever carried this most perilous mode of hard industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people2 a people who are still1 as it were1 but in the gristle2 and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood4#dj ,it is the spectacle of this enterprise which induces ,burke to 8pardon something to the spirit of liberty40 ,the long recital is closed with an appeal which may be fitly regarded as the locus classicus of the argument from circumstance4 ,for with this impressive review of the fierce spirit of the colonists before his audience1 ,burke declares3 8,the question is1 not whether the spirit deserves praise or blame1 but--what1 in the name of ,god1 shall we do with it80#da ,the question then is not what is right or wrong1 or what accords with our idea of justice or our scheme of duty2 it is1 how can we meet this circumstance8 8,i am not determining a point of law2 ,i am restoring tranquillity40#db ,the circumstance becomes the cue of the policy4 ,we must remind ourselves that our concern here is not to pass upon the merits of a particular controversy1 but to note the term which ,burke evidently considered most efficacious in moving his hearers4 8,political reason10 he says1 elsewhere1 8is a computing principle40#dc ,where does political reason in this instance leave him8 ,it leaves him inevitably in the middle1 keeping the ,colonies1 but not as taxable parts of the ,empire1 allowing them to pay their own charge by voluntary grants4 ,in ,burke's characteristic view1 the theoretic relationship has been altered by the medium until the thirteen 7by his count fourteen7 colonies of ,british ,north ,america are left halfway between colonial and national status4 ,the position of the ,tories meant that either the ,colonies would be colonies or they would terminate their relationship with the ,empire4 ,burke's case was that by concession to circumstance they could be retained in some form1 and this would be a victory for policy4 ,philosophers of starker principle1 like ,tom ,paine1 held that a compromise of the ,burkean type would have been unacceptable in the long run even to the ,americans1 and the subsequent crystallization of ,american nationality seems to support this view4 ,but ,burke thought he saw a way to preserve an institution by making way for a large corporeal fact4 ,it must be confessed that ,burke's interest in the affairs of ,india1 and more specifically in the conduct of the ,east ,india ,company1 is not reconcilable in quite the same way with the thesis of this chapter4 ,certainly there is nothing in mean motives or contracted views to explain why he should have labored over a period of fourteen years to benefit a people with whom he had no contact and from whom he could expect no direct token of appreciation4 ,but it must be emphasized that the subject of this essay is methods1 and even in this famous case ,burke found some opportunity to utilize his favorite source4 ,in #aghc1 years before the impeachment of ,warren ,hastings1 he made a long speech in ,parliament attacking ,fox's ,east ,india ,bill4 ,he was by then deeply impressed by the wrongs done the ,indians by ,british adventurers1 yet it will be observed that his habitus reveals itself in the following passages4 ,he said of the ,east ,india ,company3 ,i do not presume to condemn those who argue a priori against the propriety of leaving such extensive political power in the hands of a company of merchants4 ,i know much is1 and much more may be1 said against such a system4 ,but1 with my particular ideas and sentiments1 ,i cannot go that way to work4 ,i feel an insuperable reluctance in giving my hand to destroy any established institution of government1 upon a theory1 however plausible it may be4#dd ,then shortly he continued3 ,to justify us in taking the administration of their affairs out of the hands of the ,east ,india ,company1 as my principles1 ,i must see several conditions4 #ast1 the object affected by the abuse must be great and important4 #bnd1 the abuse affecting the great object ought to be a great abuse4 #crd1 it ought to be habitual and not accidental4 #dth1 it ought to be utterly incurable in the body as it now stands constituted4#de ,it is pertinent to observe that ,burke's first condition here is exactly the first condition raised with reference to the ,irish ,catholics and with reference to the ,american ,colonies4 ,it is further characteristic of his method that the passages cited above are followed immediately by a description of the extent and wealth and civilization of ,india1 just as the plea for approaching the ,colonies with reconciliation was followed by a vivid advertisement of their extent and wealth and enterprise4 ,the argument is for justice1 but it is conditioned upon a circumstance4 ,when ,burke undertook the prosecution of ,hastings in #aghh1 these considerations seemed far from his mind4 ,the splendid opening charge contains arguments strictly from genus1 despite the renunciation of such arguments which we see above4 ,he attacked the charter of the ,east ,india ,company by showing that it violated the idea of a charter4#df ,he affirmed the natural rights of man1 and held that they had been criminally denied in ,india4#dg ,he scorned the notion of geographical morality4 ,these sound like the utterances of a man committed to abstract right4 ,lord ,morley has some observations on ,burke which may contain the explanation4 ,his study of ,burke's career led him to feel that 8direct moral or philanthropic apostleship was not his function40#dh ,of his interest in ,india1 he remarked3 8,it was reverence rather than sensibility1 a noble and philosophic conservatism rather than philanthropy1 which raised the storm in ,burke's breast against the rapacity of ,english adventurers in ,india1 and the imperial crimes of ,hastings40#di ,if it is true that ,burke acted out of reverence rather than out of sensibility or philanthropy1 what was the reverence of8 ,it was1 likely1 for storied ,india1 for an ancient and opulent civilization which had brought religion and the arts to a high point of development while his ancestors were yet 8in the woods40 ,there is just enough of deference for the established and going concern1 for panoply1 for that which has prestige1 to make us feel that ,burke was again impressed--with an intended consequence which was noble1 of course2 but it is only fair to record this component of the situation4 ,the noble and philosophic conservatism next translated itself into a violent opposition to the ,french ,revolution1 which was threatening to bring down a still greater structure of rights and dignities1 though in this instance in the name of reform and emancipation4 ,the ,french ,revolution was the touchstone of ,burke4 ,those who have regarded his position on this event as a reversal1 or a sign of fatigue and senescence1 have not sufficiently analyzed his methods and his sources4 ,burke would have had to become a new man to take any other stand than he did on the ,french ,revolution4 ,it was an event perfectly suited to mark off those who argue from circumstance1 for it was one of the most radical revolutions on record1 and it was the work of a people fond of logical rigor and clear demonstration4 ,why ,burke1 who had championed the ,irish ,catholics1 the ,american colonists1 and the ,indians should have championed on this occasion the nobility and the propertied classes of ,europe is easy to explain4 ,for him ,europe1 with all its settlements and usages1 was the circumstance2 and the ,revolution was the challenge to it4 ,from first to last ,burke saw the grand upheaval as a contest between inherited condition and speculative insight4 ,the circumstance said that ,europe should go on2 the ,revolution said that it should cease and begin anew4#ej ,burke's position was not selfish2 it was prudential within the philosophy we have seen him to hold4 ,actually his ,reflections on the ,revolution in ,france divides itself into two parts4 ,the first is an attempt1 made with a zeal which seems almost excessive1 to prove that the ,british government was the product of slow accretion of precedent1 that it is for that reason a beneficent and stable government1 and that the ,british have renounced1 through their choice of methods in the past1 any theoretical right to change their government by revolution4 ,the second part is a miscellany of remarks on the proceedings in ,france1 in which many shrewd observations of human nature are mingled with eloquent appeals on behalf of the ancien rgime4 ,burke appears terrified by the thought that the ultimate sources and sanctions of government should be brought out into broad daylight for the inspection of everyone1 and the first effort was to clothe the ,british government with a kind of concealment against this sort of inspection1 which could1 of course1 result in the testing of that government by what might have been or might yet be4 ,the second effort was to show that ,france1 instead of embarking on a career of progress through her daring revolution1 8had abandoned her interest1 that she might prostitute her virtue40 ,it will be observed that in both of these1 a presumed well-being is the source of his argument4 ,therefore we have the familiar recourse to concrete situation4 ,circumstances 7which with some gentlemen1 pass for nothing7 give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect4 ,the circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind4 ,abstractedly speaking1 government1 as well as liberty1 is good2 yet could ,i1 in common sense1 ten years ago1 have felicitated ,france upon her enjoyment of a government 7for she then had a government7 without inquiring what the nature of the government was1 or how it was administered8 ,can ,i now congratulate the same nation on its freedom8#ea ,in his ,letter to a ,member of the ,national ,assembly 7#agia7 he said3 ,what a number of faults have led to this multitude of misfortunes1 and almost all from this one source--that of considering certain general maxims1 without attending to circumstances1 to times1 to places1 to conjectures1 and to actors6 ,if we do not attend scrupulously to all of these1 the medicine of today becomes the poison of tomorrow4#eb ,this was the gist of such advice as ,burke had for the ,french4 ,that they should build on what they had instead of attempting to found de novo1 that they should adapt necessary changes to existing conditions1 and above all that they should not sacrifice the sources of dignity and continuity in the state--these made up a sort of gospel of precedent and gradualism which he preached to the deaf ears across the ,channel4 ,we behold him here in his characteristic political position1 but forced to dig a little deeper1 to give his theorems a more general application1 and1 it is hardly unjust to say1 to make what really constitutes a denial of philosophy take on some semblance of philosophy4 ,yet ,burke was certainly never at a greater height rhetorically in defending a reigning circumstance4 ,let us listen to him for a moment on the virtues of old ,europe4 ,but the age of chivalry is gone4 ,that of sophisters1 economists1 and calculators has succeeded1 and the glory of ,europe is extinguished forever4 ,never1 never more shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex1 that proud submission1 that dignified obedience1 the subordination of the heart1 which kept alive1 even in servitude itself1 the spirit of an exalted freedom4 ,the unbought grace of life1 the cheap defense of nations1 the nurse of manly sentiment1 is gone6 ,it is gone1 that sensibility of principle1 that chastity of honour1 which felt a stain like a wound1 which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity1 which ennobled whatever it touched1 and under which vice itself lost half its evil1 by losing all its grossness4 ,this mixed system of opinion and sentiment had its origin in the ancient chivalry2 and the principle1 though varied in its appearance by the varying state of human affairs1 subsisted and influenced through a long succession of generations1 even to the time we live in4 ,if it should ever be totally extinguished1 the loss ,i fear will be great4 ,it is this which has given its character to modern ,europe4 ,it is this which has distinguished it under all its forms of government1 and distinguished it to its advantage1 from the states of ,asia1 and possibly from those states which flourished in the most brilliant periods of the antique world4 ,it was this1 which1 without confounding ranks1 has produced a noble equality and handed it down through all the gradations of social life4 ,it was this opinion which mitigated kings into companions1 and raised private men to be fellows with kings4 ,without force or opposition1 it subdued the fierceness of pride and power2 it obliged sovereigns to submit to the soft collar of social esteem1 compelled stern authority to submit to elegance1 and gave a dominating vanquisher of laws to be subdued by manners4 ,but now all is to be changed4 ,all the pleasing illusions which made power gentle and obedience liberal1 which harmonized the different shades of life1 and which1 by a bland assimilation1 incorporated into politics the sentiments which beautify and soften private society1 are to be dissolved by the new conquering empire of light and reason4 ,all the decent drapery of life is to be rudely torn off4 ,all the superadded ideas1 furnished from the wardrobe of a moral imagination1 which the heart owns and the imagination ratifies1 as necessary to cover the defects of our naked1 shivering nature1 and to raise it to dignity in our own estimation1 are to be exposed as ridiculous1 absurd1 and antiquated fashions4#ec ,with the writings on ,french affairs1 ,burke's argument from circumstance came full flower4 ,these citations are enough to show a partiality toward argument of this aspect4 ,but a rehearsal of his general observations on politics and administration will show it in even clearer light4 ,burke had an obsessive dislike of metaphysics and the methods of the metaphysician4 ,there is scarcely a peroration or passage of appeal in his works which does not contain a gibe1 direct or indirect1 at this subject4 ,in the ,speech ,on ,american ,taxation he said1 8,i do not enter into these metaphysical distinctions2 ,i hate the very sound of them40#ed ,this science he regarded as wholly incompatible with politics1 yet capable of deluding a certain type of politician with its niceties and exactitudes4 ,whenever ,burke introduced the subject of metaphysics1 he was in effect arguing from contraries2 that is to say1 he was asserting that what is metaphysically true is politically false or unfeasible4 ,for him1 metaphysical clarity was at the opposite pole from political prudence4 ,as he observed in the ,reflections1 8,the pretended rights of these theories are all extremes2 and in proportion as they are metaphysically true1 they are morally and politically false40#ee ,in the first letter to ,sir ,hercules ,langrishe1 he ridiculed 8the metaphysicians of our times1 who are the most foolish of men1 and who1 dealing in universals and essences1 see no difference between more and less40#ef ,it will be noted that this last is a philosophical justification for his regular practice of weighing a principle by the scale of magnitude of situation4 ,the 8more and less0 thus becomes determinative of the good4 8,metaphysics cannot live without definition1 but prudence is cautious how she defines10#eg he said in the ,appeal from the ,new to the ,old ,whigs4 ,and again in the ,reflections1 8,these metaphysic rights1 entering into common life1 like rays of light which pierce into a dense medium are by the laws of nature refracted from a straight line4 ,indeed1 in the gross and complicated mass of human passions and concerns1 the primitive rights of man undergo such a variety of refractions and reflections1 that it becomes absurd to talk of them as if they continued in the simplicity of their original direction40#eh ,finally1 there is his clear confession1 8,whenever ,i speak against a theory1 ,i mean always a weak1 erroneous1 fallacious1 unfounded theory1 and one of the ways of discovering that it is a false theory is by comparing it with practice40 ,this is the philosophical explanation of the source in circumstance of ,burke's characteristic argument4 ,in a brilliant passage on the ,american character1 he had observed that the ,americans were in the habit of judging the pressure of a grievance by the badness of the principle rather than vice versa4 ,burke's own habit1 we now see1 was fairly consistently the reverse3 he judged the badness of the principle by the pressure of the grievance2 and hence we are compelled to suppose that he believed politics ought to be decided empirically and not dialectically4 ,yet a consequence of this position is that whoever says he is going to give equal consideration to circumstance and to ideals 7or principles7 almost inevitably finds himself following circumstances while preserving a mere decorous respect for ideals4 ,burke's doctrine of precedent1 which constitutes a central part of his political thought1 is directly related with the above position4 ,if one is unwilling to define political aims with reference to philosophic absolutes1 one tries to find guidance in precedent4 ,we have now seen that a principal topic of the ,reflections is a defense of custom against insight4 ,burke tried with all his eloquence to show that the 8manly0 freedom of the ,english was something inherited from ancestors1 like a valuable piece of property1 increased or otherwise modified slightly to meet the needs of the present generation1 and then reverently passed on4 ,he did not want to know the precise origin of the title to it1 nor did he want philosophical definition of it4 ,in fact1 the statement of ,burke which so angered ,thomas ,paine--that ,englishmen were ready to take up arms to prove that they had no right to change their government--however brash or paradoxical seeming1 was quite in keeping with such conviction4 ,since he scorned that freedom which did not have the stamp of generations of approval upon it1 he attempted to show that freedom too was a matter of precedent4 ,yet this is an evasion rather than an answer to the real question which is lying in wait for ,burke's political philosophy4 ,it is essential to see that government either moves with something in view or it does not1 and to say that people may be governed merely by following precedent begs the question4 ,what line do the precedents mark out for us8 ,how may we know that this particular act is in conformity with the body of precedents unless we can abstract the essence of the precedents8 ,and if one extracts the essence of a body of precedents1 does not one have a 8speculative idea08 ,however one turns1 one cannot evade the truth that there is no practice without theory1 and no government without some science of government4 ,burke's statement that a man's situation is the preceptor of his duty cannot be taken seriously unless one can isolate the precept4 ,this dilemma grows out of ,burke's own reluctance to speculate about the origin and ultimate end of government4 8,there is a sacred veil to be drawn over the beginnings of all governments10 he declared in his second day's speech at the trial of ,warren ,hastings4#ei ,to the abstract doctrines of the ,french ,revolution1 he responded with a 8philosophic analogy10 by which governments are made to come into being with something like the indistinct remoteness of the animal organism4 ,this political organism is a 8mysterious incorporation10 never wholly young or middle-aged or old1 but partly each at every period1 and capable1 like the animal organism1 of regenerating itself through renewal of tissue4 ,it is therefore modified only through the slow forces that produce evolution4 ,but to the question of what brings on the changes in society1 ,burke was never able to give an answer4 ,he had faced the problem briefly in the ,tract on the ,popery ,laws1 where he wrote3 8,is1 then1 no improvement to be brought into society8 ,undoubtedly1 but not by compulsion--but by encouragement1 but by countenance1 favor1 privileges1 which are powerful and are lawful instruments40#fj ,these1 however1 are the passive forces which admit change1 not the active ones which initiate it4 ,the prime mover is still to seek4 ,if such social changes are brought about by immanent evolutionary forces1 they are hardly voluntary2 if on the other hand they are voluntary1 they must be identifiable with some point in time and with some agency of initiation4 ,it quickly becomes obvious that if one is to talk about the beginnings of things1 about the nisus of growth or of accumulation of precedents1 and about final ends1 one must shift from empirical to speculative ground4 ,burke's attachment to what was de facto prevented him from doing this in political theory and made him a pleader from circumstance at many crucial points in his speeches4 ,one can scarcely do better than quote the judgment of ,sir ,james ,prior in his summation of ,burke's career3 8,his aim therefore in our domestic policy1 was to preserve all our institutions in the main as they stood for the simple reason that under them the nation had become great1 and prosperous1 and happy40#fa ,this is but a generalized translation of the position 8,if it exists1 there is something to be said in its favor10 which we have determined as the aspect of the great orator's case4 ,that position is1 moreover1 the essential position of ,whiggism as a political philosophy4 ,it turns out to be1 on examination1 a position which is defined by other positions because it will not conceive ultimate goals1 and it will not display on occasion a sovereign contempt for circumstances as radical parties of both right and left are capable of doing4 ,the other parties take their bearing from some philosophy of man and society2 the ,whigs take their bearings from the other parties4 ,whatever a party of left or right proposes1 they propose 7or oppose7 in tempered measure4 ,its politics is then cautionary1 instinctive1 trusting more to safety and to present success than to imagination and dramatic boldness of principle4 ,it is1 to make the estimate candid1 a politics without vision and consequently without the capacity to survive4 8,the political parties which ,i call great10 ,tocqueville wrote in ,democracy in ,america1 8are those which cling to principles rather than to their consequences1 to general and not to special cases1 to ideas and not to men40#fb ,manifestly the ,whig ,party is contrary to this on each point4 ,the ,whigs do not argue from principles 7i4e41 genera and definitions72 they are awed not merely by consequences but also by circumstances2 and as for the general and the special1 we have now heard ,burke testify on a dozen occasions to his disregard of the former and his veneration of the latter4 ,there is indeed ground for saying that ,burke was more ,whig than the ,british ,whigs of his own day themselves1 because at the one time when the ,british ,whig ,party took a turn in the direction of radical principle1 ,burke found himself out of sympathy with it and1 before long1 was excluded from it4 ,this occurred in #agia1 when the electrifying influence of the ,french ,revolution produced among the liberals of the age a strong trend toward the philosophic left4 ,it was this trend which drew from ,burke the ,appeal from the ,new to the ,old ,whigs1 with its final scornful paragraph in which he refused to take his principles 8from a ,french die40 ,this writing was largely taken up with a defense of his recently published ,reflections on the ,revolution in ,france1 and it is here relevant to note how ,burke defines his doctrine as a middle course4 8,the opinions maintained in that book10 he said1 8never can lead to an extreme1 because their foundation is laid in an opposition to extremes40#fc 8,these doctrines do of themselves gravitate to a middle point1 or to some point near a middle40#fd 8,the author of that book is supposed to have passed from extreme to extreme2 but he has always actually kept himself in a medium40#fe ,actually the course of events which caused this separation was the same as that which led to the ultimate extinction of the ,whig point of view in ,british political life4 ,in the early twentieth century1 when a world conflict involving the ,empire demanded of parties a profound basis in principle1 the heirs of the ,whig party passed from the scene1 leaving two coherent parties1 one of the right and one of the left4 ,that is part of our evidence for saying that a party which bases itself upon circumstance cannot outlast that circumstance very long2 that its claim to make smaller mistakes 7and to have smaller triumphs7 than the extreme parties will not win it enduring allegiance2 and that when the necessity arises1 as it always does at some time1 to look at the foundations of the commonwealth1 ,burke's wish will be disregarded1 and only deeply founded theories will be held worthy4 ,a party does not become great by feasting on the leavings of other parties1 and ,whiggism's bid for even temporary success is often rejected4 ,a party must have its own principle of movement and must not be content to serve as a brake on the movements of others4 ,thus there is indication that ,whiggism is a recipe for political failure1 but before affirming this as a conclusion1 let us extend our examination further to see how other parties have fared with circumstance as the decisive argument4 ,the ,american ,whig ,party showed all the defects of this position in an arena where such defects were bound to be more promptly fatal4 ,it is just to say that this party never had a set of principles4 ,lineal descendants of the old ,federalists1 the ,american ,whigs were simply the party of opposition to that militant democracy which received its most aggressive leadership from ,andrew ,jackson4 ,it was1 generally speaking1 the party of the 8best people02 that is to say1 the people who showed the greatest respect for industry and integrity1 the people in whose eyes ,jackson was 8that wicked man and vulgar hero40 ,yet because it had no philosophical position1 it was bound to take its position from that of the other party1 as we have seen that ,whiggism is doomed to do4 ,during most of its short life it was conspicuously a party of 8outs0 arrayed against 8ins40 ,it revealed the characteristic impotence in two obvious ways4 ,first1 it pinned its hopes for victory on brilliant personalities rather than on dialectically secured positions4 ,clay1 ,webster1 and ,calhoun1 who between them represented the best statesmanship of the generation1 were among its leaders1 but none of them ever reached the ,white ,house4 ,the beau ideal of the party was ,clay1 whose title 8the ,great ,compromiser0 seems to mark him as the archetypal ,whig4 ,finally it discovered a politically 8practical0 candidate in ,william ,henry ,harrison1 soldier and ,indian fighter1 and through a campaign of noise and irrelevancies1 put him in the ,presidency4 ,but this success was short1 and before long the ,whigs were back battling under their native handicaps4 ,second1 frustrated by its series of reverses1 it decided that what the patient needed was more of the disease4 ,whereas at the beginning it had been only relatively pragmatic in program and had preserved dignity in method1 it now resolved to become completely pragmatic in program and as pragmatic as its rivals the ,democrats in method4 ,of the latter step1 the 8coonskin and hard-cider0 campaign on behalf of ,harrison was the proof4 ,we may cite as special evidence the advice given to ,harrison's campaign manager by ,nicholas ,biddle of ,philadelphia4 8,let him the candidate say not a single word about his principles or his creed--let him say nothing1 promise nothing4 ,let the use of pen and ink be wholly forbidden40#ff ,e4 ,malcolm ,carroll in his ,origins of the ,whig ,party has thus summed up the policy of the ,whig leaders after their round with ,jackson3 8,the most active of the ,whig politicians and editors after #ahcf1 men like ,weed1 ,greeley1 ,ewing of ,ohio1 ,thaddeus ,stevens1 and ,richard ,houghton of ,boston1 preferred success to a consistent position and1 therefore1 influenced the party to make its campaign in the form of appeal to popular emotion and1 for this purpose1 to copy the methods of the ,democratic ,party40#fg ,this verdict is supported by ,paul ,murray in his study of ,whig operations in ,georgia3 8,the compelling aim of the party was to get control of the existing machinery of government1 to maintain that control1 and1 in some cases1 to change the form of government the better to serve the dominant interest of the group40#fh ,murray found that the ,whigs of ,georgia 8naturally had a respect for the past that approached at times the unreasonable reverence of ,edmund ,burke for eighteenth century political institutions40#fi ,but a party whose only program is an endorsement of the status quo is destined to go to pieces whenever the course of events brings a principle strongly to the fore4 ,the ,american ,union was moving toward a civil conflict in which ideological differences1 as deep as any that have appeared in modern revolutions1 were to divide men4 ,as always occurs in such crises1 the compromisers are regarded as unreliable by both sides and are soon ejected from the scene4 ,it now seems impossible that the ,whig ,party1 with its political history1 could have survived the fifties4 ,but the interesting fact from the standpoint of theoretical discussion is that the ,democratic ,party1 because it was a radically based party1 was able to take over and defend certain of the defensible earlier ,whig positions4 ,murray points out the paradoxical fact that the ,democratic ,party 8purloined the leadership of conservative property interests in ,georgia and the ,south40#gj ,it is no less paradoxical that it should have purloined the defense of the states' rights doctrine thirty years after ,jackson had threatened to hang disunionists4 ,the paradox can be resolved only by seeing that the ,whig position was one of self-stultification2 and this is why a rising young political leader in ,illinois of ,whig affiliation left the party to lead a re-conceived ,republican ,party4 ,the evidence of ,lincoln's life greatly favors the supposition that he was a conservative4 ,but he saw that conservatism to be politically effective cannot be ,whiggism1 that it cannot perpetually argue from circumstance4 ,he saw that to be politically effective conservatism must have something more than a temperamental love of quietude or a relish for success4 ,it must have some ideal objective4 ,he found objectives in the moral idea of freedom and the political idea of union4 ,the political party which ,abraham ,lincoln carried to victory in #ahfj was a party with these moral objectives4 ,the ,whigs had disintegrated from their own lack of principle1 and the ,republicans emerged with a program capable of rallying men to effort and sacrifice--which are in the long run psychologically more compelling than the stasis of security4 ,but after the war and the death of the party's unique leader1 all moral idealism speedily fell away4#ga ,of the passion of revenge there was more than enough1 so that some of the victor's measures look like the measures of a radical party4 ,but the elevation of ,grant to the presidency and the party's conduct during and after the ,gilded ,age show clearly the declining interest in reform4 ,before the end of the century the ,republican ,party had been reduced in its source of appeal to the ,whig argument from circumstance 7or in the case of the tariff to a wholly dishonest argument from consequences74 ,for thirty or forty years its case came to little more than this3 we are the richest nation on earth with the most widely distributed prosperity2 therefore this party advocates the status quo4 ,the argument1 whether embodied in the phrase 8the full dinner pail0 or 8two cars in every garage0 has the same source4 ,murray's judgment of the ,whig party in ,georgia a hundred years ago3 8,many facts in the history of the party might impel one to say that its members regarded the promotion of prosperity as the supreme aim of government10#gb can be applied without the slightest change to the ,republican ,party of the #aibj's4 ,but when the circumstance of this status quo disappeared about #aicj1 the party's source of argument disappeared too1 and no other has been found since4 ,it became the party of frustration and hatred1 and like the ,whig ,party earlier1 it clung to personalities in the hope that they would be sufficient to carry it to victory4 ,first there was the grass roots ,middle ,westerner ,alf ,landon2 then the glamorous new convert to internationalism ,wendell ,willkie2 then the gang-buster and ,empire ,state governor ,thomas ,dewey4 ,finally1 to make the parallel complete1 there came the military hero ,general ,dwight ,eisenhower4 ,eisenhower can be called the ,william ,henry ,harrison of the ,republican ,party4 ,he is 8against0 what the ,democrats are doing1 and he is admired by the 8best0 people4 ,all this is well suited to take minds off real issues through an outpouring of national vanity and the enjoyment of sensation4 ,the ,republican charge against the incumbent administration has been consistently the charge of 8bungling10 while those ,republicans who have based their dissent on something more profound and clear-sighted have generally drawn the suspicion and disapproval of the party's supposedly practical leaders4 ,of this the outstanding proof is the defeat of the leadership of ,taft4 ,to look at the whole matter in an historical frame of reference1 there has been so violent a swing toward the left that the ,democrats today occupy the position once occupied by the ,socialists2 and the ,republicans1 having to take their bearings from this1 now occupy the center position1 which is historically reserved for liberals4 ,their series of defeats comes from a failure to see that there is an intellectually defensible position on the right4 ,they persist with the argument from circumstance1 which never wins any major issues1 and sometimes1 as we have noted1 they are left without the circumstance4 ,i shall suggest that this story has more than an academic interest for an age which has seen parliamentary government exposed to insults1 some open and vicious1 some concealed and insidious4 ,there are in existence many technological factors which themselves constitute an argument from circumstance for one-party political rule4 ,indeed1 if the trend of circumstances were our master term1 we should almost certainly have to favor the one-party efficiency system lately flourishing in ,europe4 ,the centralization of power1 the technification of means of communication1 the extreme peril of political divisiveness in the face of modern weapons of war1 all combine to put the question1 8,what is the function of a party of opposition in this streamlined world anyhow80 ,its proper function is to talk1 but talking1 unless it concerns some opposition of principles1 is but the wearisome contention of 8ins0 and 8outs40 ,democracy is a dialectical process1 and unless society can produce a group sufficiently indifferent to success to oppose the ruling group on principle rather than according to opportunity for success1 the idea of opposition becomes discredited4 ,a party which can argue only from success has no rhetorical topic against the party presently enjoying success4 ,the proper aim of a political party is to persuade1 and to persuade it must have a rhetoric4 ,as far as mere methods go1 there is nothing to object to in the argument from circumstance1 for undeniably it has a power to move4 ,yet it has this power through a widely shared human weakness1 which turns out on examination to be shortsightedness4 ,this shortsightedness leads a party to positions where it has no policy1 or only the policy of opposing an incumbent4 ,when all the criteria are brought to bear1 then1 this is an inferior source of argument1 which reflects adversely upon any habitual user and generally punishes with failure4 ,since1 as we have seen1 it is grounded in the nature of a situation rather than in the nature of things1 its opposition will not be a dialectically opposed opposition1 any more than was ,burke's opposition to the ,french ,revolution4 ,and here1 in substance1 ,i would say1 is the great reason why ,burke should not be taken as prophet by the political conservatives4 ,true1 he has left many wonderful materials which they should assimilate4 ,his insights into human nature are quite solid propositions to build with1 and his eloquence is a lesson for all time in the effective power of energy and imagery4 ,yet these are the auxiliary rhetorical appeals4 ,for the rhetorical appeal on which it will stake its life1 a cause must have some primary source of argument which will not be embarrassed by abstractions or even by absolutes--the general ideas mentioned by ,tocqueville4 ,burke was magnificent at embellishment1 but of clear rational principle he had a mortal distrust4 ,it could almost be said that he raised 8muddling through0 to the height of a science1 though in actuality it can never be a science4 ,in the most critical undertaking of all1 the choice of one's source of argument1 it would be blindness to take him as mentor4 ,to find what ,burke lacked1 we now turn to the ,american ,abraham ,lincoln1 who despite an imperfect education1 discovered that political arguments must ultimately be based on genus or definition4 ,chapter ,,iv ,,abraham ,,lincoln ,,and ,,the ,,argument ,,from ,,definition ,although most readers of ,lincoln sense the prevailing aspect of his arguments1 there has been no thoughtful treatment of this interesting subject4 ,albert ,beveridge merely alludes to it in his observation that 8,in trials in circuit courts ,lincoln depended but little on precedents2 he argued largely from first principles40#gc ,nicolay and ,hay1 in describing ,lincoln's speech before the ,republican ,banquet in ,chicago1 ,december #aj1 #ahef1 report as follows3 8,though these fragments of addresses give us only an imperfect reflection of the style of ,mr4 ,lincoln's oratory during this period1 they nevertheless show its essential characteristics1 a pervading clearness of analysis1 and that strong tendency toward axiomatic definition which gives so many of his sentences their convincing force and durable value40#gd ,w4 ,h4 ,herndon1 who had the opportunity of closest personal observation1 was perhaps the most analytical of all when he wrote3 8,not only were nature1 man1 and principle suggestive to ,mr4 ,lincoln2 not only had he accurate and exact perceptions1 but he was causative2 his mind apparently with an automatic movement1 ran back behind facts1 principles1 and all things to their origin and first cause--to the point where forces act at once as effect and cause40#ge ,he observed further in connection with ,lincoln's practice before the bar3 8,all opponents dreaded his originality1 his condensation1 definition1 and force of expression44440#gf ,our feeling that he is a father of the nation even more convincingly than ,washington1 and that his words are words of wisdom when compared with those of the more intellectual ,jefferson and the more academic ,wilson strengthen the supposition that he argued from some very fundamental source4 ,and when we find opinion on the point harmonious1 despite the wide variety of description his character has undergone1 we have enough initial confirmation to go forward with the study--a study which is important not alone as showing the man in clearer light but also as showing upon what terms conservatism is possible4 ,it may be useful to review briefly the argument from definition4 ,the argument from definition1 in the sense we shall employ here1 includes all arguments from the nature of the thing4 ,whether the genus is an already recognized convention1 or whether it is defined at the moment by the orator1 or whether it is left to be inferred from the aggregate of its species1 the argument has a single postulate4 ,the postulate is that there exist classes which are determinate and therefore predicable4 ,in the ancient proposition of the schoolroom1 8,socrates is mortal10 the class of mortal beings is invoked as a predicable4 ,whatever is a member of the class will accordingly have the class attributes4 ,this might seem a very easy admission to gain1 but it is not so from those who believe that genera are only figments of the imagination and have no self-subsistence4 ,such persons hold1 in the extreme application of their doctrine1 that all deduction is unwarranted assumption2 or that attributes cannot be transferred by imputation from genus to species4 ,the issue here is very deep1 going back to the immemorial quarrel over universals1 and we shall not here explore it further than to say that the argument from definition or genus involves a philosophy of being1 which has divided and probably will continue to divide mankind4 ,there are those who seem to feel that genera are imprisoning bonds which serve only to hold the mind in confinement4 ,to others1 such genera appear the very organon of truth4 ,without going into that question here1 it seems safe to assert that those who believe in the validity of the argument from genus are idealists1 roughly1 if not very philosophically1 defined4 ,the evidence that ,lincoln held such belief is overwhelming2 it characterizes his thinking from an early age2 and the greatest of his utterances 7excepting the ,gettysburg ,address1 which is based upon similitude7 are chiefly arguments from definition4 ,in most of the questions which concerned him from the time he was a struggling young lawyer until the time when he was charged with the guidance of the nation1 ,lincoln saw opportunity to argue from the nature of man4 ,in fact1 not since the ,federalist papers of ,james ,madison had there been in ,american political life such candid recourse to this term4 ,i shall treat his use of it under the two heads of argument from a concept of human nature and argument from a definition of man4 ,lincoln came early to the conclusion that human nature is a fixed and knowable thing4 ,many of his early judgments of policy are based on a theory of what the human being qua human being will do in a given situation4 ,whether he had arrived at this concept through inductive study--for which he had varied opportunity--or through intuition is1 of course1 not the question here2 our interest is in the reasoning which the concept made possible4 ,it appears a fact that ,lincoln trusted in a uniform predictability of human nature4 ,in #ahch1 when he was only twenty-nine years old1 he was invited to address the ,young ,men's ,lyceum of ,springfield on the topic 8,the ,perpetuation of ,our ,political ,institutions40 ,in this instance1 the young orator read the danger to perpetuation in the inherent evil of human nature4 ,his argument was that the importance of a nation or the sacredness of a political dogma could not withstand the hunger of men for personal distinction4 ,now the founders of the ,union had won distinction through that very role1 and so satisfied themselves4 ,but oncoming men of the same breed would be looking for similar opportunity for distinction1 and possibly would not find it in tasks of peaceful construction4 ,it seemed to him quite possible that in the future bold natures would appear who would seek to gain distinction by pulling down what their predecessors had erected4 ,to a man of this nature it matters little whether distinction is won 8at the expense of emancipating slaves or enslaving freemen40#gg ,the fact remains that 8,distinction will be his paramount object10 and 8nothing left to be done in the way of building up1 he would set boldly to the task of pulling down40#gh ,in this way ,lincoln held personal ambition to be distinctive of human nature1 and he was willing to predict it of his fellow citizens1 should their political institutions endure 8fifty times0 as long as they had4 ,another excellent example of the use of this source appears in a speech which ,lincoln made during the ,van ,buren administration4 ,agitation over the ,national ,bank question was still lively1 and a bill had been put forward which would have required the depositing of ,federal funds in five regional subtreasuries1 rather than in a ,national ,bank1 until they were needed for use4 ,at a political discussion held in the ,illinois ,house of ,representatives1 ,lincoln made a long speech against the proposal in which he drew extensively from the topic of the nature of human nature4 ,his reasoning was that if public funds are placed in the custody of subtreasurers1 the duty and the personal interest of the custodians may conflict4 8,and who that knows anything of human nature doubts that in many instances interest will prevail over duty1 and that the subtreasurer will prefer opulent knavery in a foreign land to honest poverty at home40#gi ,if on the other hand the funds were placed with a ,national ,bank1 which would have the privilege of using the funds1 upon payment of interest1 until they are needed1 the duty and interest of the custodian would coincide4 ,the ,bank plan was preferable because we always find the best performance where duty and self-interest thus run together4#hj ,here we see him basing his case again on the infallible tendency of human nature to be itself4 ,a few years later ,lincoln was called upon to address the ,washingtonian ,temperance ,society1 which was an organization of reformed drink addicts4 ,this speech is strikingly independent in approach1 and as such is prophetic of the manner he was to adopt in wrestling with the great problems of union and slavery4 ,instead of following the usual line of the temperance advocate1 with its tone of superiority and condemnation1 he attacked all such approaches as not suited to the nature of man4 ,he impressed upon his hearers the fact that their problem was the problem of human nature1 8which is ,god's decree and can never be reversed40 ,he then went on to say that people with a weakness for drink are not inferior specimens of the race but have heads and hearts that 8will bear advantageous comparison with those of any other class40 ,the appeal to drink addicts was to be addressed to men1 and it could not take the form of denunciation 8because it is not much in the nature of man to be driven to anything2 still less to be driven about that which is exclusively his own business40 ,when one seeks to change the conduct of a being of this nature1 8persuasion1 kind1 unassuming persuasion should ever be adopted40 ,he then summed up his point3 8,such is man and so must he be understood by those who would lead him1 even to his own best interests40#ha ,one further instance of this argument may be cited4 ,about #ahej ,lincoln compiled notes for an address to young men on the subject of the profession of law4 ,here again we find a refreshingly candid approach1 looking without pretense at the creature man4 ,one piece of advice which ,lincoln urged upon young lawyers was that they never take their whole fee in advance4 ,to do so would place too great a strain upon human nature1 which would then lack the needful spur to industry4 8,when fully paid beforehand1 you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same interest in the case1 as if something was still in prospect for you1 as well as for your client40#hb ,as in the case of the subtreasury bill1 ,lincoln saw the yoking of duty and self-interest as a necessity of our nature4 ,these and other passages which could be produced indicate that he viewed human nature as a constant1 by which one could determine policy without much fear of surprise4 ,everything peripheral ,lincoln referred to this center4 ,his arguments consequently were the most fundamental seen since a group of realists framed the ,american government with such visible regard for human passion and weakness4 ,lincoln's theory of human nature was completely unsentimental2 it was the creation of one who had taken many buffetings and who1 from early bitterness and later indifference1 never affiliated with any religious denomination4 ,but it furnished the means of wisdom and prophecy4 ,with this habit of reasoning established1 ,lincoln was ideally equipped to deal with the great issue of slavery4 ,the ,american civil conflict of the last century1 when all its superficial excitements have been stripped aside1 appears another debate about the nature of man4 ,yet while other political leaders were looking to the law1 to ,american history1 and to this or that political contingency1 ,lincoln looked--as it was his habit already to do--to the center2 that is1 to the definition of man4 ,was the negro a man or was he not8 ,it can be shown that his answer to this question never varied1 despite willingness to recognize some temporary and perhaps even some permanent minority on the part of the ,african race4 ,the answer was a clear 8,yes10 and he used it on many occasions during the fifties to impale his opponents4 ,the ,south was peculiarly vulnerable to this argument1 for if we look at its position1 not through the terms of legal and religious argument1 often ingeniously worked out1 but through its actual treatment of the negro1 that position is seen to be equivocal4 ,to illustrate3 in the ,southern case he was not a man as far as the 8inalienable rights0 go1 and the ,dred ,scott decision was to class him as a chattel4 ,yet on the contrary the negro was very much a man when it came to such matters as understanding orders1 performing work1 and1 as the presence of the mulatto testified1 helping to procreate the human species4 ,all of the arguments that the pro-slavery group was able to muster broke against the stubborn fact1 which ,lincoln persistently thrust in their way1 that the negro was somehow and in some degree a man4 ,for our first examination of this argument1 we turn to the justly celebrated speech at ,peoria1 ,october #af1 #ahed4 ,lincoln had actually begun to lose interest in politics when the passage of the highly controversial ,kansas-,nebraska ,bill in ,may1 #ahed1 reawakened him4 ,it was as if his moral nature had received a fresh shock from the tendencies present in this bill2 and he began in that year the battle which he waged with remarkable consistency of position until he won the presidency of the ,union six years later4 ,the ,speech at ,peoria can be regarded as the opening gun of this campaign4 ,the speech itself is a rich study in logic and rhetoric1 wherein one finds the now mature ,lincoln showing his gift for discovering the essentials of a question4 ,after promising the audience to confine himself to the 8naked merits0 of the issue and to be 8no less than national in all the positions0 he took1 he turned at once to the topic of domestic slavery4 ,here arguments from the genus 8man0 follow one after another4 ,lincoln uses them to confront the ,southern people with their dilemma4 ,equal justice to the ,south1 it is said1 requires us to consent to the extension of slavery to new countries4 ,that is to say1 inasmuch as you do not object to my taking my hog to ,nebraska1 therefore ,i must not object to your taking your slave4 ,now1 ,i admit that this is perfectly logical1 if there is no difference between hogs and ,negroes4 ,but while you thus require me to deny the humanity of the ,negro1 ,i wish to ask whether you of the ,south1 yourselves1 have ever been willing to do as much8#hc ,if the ,southern people regard the ,negro only as an animal1 how do they explain their attitude toward the slave dealer8 ,you despise him utterly4 ,you do not recognize him as a friend1 or even as an honest man4 ,your children must not play with his2 they may rollick freely with the little ,negroes1 but not with the slave dealer's children4 ,if you are obliged to deal with him1 you try to get through the job without so much as touching him4 ,it is common with you to join hands with men you meet1 but with the slave dealer you avoid the ceremony--instinctively shrinking from the snaky contact4 ,if he grows rich and retires from business1 you still remember him1 and still keep up the ban of non-intercourse upon him and his family4 ,now why is this8 ,you do not so treat the man who deals in corn1 cotton1 or tobacco8#hd ,moreover1 if the ,negro is merely property1 and is incapable of any sort of classification1 what category is there to accommodate the free ,negroes8 ,and yet again4 ,there are in the ,united ,states and ,territories1 including the ,district of ,columbia1 #dcc1fdc free blacks4 ,at five hundred dollars per head1 they are worth over two hundred millions of dollars4 ,how comes this vast amount of property to be running about without owners8 ,we do not see free horses or free cattle running at large4 ,how is this8 ,all these free blacks are the descendants of slaves1 or have been slaves themselves2 and they would be slaves now but for something which has operated on their white owners1 inducing them at vast pecuniary sacrifice to liberate them4 ,what is that something8 ,is there any mistaking it8 ,in all these cases it is your sense of justice and human sympathy continually telling you that the poor ,negro has some natural right to himself--that those who deny it and make mere merchandise of him deserve kickings1 contempt1 and death4#he ,the argument is clinched with a passage which puts the ,negro's case in the most explicit terms one can well conceive of4 8,man0 and 8self-government10 ,lincoln argues1 cannot be defined without respect to one another4 ,the doctrine of self-government is right--absolutely and eternally right--but it has no just application as here attempted4 ,or perhaps ,i should rather say that whether it has such application depends upon whether a ,negro is not or is a man4 ,if he is not a man1 in that case he who is a man may as a matter of self-government do just what he pleases with him4 ,but if the ,negro is a man1 is it not to that extent a total destruction of self-government to say that he too shall not govern himself8 ,when the white man governs himself1 that is self-government2 but when he governs himself and also governs another man1 that is more than self-government--that is despotism4 ,if the ,negro is a man1 why then my ancient faith teaches me that 8all men are created equal10 and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man's making a slave of another4#hf ,lincoln knew the type of argument he had to oppose1 and he correctly gauged its force4 ,it was the argument from circumstance1 which he treated as such argument requires to be treated4 8,let us turn slavery from its claims of #8moral right' back upon its existing legal rights and its argument of #8necessity4'0#hg ,he did not deny the 8necessity02 he regarded it as something that could be taken care of in course of time4 ,after the formation of the ,republican ,party1 he often utilized his source in definition to point out the salient difference between ,republicans and ,democrats4 ,the ,democrats were playing up circumstance 7the 8necessity0 alluded to in the above quotation7 and to consequence 7the saving of the ,union through the placating of all sections7 while the ,republicans stood1 at first a little forlornly1 upon principle4 ,as he put it during a speech at ,springfield in #aheg3 ,the ,republicans inculcate1 with whatever of ability they can1 that the ,negro is a man1 that his bondage is cruelly wrong1 and that the field of his oppression ought not to be enlarged4 ,the ,democrats deny his manhood2 deny1 or dwarf to insignificance1 the wrong of his bondage2 so far as possible crush all sympathy for him1 and cultivate and excite hatred and disgust against him2 compliment themselves as ,union-savers for doing so2 and call the indefinite outspreading of his bondage 8a sacred right of self-government40#hh ,in the long contest with ,douglas and the party of 8popular sovereignty10 ,lincoln's principal charge was that his opponents1 by straddling issues and through deviousness1 were breaking down the essential definition of man4 ,repeatedly he referred to 8this gradual and steady debauching of public opinion40 ,he made this charge because those who advocated local option in the matter of slavery were working unremittingly to change the ,negro 8from the rank of a man to that of a brute40 8,they are taking him down10 he declared1 8and placing him1 when spoken of1 among reptiles and crocodiles1 as ,judge ,douglas himself expresses it4 8,is not this change wrought in your minds a very important change8 ,public opinion in this country is everything4 ,in a nation like ours this popular sovereignty and squatter sovereignty have already wrought a change in the public mind to the extent ,i have already stated4 ,there is no man in this crowd who can contradict it4 8,now1 if you are opposed to slavery honestly1 ,i ask you to note that fact1 and the like of which is to follow1 to be plastered on1 layer after layer1 until very soon you are prepared to deal with the ,negro everywhere as with a brute40#hi ,we feel that the morality of intellectual integrity lay behind such resistance to the breaking down of genera4 ,lincoln realized that the price of honesty1 as well as of success in the long run1 is to stay out of the excluded middle4 ,in sum1 we see that ,lincoln could never be dislodged from his position that there is one genus of human beings2 and early in his career as lawyer he had learned that it is better to base an argument upon one incontrovertible point than to try to make an impressive case through a whole array of points4 ,through the years he clung tenaciously to this concept of genus1 from which he could draw the proposition that what is fundamentally true of the family will be true also of the branches of the family4#ij ,therefore since the ,declaration of ,independence had interdicted slavery for man1 slavery was interdicted for the negro in principle4 ,here is a good place to point out that whereas for ,burke circumstance was often a deciding factor1 for ,lincoln it was never more than a retarding factor4 ,he marked the right to equality affirmed by the signers of the ,declaration of ,independence3 8,they meant simply to declare the right1 so that enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances would permit40#ia ,and he recognized the stubborn fact of the institution of ,american slavery4 ,but he did not argue any degree of rightness from the fact4 ,the strategy of his whole anti-slavery campaign was that slavery should be restricted to the states in which it then existed and in this way 8put in course of ultimate extinction0--a phrase which he found expressive enough to use on several occasions4 ,there is quite possibly concealed here another argument from definition1 expressible in the proposition that which cannot grow must perish4 ,to fix limits for an institution with the understanding that it shall never exceed these is in effect to pass sentence of death4 ,the slavery party seems to have apprehended early that if slavery could not wax1 it would wane1 and hence their support of the ,mexican ,war and the ,kansas-,nebraska ,bill4 ,lincoln's inflexible defense of the terms of the old ,northwest ,ordinance served notice that he represented the true opposition4 ,in this way his definitive stand drew clear lines for the approaching conflict4 ,to gain now a clearer view of ,lincoln's mastery of this rhetoric1 it will be useful to see how he used various arguments from definition within the scope of a single speech1 and for this purpose we may choose the ,first ,inaugural ,address1 surely from the standpoint of topical organization one of the most notable ,american state papers4 ,the long political contest1 in which he had displayed acumen along with tenacity1 had ended in victory1 and this was the juncture at which he had to lay down his policy for the ,american ,union4 ,for some men it would have been an occasion for description mainly2 but ,lincoln seems to have taken the advice he had given many years before to the ,young ,men's ,lyceum of ,springfield3 8,passion has helped us but can do so no more4444 ,reason1 cold1 calculating1 unimpassioned reason--must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense44440#ib ,without being cold1 the speech is severely logical1 and much of the tone is contributed by the type of argument preferred4 ,of the fourteen distinguishable arguments in this address1 eight are arguments from definition or genus4 ,of the six remaining1 two are from consequences1 two from circumstances1 one from contraries1 and one from similitude4 ,the proportion tells its own story4 ,now let us see how the eight are employed3 #a4 ,argument from the nature of all government4 ,all governments have a fundamental duty of self-preservation4 8,perpetuity is implied1 if not expressed1 in the fundamental law of all national governments40#ic ,this means of course that whatever is recognized as a government has the obligation to defend itself from without and from within1 and whatever menaces the government must be treated as a hostile force4 ,this argument was offered to meet the contention of the secessionists that the ,constitution nowhere authorized the ,federal government to take forcible measures against the withdrawing states4 ,here ,lincoln fell back upon the broader genus 8all government40 #b4 ,argument from the nature of contract4 ,here ,lincoln met the argument that the association of the states is 8in the nature of a contract merely40 ,his answer was that the rescinding of a contract requires the assent of all parties to it4 ,when one party alone ceases to observe it1 the contract is merely violated1 and violation affects the material interests of all parties4 ,by this interpretation of the law of contract1 the ,southern states could not leave the ,union without a general consent4 #c4 ,argument from the nature of the ,american ,union4 ,here ,lincoln began with the proposition that the ,american ,union is older than the ,constitution4 ,now since the ,constitution was formed 8to make a more perfect union10 it must have had in view the 8vital element of perpetuity10 since the omission of this element would have left a less perfect union than before4 ,the intent of the ,constitution was that 8no ,state upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the ,union40 ,therefore the ,american ,union1 as an instrument of government1 had in its legal nature protection against this kind of disintegration4 #d4 ,argument from the nature of the chief magistrate's office4 ,having thus defined the ,union1 ,lincoln next looked at the duties which its nature imposed upon the chief magistrate4 ,he defined it as 8simple duty0 on the chief magistrate's part to see that the laws of this unbroken union 8be faithfully executed in all the states40 ,obviously the argument was to justify active measures in defense of the ,union4 ,as ,lincoln conceived the definition1 it was not the duty of the chief magistrate to preside over the disintegration of the ,union1 but to carry on the executive office just as if no possibility of disintegration threatened4 ,thus far1 it will be observed1 the speech is a series of deductions1 each one deriving from the preceding definition4 #e4 ,argument from the nature of majority rule4 ,this argument1 with its fine axiomatic statements1 was used by ,lincoln to indicate how the government should proceed in cases not expressly envisaged by the ,constitution4 ,popular government demands acquiescence by minorities in all such cases4 8,if the minority will not acquiesce1 the majority must1 or the government will cease4 ,there is no other alternative2 for continuing the government is acquiescence on one side or the other4 8,if a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce1 they make a precedent which in turn will divide and ruin them2 for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such a minority40#id ,the difficulty of the ,confederacy with states' rights within its own house was to attest to the soundness of this argument4 #f4 ,argument from the nature of the sovereignty of the people4 ,here ,lincoln conceded the right of the whole people to change its government by constitutional reform or by revolutionary action4 ,but he saw this right vested in the people as a whole1 and he insisted that any change be carried out by the modes prescribed4 ,the institutions of the country were finally the creations of the sovereign will of the people4 ,but until a will on this issue was properly expressed1 the government had a commission to endure as before4 #g4 ,second argument from the nature of the office of chief magistrate4 ,this argument followed the preceding because ,lincoln had to make it clear that whereas the people1 as the source of sovereign power1 had the right to alter or abolish their government1 the chief magistrate1 as an elected servant1 had no such right4 ,he was chosen to conduct the government then in existence4 8,his duty is to administer the present government as it came into his hands1 and to transmit it1 unimpaired by him1 to his successor40#ie #h4 ,second argument from the nature of the sovereignty of the people4 ,in this ,lincoln reminds his audience that the ,american government does not give its officials much power to do mischief1 and that it provides a return of power to the people at short intervals4 ,in effect1 the argument defines the ,american type of government and a tyranny as incompatible from the fact that the governors are up for review by the people at regular periods4 ,it can hardly be overlooked that this concentration upon definition produces a strongly legalistic speech1 if we may conceive law as a process of defining actions4 ,every important policy of which explanation is made is referred to some widely accepted ,american political theory4 ,it has been said that ,lincoln's advantage over his opponent ,jefferson ,davis lay in a flexible-minded pragmatism capable of dealing with issues on their own terms1 unhampered by metaphysical abstractions4 ,there may be an element of truth in this if reference is made to the more confined and superficial matters--to procedural and administrative detail4 ,but one would go far to find a speech more respectful toward the established principles of ,american government--to defined and agreed upon things--than the ,first ,inaugural ,address4 ,although no other speech by ,lincoln exhibits so high a proportion of arguments from definition1 the ,first ,message to ,congress 7,july #d1 #ahfa7 makes a noteworthy use of this source4 ,the withdrawal of still other states from the ,union1 the ,confederate capture of ,fort ,sumter1 and ensuing military events compelled ,lincoln to develop more fully his anti-secessionist doctrine4 ,this he did in a passage remarkable for its treatment of the age-old problem of freedom and authority4 ,what had to be made determinate1 as he saw it1 was the nature of free government4 ,and this issue embraces more than the fate of these ,united ,states4 ,it presents to the whole family of man the question of whether a constitutional republic or democracy--a government of the people by the same people--can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes4 ,it presents the question whether discontented individuals1 too few in numbers to control administration according to organic law in any case1 can always1 upon the pretenses made in this case1 or on any other pretenses1 or arbitrarily without any pretense1 break up their government1 and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth4 ,it forces us to ask3 8,is there1 in all republics1 this inherent and fatal weakness80 8,must a government1 of necessity1 be too strong for the liberties of its own people1 or too weak to maintain its own existence80#if ,then looking at the doctrine of secession as a question of the whole and its parts1 he went on to say3 ,this relative matter of national power and ,state rights1 as a principle1 is no other than the principle of generality and locality4 ,whatever concerns the whole should be confined to the whole--to the ,general ,government2 while whatever concerns only the ,state should be left exclusively to the ,state4 ,this is all there is of original principle about it4 ,whether the ,national ,constitution in defining boundaries between the two has applied the principle with exact accuracy is not to be questioned4 ,we are all bound by that defining without question4#ig ,one further argument1 occurring in a later speech1 deserves special attention because of the clear way in which it reveals ,lincoln's method4 ,when he delivered his ,second ,annual ,message to ,congress on ,december #a1 #ahfb1 he devoted himself primarily to the subject of compensated emancipation of the slaves4 ,this was a critical moment of the war for the people of the border states1 who were not fully committed either way1 and who were sensitive on the subject of slavery4 ,lincoln hoped to gain the great political and military advantage of their adherence4 ,the way in which he approaches the subject should be of the highest interest to students of rhetoric1 for the opening part of the speech is virtually a copybook exercise in definition4 ,there he faces the question of what constitutes a nation4 8,a nation may be said to consist of its territory1 its people1 and its laws40 ,here we see in scholarly order the genus particularized by the differentiae4 ,next he enters into a critical discussion of the differentiae4 ,the notion may strike us as curious1 but ,lincoln proceeds to cite the territory as the enduring part4 8,the territory is the only part which is of a certain durability4 #8,one generation passeth away and another cometh1 but the earth abideth forever4' ,it is of the first importance to duly consider and estimate this ever-enduring part40#ih ,now1 ,lincoln goes on to say1 our present strife arises 8not from our permanent part1 not from the land we inhabit1 not from our national homestead40 ,it is rather the case that 8,our strife pertains to ourselves--to the passing generations of men2 and it can without convulsion be hushed forever with the passing of one generation40#ii ,the present generation will soon disappear1 and our laws can be modified by our will4 ,therefore he offers a plan whereby all owners will be indemnified and all slaves will be free by the year #aijj4 ,seen in another way1 what ,lincoln here does is define 8nation0 and then divide the differentiae into the permanent and the transitory2 finally he accommodates his measure both to the permanent part 7a territory to be wholly free after #aijj7 and the transitory part 7present men and institutions1 which are to be 8paid off074 ,it is the utterance of an ,american political leader2 yet it is veritably ,scholastic in its method and in the clearness of its lines of reasoning4 ,it is1 at the same time1 a fine illustration of pressing toward the ideal goal while respecting1 but not being deflected by1 circumstances4 ,it seems pertinent to say after the foregoing that one consequence of ,lincoln's love of definition was a war-time policy toward slavery which looked to some like temporizing4 ,we have encountered in an earlier speech his view that the ,negro could not be classified merely as property4 ,yet it must be remembered that in the eyes of the law ,negro slaves were property2 and ,lincoln was1 after all1 a lawyer4 ,morally he believed them not to be property1 but legally they were property2 and the necessity of walking a line between the moral imperative and the law will explain some of his actions which seem not to agree with the popular conception of the ,great ,emancipator4 ,the first serious clash came in the late summer of #ahfa1 when ,general ,fremont1 operating in ,missouri1 issued a proclamation freeing all slaves there belonging to citizens in rebellion against the ,united ,states4 ,lincoln first rebuked ,general ,fremont and then countermanded his order4 ,to ,o4 ,h4 ,browning1 of ,quincy1 ,illinois1 who had written him in support of ,fremont's action1 he responded as follows3 ,you speak of it as the only means of saving the government4 ,on the contrary1 it is itself the surrender of the government4 ,can it be pretended that it is any longer the ,government of the ,united ,states--any government of constitution and laws--wherein a general or a president may make permanent rules of property by proclamation8#ajj ,this was the doctrine of the legal aspect of slavery which was to be amplified in the ,second ,annual ,message to ,congress3 ,doubtless some of those who are to pay1 and not to receive1 will object4 ,yet the measure is both just and economical4 ,in a certain sense the liberation of the slaves is the destruction of property--property acquired by descent or by purchase1 the same as any other property4444 ,if1 then1 for a common object this property is to be sacrificed1 is it not just that it be done at a common charge8#aja ,it is a truism that as a war progresses1 the basis of the war changes1 and our civil conflict was no exception4 ,it appears to have become increasingly clear to ,lincoln that slavery was not only the fomenting cause but also the chief factor of support of the secessionist movement1 and finally he came to the conclusion that the 8destruction0 of this form of property was an indispensable military proceeding4 ,even here though--and contrary to the general knowledge of ,americans today--definitions were carefully made4 ,the final document was not a proclamation to emancipate slaves1 but a proclamation to confiscate the property of citizens in rebellion 8as a fit and necessary measure for suppressing said rebellion40 ,its terms did not emancipate all slaves1 and as a matter of fact slavery was legal in the ,district of ,columbia until some time after ,lincoln's death4 ,in view of ,lincoln's frequent reliance upon the argument from definition1 it becomes a matter of interest to inquire whether he appears to have realized that many of his problems were problems of definition4 ,one can of course employ a type of argument without being aware of much more than its ad hoc success1 but we should expect a reflective mind like ,lincoln's to ponder at times the abstract nature of his method4 ,furthermore1 the extraordinary accuracy with which he used words is evidence pointing in the same direction4 ,sensitivity on the score of definitions is tantamount to sensitivity on the score of names1 and we find the following in the ,first ,message to ,congress3 ,it might seem1 at first thought1 to be of little difference whether the present movement at the ,south be called 8secession0 or 8rebellion40 ,the movers1 however1 well understand the difference4 ,at the beginning they knew they could never raise their reason to any respectable magnitude by any name which implies violation of law4#ajb ,lincoln must at times have viewed his whole career as a battle against the 8miners and sappers0 of those names which expressed the national ideals4 ,his chief charge against ,douglas and the equivocal upholders of 8squatter sovereignty0 was that they were trying to circumvent definitions1 and during the war period he had to meet the same sort of attempts4 ,lincoln's most explicit statement by far on the problem appears in a short talk made at one of the 8,sanitary ,fairs0 it was his practice to attend4 ,speaking this time at ,baltimore in the spring of #ahfd1 he gave one of those timeless little lessons which have made such an impression on men's minds4 ,the world has never had a good definition of the word liberty1 and the ,american people1 just now1 are much in want of one4 ,we all declare for liberty2 but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing4 ,with some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases1 with himself1 and with the product of his labor2 while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men1 and the product of other men's labor4 ,here are two1 not only different1 but incompatible things1 called by the same name1 liberty4 ,and it follows that each of the things is1 by the respective parties1 called by two different and incompatible names--liberty and tyranny4 ,the shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat1 for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator1 while the wolf denounces him for the same act1 as the destroyer of liberty1 especially as the sheep was a black one4 ,plainly1 the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty2 and precisely the same difference prevails today among us human creatures1 even in the ,north1 and all professing to love liberty4#ajc ,so the difficulty appeared in his time1 and it should hardly be necessary to point out that no period of modern history has been more in need of this little homily on the subject of definition than the first half of the twentieth century4 ,the relationship between words and essences did then occur to ,lincoln as a problem1 and we can show how he was influenced in one highly important particular by his attention to this relationship4 ,fairly early in his struggle against ,douglas and others whom he conceived to be the foes of the ,union1 ,lincoln became convinced that the perdurability of laws and other institutions is bound up with the acceptance of the principle of contradiction4 ,or1 if that seems an unduly abstract way of putting the matter1 let us say that he came to repudiate1 as firmly as anyone in practical politics may do1 those people who try by relativistic interpretations and other sophistries to evade the force of some basic principles4 ,the heart of ,lincoln's statesmanship1 indeed1 lay in his perception that on some matters one has to say 8,yes0 or 8,no10 that one has to accept an alternative to the total exclusion of the other1 and that any weakness in being thus bold is a betrayal4 ,let us examine some of the stages by which this conviction grew upon him4 ,it seems not generally appreciated that this position comprises the essence of the celebrated 8,house ,divided0 speech1 delivered before the ,republican ,state ,convention at ,springfield1 ,june #af1 #aheh4 ,there he said3 8#8,a house divided against itself cannot stand4' ,i believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free4 ,i do not expect the ,union to be dissolved--,i do not expect the house to fall--but ,i do expect it will cease to be divided4 ,it will become all one thing or all the other40#ajd ,how manifest it is that ,lincoln's position was not one of 8tolerance10 as that word is vulgarly understood today4 ,it was a definite insistence upon right1 with no regard for latitude and longitude in moral questions4 ,for ,lincoln such questions could neither be relativistically decided nor held in abeyance4 ,there was no middle ground4 ,in the light of ,american political tradition the stand is curiously absolute1 but it is there--and it is genuinely expressive of ,lincoln's matured view4 ,douglas had made the fatal mistake of looking for a position in the excluded middle4 ,he had been trying to get slavery admitted into the territories by feigning that the institution was morally indifferent4 ,his platform declaration had been that he did not care 8whether it is voted up or voted down0 in the territories4 ,that statement made a fine opening for ,lincoln1 which he used as follows in his reply at ,alton3 ,any man can say that who does not see anything wrong in slavery1 but no man can logically say it who does see a wrong in it2 because no man can logically say he don't care whether a wrong is voted up or down4 ,he may say he don't care whether an indifferent thing is voted up or down1 but he must logically have a choice between a right thing and a wrong thing4 ,he contends that whatever community wants slaves has a right to have them4 ,so they have if it is not a wrong4 ,but if it is a wrong1 he cannot say people have a right to do a wrong4#aje ,in a speech at ,cincinnati the following year1 he used a figure from the ,bible to express his opposition to compromise4 8,the good old maxims of the ,bible are applicable1 and truly applicable1 to human affairs1 and in this1 as in other things1 we may say here that he who is not for us is against us2 he who gathereth not with us scattereth40#ajf ,in the ,address at ,cooper ,union ,institute1 ,february #bg1 #ahfj1 ,lincoln took long enough to describe the methodology of this dodge by ,douglas and his supporters4 ,it was1 as we have indicated1 an attempt to squeeze into the excluded middle4 8,let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored--contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong3 vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man2 such as a policy of #8don't care' on a question about which all true men do care44440#ajg ,finally1 and most eloquently of all1 there is the brief passage from his 8,meditation on the ,divine ,will10 composed sometime in #ahfb4 8,the will of ,god prevails4 ,in great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of ,god4 ,both may be1 and one must be1 wrong4 ,god cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time40#ajh ,god too is a rational being and will not be found embracing both sides of a contradictory4 ,where mutual negation exists1 ,god must be found on one side1 and ,lincoln hopes1 though he does not here claim1 that ,god is in the ,union's corner of this square of opposition4 ,the fact that ,lincoln's thought became increasingly logical under the pressure of events is proof of great depths in the man4 ,now as we take a general view of ,lincoln's habit of defining in its relation to his political thought1 we see that it gave him one quality in which he is unrivalled by any other ,american leader--the quality of perspective4 ,the connection of the two is a necessary one4 ,to define is to assume perspective2 that is the method of definition4 ,since nothing can be defined until it is placed in a category and distinguished from its near relatives1 it is obvious that definition involves the taking of a general view4 ,definition must see the thing in relation to other things1 as that relation is expressible through substance1 magnitude1 kind1 cause1 effect1 and other particularities4 ,it is merely different expression to say that this is a view which transcends3 perspective1 detachment1 and capacity to transcend are all requisites of him who would define1 and we know that ,lincoln evidenced these qualities quite early in life1#aji and that he employed them with consummate success when the future of the nation depended on his judgment4 ,let us remember that ,lincoln was a leader in the most bitter partisan trial in our history2 yet within short decades after his death he had achieved sanctuary4 ,his name is now immune against partisan rancor1 and he has long ceased to be a mere sectional hero4 ,the lesson of these facts is that greatness is found out and appreciated just as littleness is found out and scorned1 and ,lincoln proved his greatness through his habit of transcending and defining his objects4 ,the ,american scene of his time invites the colloquial adjective 8messy0--with human slavery dividing men geographically and spiritually1 with a fluid frontier1 and with the problems of labor and capital and of immigration already beginning to exert their pressures--but ,lincoln looked at these things in perspective and refused to look at them in any other way4 ,for an early example of this characteristic vision of his1 we may go back to the speech delivered before the ,young ,men's ,lyceum in #ahch4 ,the opening is significant4 8,in the great journal of things happening under the sun1 we the ,american people1 find our account running under date of the nineteenth century of the ,christian era4 ,we find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth as regards extent of territory1 fertility of soil1 and salubrity of climate40#aaj ,so ,lincoln takes as his point of perspective all time1 of which the ,christian era is but a portion2 and the entire earth1 of which the ,united ,states can be viewed as a specially favored part4 ,this habit of viewing things from an ,olympian height never left him4 ,we might cite also the opening of the ,speech at ,peoria1 and that of the ,speech at the ,cooper ,union ,institute2 but let us pass on twenty-five years and re-read the first sentence of the ,gettysburg ,address4 8,fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation1 conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal40 ,again tremendous perspective1 suggesting almost that ,lincoln was looking at the little act from some ultimate point in space and time4 8,fourscore and seven years ago0 carries the listener back to the beginning of the nation4 8,this continent0 again takes the whole world into purview4 8,our fathers0 is an auxiliary suggestion of the continuum of time4 ,the phrase following defines ,american political philosophy in the most general terms possible4 ,the entire opening sentence1 with its sustained detachment1 sounds like an account of the action to be rendered at ,judgment ,day4 ,it is not ,abe ,lincoln who is speaking the utterance1 but the voice of mankind1 as it were1 to whom the ,american ,civil ,war is but the passing vexation of a generation4 ,and as for the 8brave men1 living and dead1 who struggled here10 it takes two to make a struggle1 and is there anything to indicate that the men in gray are excluded8 ,there is nothing explicit1 and therefore we may say that ,lincoln looked as far ahead as he looked behind in commemorating the event of ,gettysburg4 ,this habit of perspective led ,lincoln at times to take an extraordinarily objective view of his own actions--more frequently perhaps as he neared the end of his career4 ,it was as if he projected a view in which history was the duration1 the world the stage1 and himself a transitory actor upon it4 ,of all his utterances the ,second ,inaugural is in this way the most objective and remote4 ,its tone even seems that of an actor about to quit the stage4 ,his self-effacement goes to the extent of impersonal constructions1 so that in places ,lincoln appears to be talking about another person4 8,at this second appearing to take the oath of the ,presidential office1 there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first40 8,at this second appearing06 ,is there any way of gathering1 except from our knowledge of the total situation1 who is thus appearing8 ,then after a generalized review of the military situation1 he declares3 8,with high hope for the future1 no prediction in regard to it is ventured40 ,why 8is ventured0 rather than 8,i venture08 ,lincoln had taught himself to view the war as one of ,god's processes worked out through human agents1 and the impersonality of tone of this last and most deeply meditative address may arise from that habit4 ,only once1 in the modest qualifying phrase 8,i trust10 does the pronoun 8,i0 appear2 and the final classic paragraph is spoken in the name of 8us40 ,there have been few men whose processes of mind so well deserve the epithet sub specie aeternitatis as ,lincoln's4 ,it goes without further demonstration that ,lincoln transcended the passions of the war4 ,how easy it is for a leader whose political and personal prestige are at stake to be carried along with the tide of hatred of a people at war1 we have1 unhappily1 seen many times4 ,no other victor in a civil conflict has conducted himself with more humanity1 and this not in some fine gesture after victory was secured--although there was that too--but during the struggle1 while the issue was still in doubt and maximum strain was placed upon the feelings4 ,without losing sight of his ultimate goal1 he treated everyone with personal kindness1 including people who went out of their way in attempts to wound him4 ,and probably it was his habit of looking at things through objective definitions which kept him from confusing being logically right with being personally right4 ,in the 8,meditation on the ,divine ,will0 he wrote1 8,in the present civil war it is quite possible that ,god's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party44440#aaa ,that could be written only by one who has attained the highest level of self-discipline4 ,it explains too why he should write1 in his letter to ,cuthbert ,bullitt3 8,i shall do nothing in malice4 ,what ,i deal with is too vast for malicious dealing40#aab ,lastly1 there is the extraordinary confession of common guilt in the ,second ,inaugural ,address1 which1 if it had been honored by the government he led1 would have constituted a step without precedent in history in the achievement of reconciliation after war4 ,it is supposable1 ,lincoln said1 that ,god has given 8to both ,north and ,south this terrible war40 ,hardly seventy-five years later we were to see nations falling into the ancient habit of claiming exclusive right in their quarrels and even of demanding unconditional surrender4 ,as late as ,february1 #ahfe1 ,lincoln stood ready to negotiate1 and his offer1 far from requiring 8unconditional surrender10 required but one condition--return of the seceded states to the ,union4 ,there is1 when we reflect upon the matter1 a certain morality in clarity of thought1 and the man who had learned to define with ,euclid and who had kept his opponents in argument out of the excluded middle1 could not be pushed into a settlement which satisfied only passion4 ,the settlement had to be objectively right4 ,between his world view and his mode of argument and his response to great occasions there is a relationship so close that to speak of any one apart is to leave the exposition incomplete4 ,with the full career in view1 there seems no reason to differ with ,herndon's judgment that ,lincoln displayed a high order of 8conservative statesmanship40#aac ,it is true that ,lincoln has been placed in almost every position1 from right to left1 on the political arc4 ,our most radical parties have put forward programs in his name2 and ,professor ,j4 ,g4 ,randall has written an unconvincing book on 8,lincoln the ,liberal ,statesman40 ,such variety of estimate underlines the necessity of looking for some more satisfactory criterion by which to place the man politically4 ,it will not do to look simply at the specific measures he has supported4 ,if these were the standard1 ,george ,washington would have to be regarded as a great progressive2 ,imperial ,germany would have to be regarded as liberal1 or even as radical1 by the token of its social reforms4 ,it seems right to assume that a much surer index to a man's political philosophy is his characteristic way of thinking1 inevitably expressed in the type of argument he prefers4 ,in reality1 the type of argument a man chooses gives us the profoundest look we get at his principle of integration4 ,by this method ,burke1 who was partial to the argument from circumstance1 must be described as a liberal1 whose blast against the ,french ,revolution was1 even in his own words1 an attack from center against an extreme4 ,those who argue from consequence tend to go all out for action2 they are the 8radicals40 ,those who prefer the argument from definition1 as ,lincoln did1 are conservatives in the legitimate sense of the word4 ,it is no accident that ,lincoln became the founder of the greatest ,american conservative party1 even if that party was debauched soon after his career ended4 ,he did so because his method was that of the conservative4 ,the true conservative is one who sees the universe as a paradigm of essences1 of which the phenomenology of the world is a sort of continuing approximation4 ,or1 to put this in another way1 he sees it as a set of definitions which are struggling to get themselves defined in the real world4 ,as ,lincoln remarked of the ,framers of the ,declaration of ,independence3 8,they meant to set up a standard maxim for free society1 which should be familiar to all1 and revered by all2 constantly looked to1 constantly labored for1 and even though never perfectly attained1 constantly approximated1 and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere40#aad ,this paradigm acts both as an inspiration to action and as a constraint upon over-action1 since there is always a possibility of going beyond the schemata into an excess4 ,lincoln opposed both slavery and the ,abolitionists 7the ,abolitionists constituted a kind of 8action0 party72 yet he was not a middle-of-the-roader4 ,indeed1 for one who grew up a ,whig1 he is astonishingly free from tendency to assume that 8the truth lies somewhere in between40 ,the truth lay where intellect and logic found it1 and he was not abashed by clearness of outline4 ,this type of conservative is sometimes found fighting quite briskly for change2 but if there is one thing by which he is distinguished1 it is a trust in the methods of law4 ,for him law is the embodiment of abstract justice2 it is not 8what the courts will decide tomorrow10 or a calculation of the forces at work in society4 ,a sentence from the ,first ,inaugural ,address will give us the conservative's view of pragmatic jurisprudence3 8,i do suggest that it will be much safer for all1 both in official and private stations1 to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed1 than to violate any of them1 trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional40#aae ,the essence of ,lincoln's doctrine was not the seeking of a middle1 but reform according to law2 that is1 reform according to definition4 ,true conservatism can be intellectual in the same way as true classicism4 ,it is one of the polar positions2 and it deserves an able exponent as well as does its vivifying opposite1 true radicalism4 ,after ,lincoln had left the scene1 the ,republican ,party1 as we have noted1 was unable to meet the test of victory4 ,it turned quickly to the worship of ,mammon1 and with the exception of the ambiguous ,theodore ,roosevelt1 it never found another leader4 ,no one understood better than ,lincoln that the party would have to succeed upon principle4 ,he told his followers during the campaign of #aheh3 8nobody has ever expected me to be ,president4 ,in my poor1 lean1 lank face nobody has even seen that any cabbages were sprouting out4 ,these are disadvantages all1 taken together1 that the ,republicans labor under4 ,we have to fight this battle upon principle and upon principle alone40#aaf ,for two generations this party lived upon the moral capital amassed during the anti-slavery campaign1 but after that had been expended1 and terrible issues had to be faced1 it possessed nothing4 ,it was less successful than the ,british ,tories because it was either ignorant or ashamed of the good things it had to offer4 ,today it shows in advanced form that affliction which has overcome the 8good elements0 in all modern nations in the face of the bold and enterprising bad ones4 ,let it be offered as a parting counsel that parties bethink themselves of how their chieftains speak4 ,this is a world in which one often gets what one asks for more directly or more literally than one expects4 ,if a leader asks only consequences1 he will find himself involved in naked competition of forces4 ,if he asks only circumstance1 he will find himself intimidated against all vision4 ,but if he asks for principle1 he may get that1 all tied up and complete1 and though purchased at a price1 paid for4 ,therefore it is of first importance whether a leader has the courage to define4 ,nowhere does a man's rhetoric catch up with him more completely than in the topics he chooses to win other men's assent4 ,chapter ,v ,,some ,,rhetorical ,,aspects ,,of ,,grammatical ,,categories ,in an earlier part of this work we defined rhetoric as something which creates an informed appetition for the good4 ,such definition must recognize the rhetorical force of things existing outside the realm of speech2 but since our concern is primarily with spoken rhetoric1 which cannot be disengaged from certain patterns or regularities of language1 we now turn our attention to the pressure of these formal patterns4 ,all students of language concede to it a certain public character4 ,insofar as it serves in communication1 it is a publicly-agreed-upon thing2 and when one passes the outer limits of the agreement1 one abandons comprehensibility4 ,now rhetoric affects us primarily by setting forth images which inform and attract4 ,yet because this setting forth is accomplished through a public instrumentality1 it is not free2 it is tied more or less closely to the formalizations of usage4 ,the more general and rigid of these formalizations we recognize as grammar1 and we shall here speak of grammar as a system of forms of public speech4 ,in the larger aspect1 discourse is at once bound and free1 and we are here interested to discover how the bound character affects our ability to teach and to persuade4 ,we soon realize that different ways of saying a thing denote different interests in saying it1 or to take this in reverse as we do when we become conscious users of language1 different interests in a matter will dictate different patterns of expression4 ,rhetoric in its practice is a matter of selection and arrangement1 but conventional grammar imposes restraints upon both of these4 ,all this amounts to saying what every sensitive user of language has sometimes felt2 namely1 that language is not a purely passive instrument1 but that1 owing to this public acceptance1 while you are doing something with it1 it is doing something with you1 or with your intention4#aag ,it does not exactly fight back2 rather it has a set of postures and balances which somehow modify your thrusts and holds4 ,the sentence form is certainly one of these4 ,you pour into it your meaning1 and it deflects1 and molds into certain shapes4 ,the user of language must know how this counterpressure can be turned to the advantage of his general purpose4 ,the failure of those who are careless1 or insensitive1 to the rhetoric of grammar is that they allow the counter force to impede their design1 whereas a perspicacious use of it will forward the design4 ,one cannot1 for example1 employ just any modifier to stand for a substantive or just any substantive to express a quality1 or change a stabilized pattern of arrangement without a change in net effect1 although some of these changes register but faintly4 ,but style shows through an accumulation of small particulars1 and the artist in language may ponder a long while1 as ,conrad is said to have done1 over whether to describe a character as 8penniless0 or 8without a penny40 ,in this approach1 then1 we are regarding language as a standard objective reality1 analyzable into categories which have inherent potentialities4 ,a knowledge of these objective potentialities can prevent a loss of force through friction4 ,the friction we refer to occurs whenever a given unit of the system of grammar is tending to say one thing while the semantic meaning and the general organization are tending to say another4 ,a language has certain abilities or even inclinations which the wise user can draw into the service of his own rhetorical effort4 ,using a language may be compared to riding a horse2 much of one's success depends upon an understanding of what it can and will do4 ,or to employ a different figure in illustration1 there is a kind of use of language which goes against the grain as that grain is constituted by the categories1 and there is a kind which facilitates the speaker's projection by going with it4 ,our task is an exploration of the congruence between well understood rhetorical objectives and the inherent character of major elements in modern ,english4 ,the problem of which category to begin with raises some questions4 ,it is arguable that the rhetoric of any piece is dependent upon its total intention1 and that consequently no single sentence can be appraised apart from the tendency of the whole discourse4 ,our position does not deny that1 since we are assuming merely that within the greater effect there are lesser effects1 cooperating well or ill4 ,having accepted that limitation1 it seems permissible for us to begin with the largest unit of grammar1 which is the sentence4 ,we shall take up first the sentence as such and then discriminate between formal types of sentences4 ,because a sentence form exists in most if not all languages1 there is some ground to suppose that it reflects a necessary operation of the mind1 and this means not simply of the mind as psychologically constituted but also as logically constrained4 ,it is evident that when the mind frames a sentence1 it performs the basic intellectual operation of analysis and re-synthesis4 ,in this complete operation the mind is taking two or more classes and uniting them at least to the extent at which they share in a formal unity4 ,the unity itself1 built up through many such associations1 comes to have an existence all its own1 as we shall see4 ,it is the repeated congruence in experience or in the imagination of such classes as 8sun-heat10 8snow-cold10 which establishes the pattern1 but our point is that the pattern once established can become disciplinary in itself and compel us to look for meaning within the formal unity it imposes4 ,so it is natural for us to perceive through a primitive analysis the compresence of sun and hot weather1 and to combine these into the unity 8the sun is hot02 but the articulation represented by this joining now becomes a thing in itself1 which can be grasped before the meaning of its component parts is evident4 ,accordingly1 although sentences are supposed to grow out of meanings1 we can have sentences before meanings are apparent1 and this is indeed the central point of our rhetoric of grammar4 ,when we thus grasp the scope of the pattern before we interpret the meaning of the components1 we are being affected by grammatical system4 ,i should like to put this principle to a supreme sort of test by using a few lines of highly modern verse4 ,in ,allen ,tate's poem 8,the ,subway0 we find the following3 ,i am become geometries1 and glut ,expansions like a blind astronomer ,dazed1 while the wordless heavens bulge and reel ,in the cold reverie of an idiot4 ,i do not propose to interpret this further than to say that the features present of word classification and word position cause us to look for meaning along certain lines4 ,it seems highly probable that we shall have to exercise much imagination to fit our classes together with meaning as they are fitted by formal classification and sentence order 78,i am become geometries072 yet it remains true that we take in the first line as a formal predication2 and ,i do not think that this formal character could ever be separated entirely from the substance in an interpretation4 ,once we gain admission of that point with regard to a sentence1 some rhetorical status for grammar has been definitely secured4 ,in total rhetorical effect the sentence seems to be peculiarly 8the thing said10 whereas all other elements are 8the things named40 ,and accordingly the right to utter a sentence is one of the very greatest liberties2 and we are entitled to little wonder that freedom of utterance should be1 in every society1 one of the most contentious and ill-defined rights4 ,the liberty to impose this formal unity is a liberty to handle the world1 to remake it1 if only a little1 and to hand it to others in a shape which may influence their actions4 ,it is interesting to speculate whether the ,greeks did not1 for this very reason1 describe the man clever at speech as 1 an epithet meaning1 in addition to 8clever10 8fearful0 and 8terrible40 ,the sentence through its office of assertion is a force adding itself to the forces of the world1 and therefore the man clever with his sentences--which is to say with his combinations--was regarded with that uneasiness which we feel in the presence of power4 ,the changes wrought by sentences are changes in the world rather than in the physical earth1 but it is to be remembered that changes in the world bring about changes in the earth4 ,thus this practice of yoking together classes of the world1 of saying 8,charles is ,king0 or 8,my country is ,god's country0 is a unique rhetorical fact which we have to take into account1 although it stands somewhat prior to our main discussion4 ,as we turn now to the different formal types of sentences1 we shall follow the traditional grammatical classification and discuss the rhetorical inclination of each in turn4 ,through its form1 the simple sentence tends to emphasize the discreteness of phenomena within the structural unity4 ,to be more specific1 its pattern of subject-verb-object or complement1 without major competing elements1 leaves our attention fixed upon the classes involved3 8,charles is ,king40 ,the effect remains when the simple sentence compounds its subject and predicate3 8,peaches and cantaloupes grew in abundance02 8,men and boys hunted and fished40 ,the single subject-predicate frame has the broad sense of listing or itemizing1 and the list becomes what the sentence is about semantically4 ,sentences of this kind are often the unconscious style of one who sees the world as a conglomerate of things1 like the child2 sometimes they are the conscious style of one who seeks to present certain things as eminent against a background of matter uniform or flat4 ,one can imagine1 for example1 the simple sentence 8,he never worked0 coming after a long and tedious recital which it is supposed to highlight4 ,or one can imagine the sentence 8,the world is round0 leaping out of a context with which it contrasts in meaning1 in brevity1 or in sententiousness4 ,there is some descriptive value in saying that the simple sentence is the most 8logical0 type of sentence because1 like the simple categorical proposition1 it has this function of relating two classes4 ,this fact1 combined with its usual brevity and its structural simplicity1 makes it a useful sentence for beginnings and endings 7of important meaning-groups1 not so much of formal introductions and conclusions74 ,it is a sentence of unclouded perspective1 so to speak4 ,nothing could be more beautifully anticipatory than ,burke's 8,the proposition is peace40 ,at the very minimum1 we can affirm that the simple sentence tends to throw subject and predicate classes into relief by the structure it presents them in2 that the two-part categorical form of its copulation indicates a positive mood on the part of the user1 and that its brevity often induces a generality of approach1 which is an aid to perspicuous style4 ,these opportunities are found out by the speaker or writer who senses the need for some synoptic or dramatic spot in his discourse4 ,thus when he selects the simple sentence1 he is going 8with the grain02 he is putting the objective form to work for him4 ,the complex sentence has a different potentiality4 ,whereas the simple sentence emphasizes through its form the co-existence of classes 7and it must be already apparent that we regard 8things existing or occurring0 as a class where the predicate consists only of a verb71 the complex sentence emphasizes a more complex relationship2 that is to say1 it reflects another kind of discriminating activity1 which does not stop with seeing discrete classes as co-existing1 but distinguishes them according to rank or value1 or places them in an order of cause and effect4 8,rome fell because valor declined0 is the utterance of a reflective mind because the conjunction of parts depends on something ascertainable by the intellect but not by simple perception4 ,this is evidence that the complex sentence does not appear until experience has undergone some refinement by the mind4 ,then1 because it goes beyond simple observation and begins to perceive things like causal principle1 or begins to grade things according to a standard of interest1 it brings in the notion of dependence to supplement that of simple togetherness4 ,and consequently the complex sentence will be found nearly always to express some sort of hierarchy1 whether spatial1 moral1 or causal1 with its subordinate members describing the lower orders4 ,in simple-sentence style we would write3 8,tragedy began in ,greece4 ,it is the highest form of literary art40 ,there is no disputing that these sentences1 in this sequence1 could have a place in mature expression4 ,but they do not have the same effect as 8,tragedy1 which is the highest form of literary art1 began in ,greece0 or 8,tragedy1 which began in ,greece1 is the highest form of literary art40 ,what has occurred is the critical process of subordination4 ,the two ideas have been transferred from a conglomerate to an articulated unity1 and the very fact of subordination makes inevitable the emergence of a focus of interest4 ,is our passage about the highest form of literary art or about the cultural history of ,greece8 ,the form of the complex sentence makes it unnecessary to waste any words in explicit assertion of that4 ,here it is plain that grammatical form is capital upon which we can draw1 provided that other necessities have been taken care of4 ,to see how a writer of consummate sensibility toward expression-forms proceeded1 let us take a fairly typical sentence from ,henry ,james3 ,merton ,densher1 who passed the best hours of each night at the office of his newspaper1 had at times1 during the day1 a sense1 or at least an appearance1 of leisure1 in accordance with which he was not infrequently to be met1 in different parts of the town1 at moments when men of business were hidden from the public eye4#aah ,leaving aside the phrases1 which are employed by ,james in extension and refinement of the same effect1 we see here three dependent clauses used to explain the contingencies of 8,merton ,densher had an appearance of leisure40 ,these clauses have the function of surrounding the central statement in such a fashion that we have an intricate design of thought characterized by involution1 or the emergence of one detail out of another4 ,james' famous practice of using the dependent clause not only for qualification1 but for the qualification of qualification1 and in some cases for the qualification of qualification of qualification1 indicates a persistent sorting out of experience expressive of the highly civilized mind4 ,perhaps the leading quality of the civilized mind is that it is sophisticated as to causes and effects 7also as to other contiguities72 and the complex sentence1 required to give these a scrupulous ordering1 is its natural vehicle4 ,at the same time the spatial form of ordering to which the complex sentence lends itself makes it a useful tool in scientific analysis1 and one can find brilliant examples of it in the work of scientists who have been skillful in communication4 ,when ,t4 ,h4 ,huxley1 for instance1 explains a piece of anatomy1 the complex sentence is the frame of explanation4 ,in almost every sentence it will be observed that he is focussing interest upon one part while keeping its relationship--spatial or causal--clear with reference to surrounding parts4 ,in ,huxley's expository prose1 therefore1 one finds the dominant sentence type to consist of a main clause at the beginning followed by a series of dependent clauses which fill in these facts of relationship4 ,we may follow the pattern of the sentences in his account of the protoplasm of the common nettle3 ,each stinging-needle tapers from a broad base to a slender summit1 which1 though rounded at the end1 is of such microscopic fineness that it readily penetrates1 and breaks off in1 the skin4 ,the whole hair consists of a very delicate outer case of wood1 closely applied to the inner surface of which is a layer of semi-fluid matter full of innumerable granules of extreme minuteness4 ,this semi-fluid lining is protoplasm1 which thus constitutes a kind of bag1 full of limpid liquid1 and roughly corresponding in form with the interior of the hair which it fills4#aai ,this is1 of course1 the 8loose0 sentence of traditional rhetorical analysis1 and it has no dramatic force2 yet it is for this very reason adapted to the scientist's purpose4#abj ,the rhetorical adaptation shows in the accommodation of a little hierarchy of details4 ,this appears to be the sentence of a developed mentality also1 because it is created through a patient1 disciplined observation1 and not through impression1 as the simple sentence can be4 ,to the infant's mind1 as ,william ,james observed in a now famous passage1 the world is a 8buzzing1 blooming confusion10 and to the immature mind much older it often appears something done in broad1 uniform strokes4 ,but to the mind of a trained scientist it has to appear a cosmos--else1 no science4 ,so in ,huxley the objective world is presented as a series of details1 each of which has its own cluster of satellites in the form of minor clauses4 ,this is the way the world has to be reported when our objective is maximum perception and minimum desire to obtrude or influence4 ,henry ,james was explaining with a somewhat comparable interest a different kind of world1 in which all sorts of human and non-material forces are at work1 and he tried with extreme conscientiousness to measure them4 ,in that process of quantification and qualification the complex sentence was often brought by him to an extraordinary height of ramification4 ,in summation1 then1 the complex sentence is the branching sentence1 or the sentence with parts growing off other parts4 ,those who have used it most properly have performed a second act of analysis1 in which the objects of perception1 after being seen discretely1 are put into a ranked structure4 ,this type of sentence imposes the greatest demand upon the reader because it carries him farthest into the reality existing outside self4 ,this point will take on importance as we turn to the compound sentence4 ,the structure of the compound sentence often reflects a simple artlessness--the uncritical pouring together of simple sentences1 as in the speech of ,huckleberry ,finn4 ,the child who is relating an adventure is likely to make it a flat recital of conjoined simple predications1 because to him the important fact is that the things were1 not that they can be read to signify this or that4 ,his even juxtapositions are therefore sometimes amusing1 for now and then he will produce a coordination that unintentionally illuminates4 ,this would1 of course1 be a result of lack of control over the rhetoric of grammar4 ,on the other hand1 the compound sentence can be a very 8mature0 sentence when its structure conforms with a settled view of the world4 ,the latter possibility will be seen as we think of the balance it presents4 ,when a sentence consists of two main clauses we have two predications of similar structure bidding for our attention4 ,our first supposal is that this produces a sentence of unusual tension1 with two equal parts 7and of course sometimes more than two equal parts7 in a sort of competition4 ,yet it appears on fuller acquaintance that this tension is a tension of stasis1 and that the compound sentence has1 in practice1 been markedly favored by periods of repose like that of the ,eighteenth century4 ,there is congeniality between its internal balance and a concept of the world as an equilibrium of forces4 ,as a general rule1 it appears that whereas the complex sentence favors the presentation of the world as a system of facts or as a dynamism1 the compound sentence favors the presentation of it in a more or less philosophical picture4 ,this world as a philosophical cosmos will have to be a sort of compensatory system4 ,we know from other evidences that the ,eighteenth century loved to see things in balance2 in fact1 it required the idea of balance as a foundation for its institutions4 ,quite naturally then1 since motives of this kind reach into expression-forms1 this was the age of masters of the balanced sentence--,dryden1 ,johnson1 ,gibbon1 and others1 the genre of whose style derives largely from this practice of compounding4 ,often the balance which they achieved was more intricate than simple conjunction of main clauses because they balanced lesser elements too1 but the informing impulse was the same4 ,that impulse was the desire for counterpoise1 which was one of the powerful motives of their culture4 ,in this pattern of balance1 various elements are used in the offsettings4 ,thus when one attends closely to the meanings of the balanced parts1 one finds these compounds recurring3 an abstract statement is balanced 7in a second independent clause7 by a more concrete expression of the same thing2 a fact is balanced by its causal explanation2 a statement of positive mode is balanced by one of negative mode2 a clause of praise is balanced by a clause of qualified censure2 a description of one part is balanced by a description of a contrasting part1 and so on through a good many conventional pairings4 ,now in these collocations cause and effect and other relationships are presented1 yet the attempt seems not so much to explore reality as to clothe it in decent form4 ,culture is a delicate reconciliation of opposites1 and consequently a man who sees the world through the eyes of a culture makes effort in this direction4 ,we know that the world of ,eighteenth century culture was a rationalist world1 and in a rationalist world everything must be 8accounted for40 ,the virtue of the compound sentence is that its second part gives 8the other half10 so to speak4 ,as the pattern works out1 every fact has its cause2 every virtue is compensated for by a vice2 every excursion into generality must be made up for by attention to concrete circumstances and vice versa4 ,the perfection of this art form is found in ,johnson and ,gibbon1 where such pairings occur with a frequency which has given rise to the phrase 8the balanced style40 ,when ,gibbon1 for example1 writes of religion in the ,age of the ,antonines3 8,the superstition of the people was not embittered by any mixture of theological rancour2 nor was it confined by the chains of any speculative system10#aba we have almost the feeling that the case of religion has been settled by this neat artifice of expression4 ,this is a 8just0 view of affairs1 which sees both sides and leaves a kind of balanced account4 ,it looks somewhat subjective1 or at least humanized2 it gives us the gross world a little tidied up by thought4 ,often1 moreover1 this balance of structure together with the act of saying a thing equivocally--in the narrower etymological sense of that word--suggests the finality of art4 ,this will be found true of many of the poetical passages of the ,king ,james ,bible1 although these come from an earlier date4 8,the heavens declare the glory of ,god2 and the firmament sheweth his handiwork02 8,man cometh forth as a flower and is cut down2 he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not40 ,by thus stating the matter in two ways1 through balanced clauses1 the sentence achieves a degree of formal completeness missing in sentences where the interest is in mere assertion4 ,generally speaking the balanced compound sentence1 by the very contrivedness of its structure1 suggests something formed above the welter of experience1 and this form1 as we have by now substantially said1 transfers something of itself to the meaning4 ,in declaring that the compound sentence may seem subjective1 we are not saying that it is arbitrary1 its correspondence being with the philosophical interpretation rather than with the factual reality4 ,thus if the complex sentence is about the world1 the compound sentence is about our idea about the world1 into which some notion of compensation forces itself4 ,one notices that even ,huxley1 when he draws away from his simple expositions of fact and seeks play for his great powers of persuasion1 begins to compound his sentences4 ,on the whole1 the compound sentence conveys that completeness and symmetry which the world ought to have1 and which we manage to get1 in some measure1 into our most satisfactory explanations of it4 ,it is most agreeable to those ages and those individuals who feel that they have come to terms with the world1 and are masters in a domain4 ,but understandably enough1 in a world which has come to be centrifugal and infinite1 as ours has become since the great revolutions1 it tends to seem artificial and mechanical in its containment4 ,since the difference between sentence and clause is negligible as far as the issues of this subject are concerned1 we shall next look at the word1 and conclude with a few remarks on some lesser combinations4 ,this brings up at once the convention of parts of speech4 ,here again ,i shall follow the traditional classification1 on the supposition that categories to which usage is referred for correction have accumulated some rhetorical force1 whatever may be said for the merits of some other and more scientific classification4 ,the ,noun ,it is difficult not to feel that both usage and speculation agree on the rhetorical quality of nouns4 ,the noun derives its special dignity from being a name word1 and names persist1 in spite of all the cautions of modern semanticists1 in being thought of as words for substances4 ,we apprehend the significance of that when we realize that in the ancient philosophical regimen to which the ,west is heir1 and which influences our thought far more than we are aware at any one moment1 substances are assigned a higher degree of being than actions or qualities4 ,substance is that which primordially is1 and one may doubt whether recent attempts to revolutionize both ontology and grammar have made any impression at all against this feeling4 ,for that reason a substantive comes to us as something that is peculiarly fulfilled2#abb or it is like a piece in a game which has superior powers of movement and capture4 ,the fact that a substantive is the word in a sentence which the other words are 8about0 in various relationships gives it a superior status4#abc ,nouns then express things whose being is completed1 not whose being is in process1 or whose being depends upon some other being4 ,and that no doubt accounts for the feeling that when one is using nouns1 one is manipulating the symbols of a self-subsistent reality4#abd ,there seems little doubt that an ancient metaphysical system1 grown to be an habitus of the mind through long acceptance1 gives the substantive word a prime status1 and this fact has importance when we come to compare the noun with the adjective in power to convince by making real4 ,suffice it to say here that the noun1 whether it be a pointer to things that one can touch and see1 as apple1 bird1 sky1 or to the more or less hypothetical substances such as fairness1 spook1 nothingness1 by rule stands at the head of things and is ministered to by the other parts of speech and by combinations4 ,the ,adjective ,the adjective is1 by the principle of determination just reviewed1 a word of secondary status and force4 ,its burden is an attribute1 or something added4 ,in the order of being to which reference has been made1 the noun can exist without the adjective1 but not the adjective without the noun4 ,thus we can have 8men0 without having 8excellent men02 but we cannot have 8excellent0 without having something 7if only something understood7 to receive the attribution4 ,there are very practical rhetorical lessons to be drawn from this truth4 ,since adjectives express attributes which are conceptually dispensable to the substances wherein they are present1 the adjective tends to be a supernumerary4 ,long before we are aware of this fact through analysis1 we sense it through our resentment of any attempt to gain maximum effect through the adjective4 ,our intuition of speech seems to tell us that the adjective is question-begging2 that is to say1 if the thing to be expressed is real1 it will be expressed through a substantive2 if it is expressed mainly through adjectives1 there is something defective in its reality1 since it has gone for secondary support4#abe ,if someone should say to us1 8,have some white milk10 we must suppose either that the situation is curious1 other kinds of milk being available1 or that the speaker is trying to impose upon us by a piece of persiflage4 ,again1 a mountain is a mountain without being called 8huge02 if we have to call it huge1 there is some defect in the original image which is being made up4 ,of course there are speech situations in which such modifiers do make a useful contribution1 but as a general rule1 to be applied with discretion1 a style is stronger when it depends mainly upon substantives sharp enough to convey their own attributes4 ,furthermore1 because the class of the adjective contains so many terms of dialectical import1 such as good1 evil1 noble1 base1 useful1 useless1 there is bound to exist an initial suspicion of all adjectives4 7,even when they are the positive kind1 as is true with most limiting adjectives1 there lurk the questions 8,who made up the statistics80 and 8,how were they gathered807 ,the dialectical adjective is too often a 8fighting word0 to be used casually4 ,because in its very origin it is the product of disputation1 one is far from being certain in advance of assent to it4 ,how would you wish to characterize the world8 ,if you wish to characterize it as 8round10 you will win a very general assent1 although not a universal one4 ,but if you wish1 with the poet1 to characterize it as 8sorry10 you take a position in respect to which there are all sorts of contrary positions4 ,in strictest thought one might say that every noun contains its own analysis1 but an adjective applied to a noun is apparatus brought in from the outside2 and the result is the object slightly 8fictionized40 ,since adjectives thus initiate changes in the more widely received substantive words1 one has to have permission of his audience to talk in adjectives4 ,karl ,shapiro seems to have had something like this in mind in the following passage from his ,essay on ,rime3 for the tyrannical epithet ,relies upon the adjective to produce ,the image2 and no serious construction ,in rime can build upon the modifier4#abf ,one of the common mistakes of the inexperienced writer1 in prose as well as poetry1 is to suppose that the adjective can set the key of a discourse4 ,later he learns what ,shapiro indicates1 that nearly always the adjective has to have the way prepared for it4 ,otherwise1 the adjective introduced before its noun collapses for want of support4 ,there is a perceptible difference between 8the irresponsible conduct of the opposition with regard to the ,smith bill0 and 8the conduct of the opposition with regard to the ,smith bill has been irresponsible10 which is accounted for in part by the fact that the adjective comes after the substantive has made its firm impression4 ,in like manner we are prepared to receive ,henley's ,out of the night that covers me1 ,black as the ,pit from pole to pole because 8night0 has preceded 8black40 ,i submit that if the poem had begun 8,black as 4440 it would have lost a great deal of its rhetorical force because of the inherent character of the opening word4 ,the adjective would have been felt presumptuous1 as it were1 and probably no amount of supplementation could have overcome this unfortunate effect4 ,i shall offer one more example to show that costly mistakes in emphasis may result from supposing that the adjective can compete with the noun4 ,this one came under my observation1 and has remained with me as a classical instance of rhetorical ineptitude4 ,on a certain university campus 8,peace ,week0 was being observed1 and a prominent part of the program was a series of talks4 ,the object of these talks was to draw attention to those forces which seemed to be leading mankind toward a third world war4 ,one of the speakers undertook to point out the extent to which the ,western nations1 and especially the ,united ,states1 were at fault4 ,he declared that a chief source of the bellicose tendency of the ,united ,states was its 8proud rectitude10 and it is this expression which ,i wish to examine critically4 ,the fault of the phrase is that it makes 8rectitude0 the villain of the piece1 whereas sense calls for making 8pride40 ,if we are correct in assigning the substantive a greater intrinsic weight1 then it follows that 8rectitude0 exerts the greater force here4 ,but rectitude is not an inciter of wars2 it is rather that rectitude which is made rigid or unreasonable by pride which may be a factor in the starting of wars1 and pride is really the provoking agent4 ,for the most fortunate effect1 then1 the grammatical relationship should be reversed1 and we should have 8rectitude0 modifying 8pride40 ,but since the accident of linguistic development has not provided it with an adjective form of equivalent meaning1 let us try 8pride of rectitude40 ,this is not the best expression imaginable1 but it is somewhat better since it turns 8proud0 into a substantive and demotes 8rectitude0 to a place in a prepositional phrase4 ,the weightings are now more in accordance with meaning3 what grammar had anomalously made the chief word is now properly tributary1 and we have a closer delineation of reality4 ,as it was1 the audience went away confused and uninspired1 and ,i have thought of this ever since as a situation in which a little awareness of the rhetoric of grammar--there were other instances of imperceptive usage--could have turned a merely well-intentioned speech into an effective one4 ,having laid down this relationship between adjective and substantive as a principle1 we must not ignore the real or seeming exceptions4 ,for the alert reader will likely ask1 what about such combinations as 8new potatoes10 8drunk men10 8a warlike nation08 ,are we prepared to say that in each of these the substantive gets the major attention1 that we are more interested in 8potatoes0 than in their being 8new10 in 8men0 than their being 8drunk10 and so forth8 ,is that not too complacent a rule about the priority of the substantive over the adjective8 ,we have to admit that there are certain examples in which the adjective may eclipse the substantive4 ,this may occur 7#a7 when one's intonation 7or italics7 directs attention to the modifier3 8white horses02 8five dollars1 not four40 7#b7 when there is a striking clash of meaning between the adjective and the substantive1 such that one gives a second thought to the modifier3 8a murderous smile02 8a gentleman gambler40 7#c7 when the adjective is naturally of such exciting associations that it has become a sort of traditional introduction to matter of moment3 8a warlike nation02 8a desperate deed02 etc4 ,having admitted these possibilities of departure from the rule1 we still feel right in saying that the rule has some force4 ,it will be found useful in cases which are doubtful1 which are the cases where no strong semantic or phonetic considerations override the grammatical pattern4 ,in brief1 when the immediate act of our mind does not tell us whether an expression should be in this form or the other1 the principle of the relationship of adjective and substantive may settle the matter with an insight which the particular instance has not called forth4 ,the ,adverb ,the adverb is distinguished from the other parts of speech by its superior mobility2 roughly speaking1 it can locate itself anywhere in the sentence1 and this affords a clue to its character4 8,certainly the day is warm02 8,the day certainly is warm02 8,the day is certainly warm02 8,the day is warm certainly0 are all 8normal0 utterances4 ,this superior mobility1 amounting to a kind of detachment1 makes the adverb peculiarly a word of judgment4 ,here the distinction between the adverb and the adjective seems to be that the latter depends more upon public agreement and less upon private intention in its applications4 ,it is a matter of common observation that the adverb is used frequently to express an attitude which is the speaker's projection of himself4 8,surely the war will end soon0 is not1 for example1 a piece of objective reporting but an expression of subjective feeling4 ,we of course recognize degrees of difference in the personal or subjective element4 ,thomas ,carlyle is much given to the use of the adverb1 and when we study his adverbs in context1 we discover that they are often little more than explosions of feeling4 ,they are employed to make more positive1 abrupt1 sensational1 or intense whatever his sentence is otherwise saying4 ,indeed1 take from ,carlyle his adverbs and one robs him of that great hortatory sweep which makes him one of the great preachers in ,english literature4 ,on the other hand ,henry ,james1 although given to this use to comparable extent1 gets a different effect from his adverbs4 ,with him they are the exponents of scrupulous or meticulous feeling2 they are often in fact words of definite measure4 ,when ,james says 8fully0 or 8quickly0 or 8bravely0 he is usually expressing a definite perception1 and sometimes the adverb will have its own phrasal modifier to give it the proper direction or limitation of sense4 ,therefore ,james' adverbs1 instead of having a merely expletive force1 as do many of ,carlyle's1 tend to integrate themselves with his more objective description4 ,all this amounts to saying that adverbial 8judgments0 can be differently based2 and the use of the adverb will affect a style accordingly4 ,the caution against presumptuous use of the adjective can be repeated with somewhat greater force for the adverb4 ,it is the most tempting of all the parts of speech to question-beg with4 ,it costs little1 for instance1 to say 8certainly10 8surely10 or even 8terribly10 8awfully10 8undoubtedly02 but it often costs a great deal to create the picture upon which these words are a justifiable verdict4 ,asking the reader to accept them upon the strength of simple assertion is obviously a form of taking without earning4 ,we realize that a significant part of every speech situation is the character of the speaker2 and there are characters who can risk an unproved 8certainly0 or 8undoubtedly40 ,they bring to the speech situation a kind of ethical proof which accentuates their language4 ,carlyle's reflective life was so intense1 as we know from ,sartor ,resartus and other sources1 that it wins for him a certain right to this asseverative style4 ,as a general rule1 though1 it will be found that those who are most entitled to this credit use it least1 which is to say1 they prefer to make their demonstrations4 ,we point out in summary that the adverb is frequently dependent upon the character of its user1 and that1 since it is often the qualifier of a qualifier1 it may stand at one more remove from what we have defined as the primary symbol4 ,this is why beginners should use it least--should use it only after they have demonstrated that they can get their results by other means4 ,the ,verb ,the verb is regularly ranked with the noun in force1 and it seems that these two parts of speech express the two aspects under which we habitually see phenomena1 that of determinate things and that of actions or states of being4 ,between them the two divide up the world at a pretty fundamental depth2 and it is a commonplace of rhetorical instruction that a style made up predominantly of nouns and verbs will be a vigorous style4 ,these are the symbols of the prime entities1 words of stasis and words of movement 7even when the verb is said to express a 8state of being10 we accept that as a kind of modal action1 a process of going on1 or having existential quality71 which set forth the broad circumstances of any subject of discussion4 ,this truth is supported by the facts that the substantive is the heart of a grammatical subject and the verb of a grammatical predicate4 ,when we pass beyond the matter of broad categorization to look at the verb's possibilities1 we find the greatest need of instruction to lie in the verb epithet4 ,it may be needless to impress any literate person with the verb's relative importance1 but it is necessary to point out1 even to some practiced writers1 that the verb itself can modify the action it asserts1 or1 so to put it1 can carry its own epithet4 ,looking at the copious supply of verbs in ,english1 we often find it possible to choose one so selective in meaning that no adverb is needed to accompany it4 ,if we wish to assert that 8the man moves quickly10 we can say1 depending on the tone of our passage and the general signification1 that he hastens1 rushes1 flies1 scrambles1 speeds1 tears1 races1 bolts1 to name only a few4 ,if we wish to assert that a man is not telling the truth1 we have the choice of lies1 prevaricates1 falsifies1 distorts1 exaggerates1 and some others4 ,as this may seem to treat the matter at too didactic a level1 let us generalize by saying that there is such a thing as the characterizing verb1 and that there is no telling how many words could have been saved1 how many passages could have dispensed with a lumbering and perhaps inaccurate adverb1 if this simple truth about the verb were better appreciated4 ,the best writers of description and narration know it4 ,mark ,twain's most vivid passages are created largely through a frequent and perceptive use of the verb epithet4 ,turn to almost any page of ,life on the ,mississippi3 ,ship channels are buoyed and lighted1 and therefore it is a comparatively easy undertaking to learn to run them2 clear-water rivers1 with gravel bottoms1 change their channels very gradually1 and therefore one needs to learn them but once2 but piloting becomes another matter when you apply it to vast streams like the ,mississippi and the ,missouri1 whose alluvial banks cave and change constantly1 whose snags are always hunting up new quarters1 whose sand-bars are never at rest1 whose channels are forever dodging and shirking1 and whose obstructions must be confronted in all nights and all weathers without the aid of a single lighthouse or a single buoy1 for there is neither light nor buoy to be found anywhere in all this three or four thousand miles of villainous river4#abg ,here there occurs not just action1 but expressive action1 to which something is contributed by ,twain's subtle appreciation of modal variations in the verb4 ,there is a rough parallelism between the use of the complex sentence1 with its detail put away in subordinate constructions1 and the use of the verb epithet4 ,in both instances the user has learned to dispense with a second member of equal or nearly equal weight in order to get an effect4 ,as the adverbial qualification is fused with the verb1 so in lesser degree1 of course1 is the detail of the complex sentence fused with its principal assertion4 ,these devices of economy and compression1 although they may be carried to a point at which the style seems forced and unnatural1 are among the most important means of rhetoric4 ,the ,conjunction ,the conjunction1 in its simple role as joiner1 seems not to have much character1 yet its use expresses of relatedness of things1 which is bound to have signification4 ,as either coordinator or subordinator of entities1 it puts the world into a condition of mutual relationship through which a large variety of ideas may be suggested4 ,from the different ways in which this relationship is expressed1 the reader will consciously and even unconsciously infer different things4 ,sometimes the simple 8and 444 and0 coordination is the expression of childlike mentality1 as we saw in our discussion of the compound sentence4 ,on the other hand1 in a different speech situation it can produce a quite different effect3 readers of the ,king ,james version of the ,bible are aware of how the 8and0 which joins long sequences of verses sets up a kind of expectancy which is peculiarly in keeping with sacred text4 ,one gets the feeling from the reiteration of 8and0 that the story is confirmed and inevitable2 there are no contingencies1 and everything happens with the double assurance of something foretold4 ,when this pattern is dropped1 as it is in a recent 8,american0 version of the ,bible1 the text collapses into a kind of news story4 ,the frequent use of 8but0 to join the parts of a compound sentence seems to indicate a habit of mind4 ,it is found congenial by those who take a 8balanced view10 or who are uneasy over an assertion until it has been qualified or until some recognition has been made of its negative4 ,its influence is in the direction of the cautious or pedantic style because it makes this sort of disjunction1 whereas 8and0 generously joins everything up4 ,since conjunctions are usually interpreted as giving the plot of one's thought1 it is essential to realize that they have implicit meanings4 ,they usually come at points where a pause is natural1 and there is a temptation1 if one may judge by indulgence in the habit1 to lean upon the first one that comes to mind without reflecting critically upon its significance1 so that although the conjunction may formally connect at this point1 its semantic meaning does not aid in making the connection precise4 ,a common instance of this fault is the casual interchange of 8therefore0 and 8thus40 8,therefore0 means 8in consequence of10 but 8thus0 means 8in this manner0 and so indicates that some manner has already been described4 8,hence0 may take the place of 8therefore0 but 8thus0 may not4 8,also0 is a connective used with unimaginative regularity by poor speakers and writers1 for whom it seems to signalize the next thought coming4 ,yet in precise meaning 8also0 signifies only a mechanical sort of addition such as we have in listing one item after another4 ,to signalize the extension of an idea1 8moreover0 is usually more appropriate than 8also40 ,although 8while0 is often used in place of 8whereas0 to mean 8on the other hand10 it has its other duty of signifying 8at the same time40 8,whereas10 despite its pedantic or legalistic overtone1 will be preferred in passages where precise relationship is the governing consideration4 ,on the whole it would seem that the average writer suffers1 in the department1 from nothing more than poverty of vocabulary4 ,what he does 7what every writer does to some extent7 is to keep on hand a small set of conjunctions and to use them in a sort of rotation without giving attention to how their distinctive meanings could further his purpose4 ,the ,preposition ,the preposition too is a word expressing relationships1 but this definition gives only a faint idea of its great resources4 ,when the false rules about the preposition have been set aside1 it is seen that this is a tremendously inventive word4 ,like the adverb1 it is a free rover1 standing almost anywhere2 it is constantly entering into combinations with verbs and nouns1 in which it may direct1 qualify1 intensify1 or even add something quite new to the meaning2 at other times it combines with some other preposition to produce an indispensable idiom4 ,it has given us 8get out10 8put over10 8come across10 8eat up10 8butt in10 8off of10 8in between10 and many other expressions without which ,english1 especially on the vital colloquial level1 would be poorer indeed4 ,thornton ,wilder maintains that it is in this extremely free use of the preposition that modern ,american ,english shows its superiority over ,british ,english4 ,such bold use of prepositional combinations gives to ,american ,english a certain flavor of the grand style1 which ,british ,english has not had since the seventeenth century4 ,melville1 an author working peculiarly on his own1 is characterized in style by this imaginative use of the preposition4 ,considered with reference to principle1 the preposition seems to do what the adverb does1 but to do it with a kind of substantive force4 8,groundward10 for example1 seems weak beside 8toward the ground10 8lengthwise0 beside 8along the length of10 or 8centrally0 beside 8in the center of40 ,the explanation may well lie in the preposition's characteristic position2 as a regular orderer of nouns and of verbs1 it takes upon itself something of their solidity of meaning4 8,what is that for80 and 8,where did you send it to80 lose none of their force through being terminated by these brief words of relationship4 ,the ,phrase ,it will not be necessary to say much about the phrase because its possibilities have been fairly well covered by our discussion of the noun and adjective4 ,one qualifying remark about the force of the prepositional phrase1 however1 deserves making4 ,the strength normally found in the preposition can be greatly diminished by connection with an abstract noun4 ,that is to say1 when the terminus of the preposition is lacking in vigor or concreteness1 the whole expression may succumb to vagueness1 in which cases the single adjective or adverb will be stronger by comparison4 ,thus the idea conveyed by 8lazy0 is largely frustrated by 8of a lazy disposition02 that of 8mercenary0 by 8of a mercenary character02 that of 8deep0 by 8of depth10 and so on4 ,after the prepositional phrase1 the most important phrasal combination to examine1 from the standpoint of rhetorical usages1 is the participial phrase4 ,we could infer this truth from the fact alone that the ,greeks made a very extensive use of the participle1 as every student of that marvellous language knows4 ,greek will frequently use a participle where ,english employs a dependent clause or even a full sentence1 so that the ,english expression 8the man who is carrying a spear0 would be in ,greek 8the spear carrying man02 8the one who spoke0 would be 8the one having spoken0 and further accordingly1 with even more economy of language than these examples indicate4 ,i am disposed to think that the ,greeks developed this habit because they were very quick to see opportunities of subordination4 ,the clarity and subtlety of the ,greek language derives in no small part from this highly 8organized0 character1 in which auxiliary thoughts are compactly placed in auxiliary structures1 where they permit the central thought to emerge more readily4 ,in ,english the auxiliary status of the participle 7recognized formally through its classification as an adjective7 is not always used to like advantage4 ,one consequence of this is that although ,english intonation and normal word order tend to make the last part of a sentence the most emphatic1 unskillful writers sometimes lose this emphasis by concluding a sentence with a participial phrase4 ,we may take as examples 8,he returned home in ,september1 having been gone for a year02 and 8,having been gone for a year1 he returned home in ,september40 ,the second of these puts the weightier construction in the emphatic position4 ,of course the matter of their relative merit cannot be separated from their purpose2 there are sentences whose total meanings are best served by a retardo or diminuendo effect at the end1 and for such closes the participial phrase is well suited for reasons already given4 ,but in the majority of utterances it contributes best by modifying at some internal position1 or by expressing some detail or some condition at the beginning of the sentence4 ,the latter use may be quite effective in climactic orderings1 and it will be found that journalists have virtually stereotyped this opening for their 8lead0 sentences3 8,threatened with an exhausted food supply by the strike1 hospitals today made special arrangements for the delivery of essentials02 8,reaching a new high for seven weeks1 the stock market yesterday pushed into new territory40 ,this form is a successful if often crude result of effort toward compact and dramatic presentation4 ,but to summarize our observations on the participial phrase in ,english3 ,it is formally a weak member of the grammatical family2 but it is useful for economy1 for shaded effects1 and sometimes the phrase will contain words whose semantic force makes us forget that they are in a secondary construction4 ,perhaps it is enough to say that the mature writer has learned more things that can be done with the participle1 but has also learned to respect its limitations4 ,in ,conclusion ,i can imagine being told that this chapter is nothing more than an exposition of prejudices1 and that every principle discussed here can be defied4 ,i would not be surprised if that were proved through single examples1 or small sets of examples4 ,but ,i would still hazard that if these show certain tendencies1 my examples show stronger ones1 and we have to remember that there is such a thing as a vector of forces in language too4 ,even though an effect may sometimes be obtained by crowding or even breaking a rule1 the lines of force are still there1 to be used by the skillful writer scientifically1 and grammar is a kind of scientific nomenclature4 ,beyond this1 of course1 he will use them according to art1 where he will be guided by his artistic intuition1 and by the residual cautions of his experience4 ,in the long view a due respect for the canons of grammar seems a part of one's citizenship8 ,one does not remain uncritical2 but one does 8go along40 ,it has proved impossible to show that grammar is determined by the 8best people10 or by the pedants1 or by any other presumptive authority1 and this is more reason for saying that it incorporates the people as a whole4 ,therefore the attitude of unthinking adoption and the attitude of personal defiance are both dubious1 because they look away from the point where issues1 whenever they appear1 will be decided4 ,that point seems to be some communal sense about the fitness of a word or a construction for what has communal importance1 and this indicates at least some suprapersonal basis4 ,much evidence could be offered to show that language is something which is born psychological but is ever striving to become logical4 ,at this task of making it more logical everybody works more or less4 ,like the political citizenship defined by ,aristotle1 language citizenship makes one a potential magistrate1 or one empowered to decide4 ,the work is best carried on1 however1 by those who are aware that language must have some connection with the intelligential world1 and that is why one must think about the rhetorical nature even of grammatical categories4 ,chapter ,,vi ,,milton',s ,,heroic ,,prose ,there are many who have wished that ,milton were living at this hour1 but not all have taken into account the fact that his great polemical writings demand an heroic kind of attention which modern education does not discipline the majority of our citizens to give4 ,even in the last century ,w4 ,e4 ,channing was moved to lament 8the fastidiousness and effeminacy of modern readers0 when faced with ,milton's prose writings4 ,he went on to say1 in a passage which may serve to introduce our topic1 8,to be universally intelligible is not the highest merit4 ,a great mind cannot1 without injurious constraint1 shrink itself to the grasp of common passive readers40 ,it is wrong therefore to expect it to sacrifice great qualities 8that the multitude may keep pace with it40#abh ,the situation which gave rise to ,channing's complaint has grown measurably worse by our day1 when the common passive reader determines the level of most publications4 ,the mere pursuance of ,milton's meaning requires an enforcement of attention1 and the perception of his judgments requires an active sensibility incompatible with a state of relaxation4 ,there is nothing in ,milton for the reader who must be put at ease and treated only to the quickly apprehensible4 ,but along with this turning away from the difficult1 there is another cause at work1 a feeling1 quite truly grounded1 that ,milton's very arduousness of spirit calls for elevation on the part of the reader4 ,milton assumes an heroic stance1 and he demands a similar stance of those who would meet him4 ,an age which has come to suspect this as evidence of aristocratic tendency will then avoid ,milton also for a moral reason1 preferring1 even when it agrees with him1 to have the case stated in more plebeian fashion4 ,therefore the reading of ,milton is more than a problem in communication2 it is a problem also of gaining insight1 or even of developing sympathy with the aristocratic intellectualism which breathes through all he wrote4 ,it can be shown that all of the features which make up ,milton's arduous style proceed from three or four sources4 ,the first of these is the primacy of the concept4 ,what this primacy signifies is that in his prose ,milton wrote primarily as a thinker and not as an artificer4 ,that is to say1 his units of composition are built upon concepts and not upon conventionalized expository patterns4 ,for him the linguistic sentence was a means1 to be expanded and shaped as the driving force of the thought required4 ,or perhaps it would be more meaningful to say that for him the sentence was an accommodation-form4 ,he will put into it as much or as little as he needs1 and often1 as we shall see presently1 he needed a great deal4 ,this use of the sentence as an accommodation-form produces what is perhaps the most obvious feature of his style1 the long period4 ,what length must a sentence have to be called 8long08 ,of course our usual standard is the sentence we are accustomed to1 and in present-day writing that sentence will run #bj-cj words1 to cite an average range for serious writing4 ,milton's sentences very frequently run #fj-hj words1 and many will exceed #ajj1 the length of an average paragraph today4#abi ,to examine ,milton's method with the lengthy period1 we may well begin with the second sentence of ,of ,reformation in ,england1 an outstanding specimen of #cgc words4 ,sad it is to think how that doctrine of the gospel1 planted by teachers divinely inspired1 and by them winnowed and sifted from the chaff of overdated ceremonies1 and refined to such a spiritual height and temper of purity1 and knowledge of the ,creator1 that the body1 with all the circumstances of time and place1 were purified by the affections of the regenerate soul1 and nothing left impure but sin2 faith needing not the weak and fallible office of the senses1 to be either the ushers or interpreters of heavenly mysteries1 save where our ,lord himself in his sacraments ordained2 that such a doctrine should1 through the grossness and blindness of her professors1 and the fraud of deceivable traditions1 drag so downwards1 as to backslide into the ,jewish beggary of old cast rudiments1 and stumble forward another way into the new-vomited paganism of sensual idolatry1 attributing purity or impurity to things indifferent1 that they might bring the inward acts of the spirit to the outward and customary eye-service of the body1 as if they could make ,god earthly and fleshly1 because they could not make themselves heavenly and spiritual2 they began to draw down all the divine intercourse between ,god and the soul1 yea1 the very shape of ,god himself1 into an exterior and bodily form1 urgently pretending a necessity and obligement of joining the body in a formal reverence1 and worship circumscribed2 they hallowed it1 they fumed it1 they sprinkled it1 they bedecked it1 not in robes of pure innocency1 but of pure linen1 with other deformed and fantastic dresses1 in palls and mitres1 gold and gewgaws fetched from ,aaron's old wardrobe1 or the flamins vestry3 then was the priest set to con his motions and his postures1 his liturgies and his lurries1 till the soul by this means of overbodying herself1 given up justly to fleshly delights1 bated her wing apace downward3 and finding the ease she had from her visible and sensuous colleague the body1 in performance of religious duties1 her pinions now broken1 and flagging1 shifted off from herself the labor of high soaring any more1 forgot her heavenly flight1 and left the dull and droiling carcase to plod in the old road1 and drudging trade of outward conformity4#acj ,with reference to accommodation1 let us attend to the scope of this sentence4 ,it contains nothing less than a history of ,christianity from the ,protestant reformer's point of view4 ,four stages are given in this history3 the early revelation of true ,christianity2 its later misinterpretation through the 8grossness and blindness0 of its followers2 the growth of institutionalism2 and finally the atrophy of true religion produced by undue attention to outward circumstance4 ,it is1 as we see1 a complete narration1 dressed out with many illuminating details4 ,we shall discover that ,milton habitually prolongs a sentence thus until it has covered the unit of its subject4 ,he feels no compulsion to close the period out of regard for some established norm1 since he has his eye on a different criterion of completeness4 ,in line with the same practice1 some of his sentences are so fitted that they contain complete arguments1 or even an argument preceded by its expository narration4 ,as an example of the sentence containing a unit of argument1 we may note the following from ,the ,doctrine and ,discipline of ,divorce4 ,and yet there follows upon this a worse temptation3 for if he be such as hath spent his youth unblameably1 and laid up his chiefest earthly comforts in the enjoyments of a contented marriage1 nor did neglect that furtherance which was to be obtained therein by constant prayers2 when he shall find himself bound fast to an uncomplying discord of nature1 or1 as it often happens1 to an image of earth and phlegm1 with whom he looked to be the copartner of a sweet and gladsome society1 and sees withal that his bondage is now inevitable2 though he be almost the strongest ,christian1 he will be ready to despair in virtue1 and mutiny against ,divine ,providence2 and this doubtless is the reason of those lapses1 and that melancholy despair1 which we see in many wedded persons1 though they understand it not1 or pretend other causes1 because they know no remedy2 and is of extreme danger3 therefore when human frailty surcharged is at such a loss1 charity ought to venture much1 lest an overtossed faith endanger to shipwreck4#aca ,this sentence contains a complete hypothetical syllogism1 which can be abstracted as follows3 ,if the rigidity of the marriage relationship is not relaxed by charity1 ,christians will despair of finding their solace in that relationship4 ,the rigidity of the marriage relationship is not at present relaxed by charity4 ,christians do despair of finding solace within that relationship 7as shown by 8those lapses and that melancholy despair1 which we see in many wedded persons074 ,thus the argument prescribes the content of the sentence and marshals it4 ,let us look next at a specimen from the ,areopagitica embodying not only the full syllogism but also a preparatory exposition4 ,when a man writes to the world1 he summons up all his reason and deliberation to assist him2 he searches1 meditates1 is industrious1 and likely consults and confers with his judicious friends2 after all which done1 he takes himself to be informed in what he writes1 as well as any that writ before him2 if in this most consummate act of his fidelity and ripeness1 no years1 no industry1 no former proof of his abilities can bring him to that state of maturity1 as not to be still mistrusted and suspected1 unless he carry all his considerate diligence1 all his midnight watchings1 and expense of ,palladian oil1 to the hasty view of an unleisured licenser1 perhaps much his younger1 perhaps far his inferior in judgment1 perhaps one who never knew the labor of bookwriting2 and if he be not repulsed1 or slighted1 must appear in print like a puny with his guardian1 and his censor's hand on the back of his title to be his bail and surety1 that he is no idiot or seducer2 it cannot be but a dishonor and derogation the author1 to the book1 to the privilege and dignity of learning4#acb ,in this utterance of #aig words1 every detail pertains to the one concept of the responsibility and dignity of learning2 yet closer inspection reveals that a two-part structure is accommodated4 ,first there is the 8narration10 a regular part of the classical oration1 here setting forth the industry and conscientiousness of authors4 ,this is followed by a hypothetical argument saying1 in effect1 that if all these guarantees of sober and honest performance are not enough to entitle authors to liberty1 there can be no respect for learning or learned men in the commonwealth4 ,thus the sentence is prolonged1 one might say1 until the speech is made1 and the speech is not a series of loosely related assertions but a structure defined by standard principles of logic and rhetoric4 ,apart from mere length1 which as ,whatley and other writers on style observe1 imposes a burden upon the memory too great to be expected of everyone1 there is in the longer ,miltonic sentence the additional tax of complexity4 ,of course ,milton was somewhat influenced by ,latin grammar1 but here we are less interested in measuring literary influences than in analyzing the reading problem which he presents in our day4 ,that problem is created largely by his intricate elaboration within the long period4 ,for an especially apt illustration of this ,i should like to return to ,of ,reformation in ,england and follow the sentence which introduces that work4 ,amidst those deep and retired thoughts1 which1 with every man ,christianly instructed1 ought to be most frequent1 of ,god and of his miraculous ways and works among men1 and of our religion and works1 to be performed to him2 after the story of our ,saviour ,christ1 suffering to the lowest bent of weakness in the flesh1 and presently triumphing to the highest pitch of glory in the spirit1 which drew up his body also2 till we in both be united to him in the revelation of his kingdom1 ,i do not know of anything more worthy to take up the whole passion of pity on the one side1 and joy on the other1 than to consider first the foul and sudden corruption1 and then1 after many a tedious age1 the long deferred1 but much more wonderful and happy reformation of the church in these latter days4#acc ,it will be agreed1 ,i feel1 that the following features require a more than ordinary effort of attention and memory3 7#a7 ,the rhetorical interruptions1 whereby which is separated from its verb ought to be1 and thoughts is separated from its prepositional modifier of ,god and of his miraculous works and ways among men4--7#b7 ,the progressive particularization of our ,saviour ,christ1 wherein the substantive is modified by two participial constructions1 suffering to the lowest bent of weakness in the flesh and triumphing to the highest pitch of glory in the spirit2 wherein again the substantive spirit takes a modifier in the clause which drew up his body also1 and the verb drew up of the clause is qualified by the adverbial clause till we in both be united to him in the revelation of his kingdom4 ,this is a type of elaboration in which1 as the account unfolds1 each detail seems to require a gloss1 which is offered in a construction of some weight or length4--7#c7 ,the extensive parallelism of the last part1 beginning with the whole passion of pity on the one side4--7#d7 ,the suspended structure which withholds the topic phrase of the tract1 happy reformation of the church1 until almost the end of the sentence4 ,all of these qualities of length1 scope1 and complexity made the ,miltonic sentence a formidable construction1 and we are curious to know why he was able to use it with public success4 ,the first circumstance we must take into account is that he lived in a tough-minded period of ,western culture4 ,it was a time when the foundations of the state were being searched out2 when the relationship between religion and political authority was being re-defined1 to the disregard of old customs2 and when sermons were powerful arguments1 beginning with first principles and moving down through a long chain of deductions4 ,it was a time in which every thinking man virtually had to be either a revolutionary or a counter-revolutionary2 and there is something in such intellectual climate which scorns prettification and mincing measure4 ,the public therefore met ,milton's impassioned interest with an equal passion4 ,but by public we do not mean here the half-educated masses of today2 ,milton's public was rather a sternly educated minority1 which had been taught to recognize an argument when it saw one1 and even to analyze its source4 ,further evidence of the absorbing interest in the argumentative burden of prose expression may be seen in the way he employs the extended metaphor4 ,milton grew up in the age of the metaphysical conceit4 ,we now understand that for ,elizabethans and ,jacobeans a metaphor went far beyond mere ornamentation to enter into the very heart of a predication4 ,rosemund ,tuve in particular has shown that for the poets of the period an image was an argument1 so understood and so used4#acd ,we would hardly expect it to be any less so in prose4 ,when ,milton brings in a metaphor1 he makes full use of its probative value1 and this involved1 along with confidence in the architectonic power of the image1 a belief that it affirmed something about the case in point4 ,thus the metaphor was not idle or decorative merely1 and it dominated the passage to the eclipse of sentence units4 ,this will explain why1 when ,milton begins a metaphor1 he will scarcely abandon it until the last appropriate application has been made and the similitude established beyond reasonable question4 ,the ,areopagitica teems with brilliant extended figures1 of which two will be cited4 ,here is an image of truth1 carried through three sentences4 ,truth indeed came once into the world with her divine master1 and was a perfect shape most glorious to look on3 but when he had ascended1 and his apostles after him were laid asleep1 then straight arose a wicked race of deceivers1 who1 as that story goes of the ,egyptian ,typhon with his conspirators1 how they dealt with the good ,osiris1 took the virgin ,truth1 hewed her lovely form into a thousand pieces1 and scattered them to the four winds4 ,from that time ever since1 the sad friends of ,truth1 such as durst appear1 imitating the careful search that ,isis made after the body of ,osiris1 went up and down gathering limb by limb still as they could find them4 ,we have not found them all1 lords and commons1 nor ever shall do1 till her master's second coming2 he shall bring together every joint and member1 and shall mold them into an immortal feature of loveliness and perfection4 ,suffer not these licensing prohibitions to stand at every place of opportunity forbidding and disturbing them that continue seeking1 that continue to do our obsequies to the torn body of our martyred saint4#ace ,and here is ,milton's defense of the intellectually free community1 rendered in a military metaphor4 ,first1 when a city shall be as it were besieged and blocked about1 her navigable river infested1 inroads and incursions round1 defiance and battle oft rumored to be marching up1 even to her walls and suburb trenches2 that then the people1 or the greater part1 more than at other times1 wholly taken up with the study of highest and most important matters to be reformed1 should be disputing1 reasoning1 reading1 inventing1 discoursing1 even to a rarity and admiration1 things not before discoursed or written of1 argues first a singular good will1 contentedness1 and confidence in your prudent foresight1 and safe government1 lords and commons2 and from thence derives itself to a gallant bravery and well grounded contempt of their enemies1 as if there were no small number of as great spirits among us1 as was his who1 when ,rome was nigh besieged by ,hannibal1 being in the city1 bought that piece of ground at no cheap rate1 whereupon ,hannibal himself encamped his own regiment4#acf ,milton's concept of church government according to ,scripture is thus presented in ,the ,reason of ,church ,government ,urged ,against ,prelaty3 ,did ,god take such delight in measuring out the pillars1 arches1 and doors of a material temple8 ,was he so punctual and circumspect in lavers1 altars and sacrifices soon after to be abrogated1 lest any of these should have been made contrary to his mind8 ,is not a far more perfect work1 more agreeable to his perfections1 in the most perfect state of the church militant1 the new alliance to ,god to man8 ,should not he rather now by his own prescribed discipline have cast his line and level upon the soul of man1 which is his rational temple1 and1 by the divine square and compass thereof1 form and regenerate in us the lovely shapes of virtues and graces1 the sooner to edify and accomplish that immortal stature of ,christ's body1 which is his church1 in all her glorious lineaments and proportions8#acg ,what we are especially called upon to note in these examples is the boldness of figuration1 by which the concept survives the pressure of many1 and sometimes rather concrete1 tests of correspondence1 as the analogy enlarges4 ,the author's faith in the figure as an organizing principle is likely evidence that he sees the world as form1 the more of which can be drawn out the better4 ,to a later day1 any figure carried beyond modest length runs the danger of turning into an ironic commentary upon its analogue1 but to ,milton1 as to the seventeenth century generally1 it was a window to look through4 ,now quite literally the conceit is a concept1 and we have found it to be another organizing medium of this intellectual prose1 and a second proof that some texture of thought precedes the mere linguistic expression1 and holds itself superior to it4 ,while the primacy of the concept is responsible for these formal features of style1 we must look elsewhere for the source of its vigor4 ,certainly another reason that ,milton is a taxing author to read is the restless energy that permeates his substance4 ,he never allows the reader to remain inert1 and this is because there were few things toward which ,milton himself was indifferent4 ,one revelation of the active mind is the zeal and completeness with which it sorts things according to some scale of values2 and judged by that standard ,milton's mind is active in the extreme4 ,to approach this a little more systematically1 what one discovers with one's first reading of the prose is that ,milton is constantly attentive to the degrees of things1 and his range of valuations1 extending from those things which can be described only through his elegant curses to those which require the language of religious or poetic eulogy1 is very great4 ,indeed1 8things indifferent10 to employ a phrase used by ,milton himself1 play a very small part in his writing1 which rather tends to be juridical in the highest measure4 ,and the vitality contributed by this awareness of difference he increased by widening the gulf between the bad and the good4 ,these contrarieties are managed in various ways3 sometimes they are made up of single nouns of opposed meaning2 sometimes of other parts of speech or of phrases2 but always it would take a dull reader to miss the opposed valuations4 ,a sentence from ,the ,doctrine and ,discipline of ,divorce will afford some good examples4 ,hence it is1 that error supports custom1 custom countenances error3 and these two between them would persecute and chase away all truth and solid wisdom out of human life1 were it not that ,god1 rather than man1 once in many ages calls together the prudent and religious counsels of men1 deputed to repress the encroachments1 and to work off the inveterate blots and obscurities wrought upon our minds by the subtle insinuating of error and custom2 who1 with the numerous and vulgar train of their followers1 make it their chief design to envy and cry down the industry of free reasoning1 under the terms of humor and innovation2 as if the womb of teeming truth were to be closed up1 if she presume to bring forth aught that sorts not with their unchewed notions and suppositions4#ach ,the vigor of this passage arises from a continuing series of contrasts1 comprising the following3 error and custom with truth and solid wisdom2 ,god with man2 prudent and religious counsels with encroachments and also with inveterate blots and obscurities2 subtle insinuating of error and custom with industry of free reasoning2 and womb of teeming truth with unchewed notions and suppositions4 ,here is another passage1 from ,of ,reformation in ,england4 ,so that in this manner the prelates1 both then and ever since1 coming from a mean and plebeian life on a sudden to be lords of stately palaces1 rich furniture1 delicious fare1 and princely attendance1 thought the plain and homespun verity of ,christ's gospel unfit any longer to hold their lordships' acquaintance1 unless the poor threadbare matron were put into better clothes2 her chaste and modest vail1 surrounded with celestial beams1 they overlaid with wanton tresses1 and in a staring tire bespeckled her with all the gaudy allurements of a whore4#aci ,in this the clash is between plebeian life and stately palaces1 rich furniture1 etc42 homespun verity and lordship's acquaintance2 threadbare matron and better clothes2 chaste and modest vail and wanton tresses1 staring tire1 and gaudy allurements of a whore4 ,lastly ,i should like to take a sentence from the same work1 which has been admired by ,aldous ,huxley for its energy4 ,thus then did the spirit of unity and meekness inspire and animate every joint and sinew of the mystical body2 but now the gravest and worthiest minister1 a true bishop of his fold1 shall be reviled and ruffled by an insulting and only canon-wise prelate1 as if he were some slight paltry companion3 and the people of ,god1 redeemed and washed with ,christ's blood1 and dignified with so many glorious titles of saints and sons in the gospel1 are now no better reputed than impure ethnics and lay dogs2 stones1 pillars1 and crucifixes1 have now the honour and the alms due to ,christ's living members2 the table of communion1 now become a table of separation1 stands like an exalted platform on the brow of the quire1 fortified with bulwark and barricado1 to keep off the profane touch of the laics1 whilst the obscene and surfeited priest scruples not to paw and mammock the sacramental bread as familiarly as his tavern biscuit4#adj ,in this typical specimen of ,milton's vehemence1 gravest and worthiest minister1 a true bishop contrasts with insulting and only canon-wise prelate and with slight paltry companion2 the people of ,god1 redeemed and washed with ,christ's blood1 and dignified with so many glorious titles of saints and sons in the gospel with impure ethnics and lay dogs2 stones1 pillars1 and crucifixes with ,christ's living members2 communion with separation2 fortified with bulwark and barricado with the earlier unity and meekness2 obscene1 surfeited1 paw1 and mammock with priest2 and sacramental bread with tavern biscuit4 ,the effect of such sustained contrast is to produce a high degree of tonicity1 and here in a word is why ,milton's prose seems never relaxed4 ,his pervading consciousness of the combat of good and evil caused him to engage in constant projections of that combat4 ,in a manner of speaking1 ,milton always writes from a 8prejudice10 which proves to be on inspection his conviction as a ,christian and as a political and moral preacher1 that1 as the good has been judged1 the duty of a publicist is to show it separated with the utmost clearness of distinction from the bad4 ,accordingly ,milton's expositions1 if one follows them intently1 cause one to accept one thing and reprobate another unceasingly4 ,in consequence there appears in many passages a quality of style which ,i shall call the superlative mode4 ,his very reaching out toward the two extremes of a gauge of value drives him to couch expression in terms raised to their highest degree4 ,often we see this in the superlative form of the adjective4 ,but we see it also in his employment of words which even in their grammatically positive forms have acquired a kind of superlative sense4 ,finally we see it on occasion in a pattern of incremental repetition which he uses to impress us with his most impassioned thoughts4 ,the wonderful closing prayer from ,of ,reformation in ,england contains examples of all of these superlatives4 ,here are the closing paragraphs4 ,and now we know1 ,o thou our most certain hope and defence1 that thine enemies have been consulting all the sorceries of the great whore1 and have joined their plots with that sad intelligencing tyrant that mischiefs the world with his mines of ,ophir1 and lies thirsting to revenge his naval ruins that have larded our seas3 but let them all take counsel together1 and let it come to nought2 let them decree1 and do thou cancel it2 let them gather themselves1 and be scattered2 let them embattle themselves1 and be broken1 for thou art with us4 ,then1 amidst the hymns and hallelujahs of saints1 some one may perhaps be heard offering at high strains in new and lofty measures1 to sing and celebrate thy divine mercies and marvellous judgments in this land throughout all ages2 whereby this great and warlike nation1 instructed and inured to the fervent and continual practice of truth and righteousness1 and casting far from her the rags of her old vices1 may press on hard to that high and happy emulation to be found the soberest1 wisest1 and most ,christian people at that day1 when thou1 the eternal and shortly-expected ,king1 shalt open the clouds to judge the several kingdoms of the world1 and distributing national honours and rewards to religious and just commonwealths1 shalt put an end to all earthly tyrannies1 proclaiming thy universal and mild monarchy through heaven and earth2 where they undoubtedly1 that by their labors1 counsels and prayers1 have been earnest for the common good of religion and their country1 shall receive above the inferior orders of the blessed1 the regal addition of principalities1 legions1 and thrones into their glorious titles1 and in supereminence of beatific vision1 progressing the dateless and irrevoluble circle of eternity1 shall clasp inseparable hands with joy and bliss1 in overmeasure1 for ever4 ,but they contrary1 that by the impairing and diminution of the true faith1 the distresses and servitude of their country1 aspire to high dignity1 rule1 and promotion here1 after a shameful end in this life 7which ,god grant them71 shall be thrown down eternally into the darkest and deepest gulf of hell1 where under the despiteful control1 the trample and spurn of all the other damned1 that in the anguish of their torture1 shall have no other ease than to exercise a raving and bestial tyranny over them as their slaves and negroes1 they shall remain in that plight for ever1 the basest1 the lowermost1 the most dejected1 most underfoot1 and downtrodden vassals of perdition4#ada ,let us mark the bristling superlatives4 ,of adjectives in superlative form we find most certain1 soberest1 wisest1 most ,christian1 darkest1 deepest1 basest1 lowermost1 most dejected1 most underfoot1 and most downtrodden4 ,of those words which have a superlative force or meaning1 ,i would list--allowing that this must be a matter of judgment--naught1 cancel1 broken1 marvellous1 fervent1 eternal1 universal1 undoubtedly1 supereminence1 beatific1 dateless1 irrevoluble1 eternity1 inseparable1 overmeasure1 for ever1 and eternally4 ,but the most interesting form of the superlative mode is the pattern of repetition by which ,milton1 through a progressive accumulation of substantives and adjectives1 builds up a crescendo4 ,first there will be one or more groups of two1 then perhaps a group of three1 and finally1 for the supreme effect1 a breathtaking collocation of five4 ,such a pattern appears in the concluding sentence of the prayer3 impairing and diminution2 distresses and servitude2 dignity1 rule1 and promotion2 darkest and deepest2 control1 trample1 and spurn2 raving and bestial2 slaves and negroes2 basest1 lowermost1 most dejected1 most underfoot and downtrodden4 ,here1 it will be noticed1 the sequence is #b-b-c-b-c-b-b-e4 ,the pattern in itself is revealing4 ,first there are two pairs which ready us for attaining the group of three2 then another pair to rest upon before we attain the group of three again2 then two more pairs for a longer respite while we ready ourselves for the supreme effort of the group of five4 ,the prayer is not1 of course1 an ordinary passage2 yet what is seen here is discoverable in some measure in all of ,milton's prose4 ,he wrote in this superlative vein because his principal aim was the divorcement of good and evil4 ,to show these wide apart1 he had to talk in terms of best and worst1 and being a rhetorician of vast resources1 he found ways of making the superlative even more eminent than our regular grammatical forms make it1 which naturally marks him as a great creative user of the language4 ,the topic of grouping appropriately introduces another aspect of ,milton's style which ,i shall refer to more specifically as systematic collocation4 ,no one can read him with the object of forming some descriptive image of his prose without being impressed by his frequent use of pairs of words similar in meaning to express a single object or idea4 ,these pairs will be comprised1 in a roughly equal number of instances1 of nouns and of adjectives1 though fairly often two verbs will make up the collocation and occasionally two adverbs4 ,it seems probable that these pairs1 more than any other single feature of the style1 give the impression of thickness1 which is in turn the source of the impression of strength4 ,or to present this in another way1 what the pairs create is the effect of dimension4 ,it needs no proving at this stage that ,milton had too well stored a mind and too genuine a passion to coast along on mere fluency4 ,if he used two words where another author would use one1 that fact affords presumption that his second word had its margin of meaningful addition to contribute4 ,and so we find it3 these pairs of substantives give his prose a dimensional quality1 because this one will show one aspect of the thing named and that one another4 ,it would require a rather long list to include the variety of aspects which ,milton will bring out by his practice of double naming2 sometimes it is in form and substance1 or the conceptual and the material nature of the thing2 sometimes it is appearance and meaning2 sometimes process and tendency2 sometimes one modifier will express the active and another the passive nature of the thing described4 ,always the practice causes his subject matter to convey this sensation of depth and realness1 which is a principal factor in the vitality of his style4 ,we shall look at some examples of this highly interesting method4 ,the first is from the ,areopagitica4 ,i have italicized the pairs4 ,methinks ,i see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after a sleep1 and shaking her invincible locks3 methinks ,i see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth1 and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam1 purging and unscaling her long abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance2 while the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds1 with those also that love the twilight1 flutter about1 amazed at what she means1 and in their envious gabble1 would prognosticate a year of sects and schisms4#adb ,noble and puissant direct attention to ethical and to physical attributes2 purging and scaling do not form so complementary a pair but perhaps denote two distinct phases of a process2 timorous and flocking is an excellent pair to show inward nature and outward behavior1 and must be accounted one of the most successful uses of the method2 sects and schisms would seem to refer to social or ecclesiastical and to theological aspects of division4 ,in a sentence from ,of ,reformation in ,england1 he says3 8,but what do ,i stand reckoning upon advantages and gains lost by the misrule and turbulency of the prelates80#adc ,advantages and gains stand for two sorts of progress made prior to the misrule and turbulency of the prelates1 which in turn signify the formal outward policies and the inner spirit of ambition and presumption4 ,from the ,doctrine and ,discipline of ,divorce3 8,the ignorance and mistake of this high point hath heaped up one huge half of all the misery that hath been since ,adam40#add ,here ignorance would seem to describe a passive lack of awareness1 whereas mistake describes active misapprehension or misapplication4 ,finally here are examples from ,animadversions upon the ,remonstrant's ,defence ,against ,smectymnuus4 ,we all know that in private or personal injuries1 yea1 in public sufferings for the cause of ,christ1 his rule and example teaches us to be so far from a readiness to speak evil1 as not to answer the reviler in his language1 though never so much provoked3 yet in the detecting and convincing of any notorious enemy to truth and his country's peace1 especially that is conceited to have a voluble and smart fluence of tongue1 and in the vain confidence of that1 and out of a more tenacious cling to worldly respects1 stands up for all the rest to justify a long usurpation and convicted pseudepiscopy of prelates1 with all their ceremonies1 liturgies and tyrannies1 which ,god and man are now ready to explode and hiss out of the land3 ,i suppose1 and more than suppose1 it will be nothing disagreeing from ,christian meekness to handle such a one in a rougher accent1 and to send home his haughtiness well bespurted with his own holy water4#ade ,here private and personal may be taken as giving us two aspects of the individual2 rule and example differ as abstract and concrete2 detecting and convincing 7the latter apparently in the older sense of 8overcoming07 denote two stages of a process2 truth and his country's peace may be taken to express the metaphysical and the embodied forms of the same thing2 voluble and smart seem to refer to what is perceivable by the senses and by the intellect respectively2 long usurpation and convicted pseudepiscopy differ as simple action and action which has been judged3 ,god and man bring together the divine and the human2 explode and hiss out of the land again express two stages of a process4 ,in the manner here indicated1 these collocations serve to give the style a wonderful richness of thought4 ,the reader feels that he is being shown both the esse and the potesse of the object named4 ,at least1 he gets a look at its manifold nature4 ,the way in which ,milton fills out the subject for his reader is at once lavish and perspicuous4 ,just as his figures were seen to have a prolonged correspondence1 beyond what the casual or unthinking writer would bring to view1 so his substantives and predicates are assembled upon a principle of penetration or depth of description4 ,our general impression of ,milton--an impression we get in some degree of all the great writers of his period and of the ,elizabethan period before it--is that his thought dominates the medium4 ,while the distinction between what is said and the form of saying it can never be drawn absolutely1 it is yet to be remarked that some writers seem to compose with an awareness of how their matter will look upon the page1 or how it will sound in the parlor2 others seem to keep their main attention upon currently preferred terms and idioms4 ,again1 some writers seem to accept the risk of suspension1 transposition1 and involution out of conscious elegance2 ,milton seems rather to require them out of strength of purpose4 ,he was not a writer of writing1 but consistently a writer of substance1 and the language was his instrumentality1 which he used with the familiar boldness of a master4 ,one would go far to find a better illustration of the saying of ,john ,peale ,bishop that the ,english language is like a woman2 it is most likely to yield after one has shown it a little violence4 ,all of the great prose writers of the ,elizabethan age and the ,seventeenth century were perfectly capable of showing it that violence1 and ,i believe this is the true reason that a lover of eloquence today reacts their works with irrepressible admiration4 ,the tremendous suspensions and ramifications they were willing to create2 their readiness to make function the test of grammar and to coin according to need1 through all of which a rational1 though not always a formal or codified syntax survives--these things bespeak a sort of magisterial attitude toward language which has been lost in the intervening centuries4 ,it is quite possible that long years of accumulated usage tend to act as a deterrent to a free and imaginative use of language4 ,so many stereotypes have had time to form themselves1 and so many manuals of usage have been issued that the choice would seem to lie between simple compliance and open rebellion4 ,either one uses the language as the leaders of one's social and business world use it1 or one makes a decisive break and uses it in open defiance of the conventionalized patterns4 ,we may remember in this connection that when the new movement in modern literature got underway in the second decade of this century1 its leaders proved themselves the most defiant and brash kind of rebels as they embarked upon the work of resuscitation and refurbishment1 and it was to the ,elizabethans especially that they looked for sanction and guidance4 ,but the rebel with this program faces a dilemma3 he cannot infuse life into the old forms that he knows are depriving expression of all vitality1 and he exhausts himself in the campaign to smash and get rid of them4 ,that is partly an historical observation1 and our interest is in laying bare the movement of a great eloquence4 ,yet if we had to answer whether some heroic style like that of ,milton cannot be formed for our own day1 when millions might rejoice to hear a sonorous voice speaking out of a deep learning in our traditions1 our answer would surely be1 yes4 ,and if asked how1 we would begin our counsel by telling the writer to heed the advice in ,emerson's ,american ,scholar--better indeed than ,emerson heeded it himself--to look upon himself not as a writer but as a man writing1 and to try to live in that character4 ,as long as one does that1 it is most likely that the concept will dominate the medium1 and that one will use1 with inventive freedom1 such conventionality as is necessary to language4 ,a timid correctness1 like perfect lucidity1 sometimes shows that more attention has been devoted to the form than to the thought1 and this may give the writing a kind of hard surface which impedes sympathy between writer and reader4 ,finally1 one should remember that people like to feel they are hearing of the solid fact and substance of the world1 and those epithets which give us glimpses of its concreteness and contingency are the best guarantors of that4 ,the regular balancing of abstract and concrete modifiers1 which we meet regularly in ,shakespeare1 mirrors1 indeed1 the situation all of us face in daily living1 where general principles are clear in theory but are conditioned in their application to the concrete world4 ,the man of eloquence must be a lover of 8the world's body0 to the extent of being able to give it a fond description4 ,with these conditions practically realized1 we might again have orators of the heroic mold4 ,but the change would have to include the public also1 for1 on a second thought suggested by ,whitman1 to have great orators there must be great audiences too4 ,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,spaciousness ,,of ,,old ,,rhetoric ,few species of composition seem so antiquated1 so little available for any practical purpose today1 as the oratory in which the generation of our grandparents delighted4 ,the type of discourse which they would ride miles in wagons to hear1 or would regard as the special treat of some festive occasion1 fills most people today with an acute sense of discomfort4 ,somehow1 it makes them embarrassed4 ,they become conscious of themselves1 conscious of pretensions in it1 and they think it well consigned to the museum4 ,but its very ability to inspire antipathy1 as distinguished from indifference1 suggests the presence of something interesting4 ,the student of rhetoric should accordingly sense here the chance for a discovery1 and as he begins to listen for its revealing quality1 the first thing he becomes aware of is a 8spaciousness40 ,this is1 of course1 a broad impression1 which requires its own analysis4 ,as we listen more carefully1 then1 it seems that between the speech itself and the things it is meant to signify1 something stands--perhaps it is only an empty space--but something is there to prevent immediate realizations and references4 ,for an experience of the sensation1 let us for a moment go back to #ahej and attune our ears to an address by ,representative ,andrew ,ewing1 on the subject of the sale of the public lands4 ,we have afforded a refuge to the down-trodden nations of the ,old ,world1 and organized system of internal improvement and public education1 which have no parallel in the history of mankind4 ,why should we not continue and enlarge the system which has so much contributed to these results8 ,if our ,pacific ,coast should be lined with its hundred cities1 extending from the northern boundary of ,oregon down to ,san ,diego2 if the vast interior hills and valleys could be filled with lowing herds and fruitful fields of a thriving and industrious people2 and if the busy hum of ten thousand workshops could be daily heard over the placid waters of the ,pacific1 would our government be poorer or our country less able to meet her obligations than at present8#adf ,despite the allusions to geographical localities1 does not the speaker seem to be speaking in vacuo8 ,his words do not impinge upon a circumambient reality2 his concepts seem not to have definite correspondences1 but to be general1 and as it were1 mobile4 8,spread-eagle0 and 8high-flown0 are two modifiers with which people have sought to catch the quality of such speech4 ,in this work we are interested both in causes and the moral quality of causes1 and when an orator appears to speak of subjects without an immediate apperception of them1 we become curious about the kind of world he is living in4 ,was this type of orator sick1 as some have inferred8 ,was he suffering from some kind of auto-intoxication which produces insulation from reality8 ,charles ,egbert ,craddock in her novel ,where the ,battle ,was ,fought has left a satirical picture of the type4 ,its personification is ,general ,vayne1 who holds everything up to a 8moral magnifying glass40 8,through this unique lens life loomed up as a rather large affair4 ,in the rickety courthouse in the village of ,chattalla1 five miles out there to the south1 ,general ,vayne beheld a temple of justice4 ,he translated an office-holder as the sworn servant of the people4 ,the ,state was this great commonwealth1 and its seal a proud escutcheon4 ,a fall in cotton struck him as a blow to the commerce of the world4 ,from an adverse political fortune he augured the swift ruin of the country40#adg ,there is the possibility that this type was sick with a kind of vanity and egocentricity1 and that has frequently been offered as a diagnosis4 ,but on the other hand1 there is the possibility that such men were larger than we1 with our petty and contentious style1 and because larger more exposed in those limitations which they had4 ,the heroes in tragedies also talk bigger than life4 ,perhaps the source of our discomfort is that this kind of speech comes to us as an admonition that there were giants in the earth before us1 mighty men1 men of renown4 ,but before we are ready for any conclusion1 we must isolate the cause of our intimation4 ,as we scan the old oratory for the chief offender against modern sensibility1 we are certain to rank in high position1 if not first1 the uncontested term4 ,by this we mean the term which seems to invite a contest1 but which apparently is not so regarded in its own context4 ,most of these are terms which scandalize the modern reader with their generality1 so that he wonders how the speaker ever took the risk of using them4 ,no experienced speaker interlards his discourse with terms which are themselves controversial4 ,he may build his case on one or two such terms1 after giving them ad hoc definitions1 but to multiply them is to create a force of resistance which almost no speech can overcome4 ,yet in this period we have speeches which seem made up almost from beginning to end of phrases loose in scope and but weakly defensible4 ,yet the old orator who employed these terms of sweeping generality knew something of his audience's state of mind and was confident of his effect4 ,and the public generally responded by putting him in the genus 8great man40 ,this brings us to the rhetorical situation1 which must be described in some detail4 ,we have said that this orator of the old-fashioned mold1 who is using the uncontested term1 passes on his collection of generalities in full expectation that they will be received as legal tender4 ,he is taking a very advanced position1 which could be undermined easily1 were the will to do so present4 ,but the will was not present1 and this is the most significant fact in our explanation4 ,the orator had1 in any typical audience1 not only a previously indoctrinated group1 but a group of quite similar indoctrination4 ,of course1 we are using such phrases for purposes of comparison with today4 ,it is now a truism that the homogeneity of belief which obtained three generations ago has largely disappeared4 ,such belief was1 in a manner of conceiving it1 the old orator's capital4 ,and it was1 if we may trust the figure further1 an initial asset which made further operations possible4 ,if we knew how this capital is accumulated1 we would possess one of the secrets of civilization4 ,all we know is that whatever spells the essential unity of a people in belief and attachment contains the answer4 ,the best we can do at this stage is look into the mechanism of relationship between this level of generality and the effectiveness of a speech4 ,we must keep in mind that 8general0 is itself a relative modifier1 and that the degree of generality with which one may express one's thoughts is very wide4 ,one may refer1 for example1 to a certain event as a murder1 a crime1 an act1 or an occurrence4 ,we assume that none of these terms is inherently falsifying1 because none of them is in any prior sense required4 ,levels of generality do not contradict one another2 they supplement one another by bringing out different foci of interest4 ,every level of generality has its uses3 the ,bible can tell the story of creation in a few hundred words1 and it is doubtless well that it should be told there in that way4 ,let us therefore take a guarded position here and claim only that one's level of generality tells something of one's approach to a subject4 ,we shall find certain refinements of application possible as we go on4 ,with this as a starting point1 we should be prepared for a more intensive look at the diction of the old school4 ,for purposes of this analysis ,i shall choose something that is historically obscure4 ,great occasions sometimes deflect our judgment by their special circumstances4 ,the passage below is from a speech made by the ,honorable ,charles ,j4 ,faulkner at an agricultural fair in ,virginia in #aheh4 ,both speaker and event have passed into relative oblivion1 and we can therefore view this as a fairly stock specimen of the oratory in vogue a hundred years ago to grace local celebrations4 ,let us attend to it carefully for its references4 ,if we look to the past or to the present we shall find that the permanent power of any nation has always been in proportion to its cultivation of the soil--those republics which during the earlier and middle ages1 were indebted for their growth mainly to commerce1 did for a moment1 indeed1 cast a dazzling splendor across the pathway of time2 but they soon passed from among the powers of the earth1 leaving behind them not a memorial of their proud and ephemeral destiny whilst other nations1 which looked to the products of the soil for the elements of their strength1 found in each successive year the unfailing sources of national aggrandizement and power4 ,of all the nations of antiquity1 the ,romans were most persistently devoted to agriculture1 and many of the maxims taught by their experience1 and transmitted to us by their distinguished writers1 are not unworthy1 even at this time1 of the notice of the intelligent farmers of this valley4 ,it was in their schools of country life--a vita rustica--as their own great orator informs us1 that they imbibed those noble sentiments which rendered the ,roman name more illustrious than all their famous victories1 and there1 that they acquired those habits of labor1 frugality1 justice and that high standard of moral virtue which made them the easy masters of their race4#adh ,a modern mind trained in the habit of analysis will be horrified by the number of large and unexamined phrases passing by in even this brief excerpt4 8,permanent power of any nation02 8earlier and middle ages02 8cast a dazzling splendor across the pathway of time02 8proud and ephemeral destiny02 8noble sentiments which rendered the ,roman name more illustrious02 and 8high standards of moral virtue0 are but a selection4 ,comparatively speaking1 the tone of this oration is fairly subdued1 but it is in the grand style1 and these phrases are the medium4 ,with this passage before us for reference1 ,i wish to discuss one matter of effect1 and one of cause or enabling condition4 ,it will be quickly perceived that the phrases in question have resonances1 both historical and literary1 and that this resonance is what we have been calling spaciousness4 ,instead of the single note 7prized for purposes of analysis7 they are widths of sound and meaning2 they tend to echo over broad areas and to call up generalized associations4 ,this resonance is the interstice between what is said and the thing signified4 ,in this way then the generality of the phrase may be definitely linked with an effect4 ,but the second question is our principal interest3 how was the orator able to use them with full public consent when he cannot do so today8 ,i am going to suggest that the orator then enjoyed a privilege which can be compared to the lawyer's 8right of assumption40 ,this is the right to assume that precedents are valid1 that forms will persist1 and that in general one may build today on what was created yesterday4 ,what mankind has sanctified with usage has a presumption in its favor4 ,such presumption1 it was felt1 instead of being an obstacle to progress1 furnishes the ground for progress4 ,more simply1 yesterday's achievements are also contributions to progress4 ,it is he who insists upon beginning every day de novo who denies the reality of progress4 ,accordingly1 consider the ,american orator in the intellectual climate of this time4 ,he was comfortably circumstanced with reference to things he could 8know0 and presume everyone else to know in the same way4 ,freedom and morality were constants2 the ,constitution was the codification of all that was politically feasible2 ,christianity of all that was morally authorized4 ,rome stood as an exemplum of what may happen to nations2 the ,american and ,french ,revolutions had taught rulers their necessary limitations4 ,civilization has thought over its thousands of years of history and has made some generalizations which are the premises of other arguments but which are not issues themselves4 ,when one asserts that the ,romans had a 8high standard of moral virtue which made them the easy masters of their race10 one is affirming a doctrine of causality in a sweeping way4 ,if one had to stop and 8prove0 that moral virtue makes one master1 one obviously would have to start farther down the ladder of assumption4 ,but these things were not in the area of argument because progress was positive and that meant that some things have to be assimilated as truths4 ,men were not condemned to repeat history1 because they remembered its lessons4 ,to the extent that the mind had made its summations1 it was free to go forward1 and forward meant in the direction of more inclusive conceptions4 ,the orator who pauses along the way to argue a point which no one challenges only demeans the occasion4 ,therefore the orator of the period we have defined did not feel that he had to argue the significance of everything to which he attached significance4 ,some things were fixed by universal enlightened consensus2 and they could be used as steps for getting at matters which were less settled and hence were proper subjects for deliberation4 ,deliberation is good only because it decreases the number of things it is necessary to deliberate about4 ,consequently when we wonder how he could use such expressions without trace of compunction1 we forget that the expressions did not need apology4 ,the speaker of the present who used like terms would1 on the contrary1 meet a contest at every step of the way4 ,his audience would not swallow such clusters of related meanings4 ,but at that time a number of unities1 including the unity of past and present1 the unity of moral sets and of causal sets1 furnished the ground for discourse in 8uncontested terms40 ,only such substratum of agreement makes possible the panoramic treatment4 ,we can infer important conclusions about a civilization when we know that its debates and controversies occur at outpost positions rather than within the citadel itself4 ,if these occur at a very elementary level1 we suspect that the culture has not defined itself1 or that it is decayed and threatened with dissolution4 ,where the chief subject of debate is the relative validity of ,homoiousianism and ,homoousianism1 or the conventions of courtly love1 we feel confident that a great deal has been cached away in the form of settled conclusions1 and that such shaking as proceeds from controversies of this kind1 although they may agitate the superstructure1 will hardly be felt as far down as the foundations4 ,i would say the same is suggested by the great ,american debate over whether the ,constitution was a 8constitution0 or a 8compact10 despite its unfortunate sequel4 ,at this stage of cultural development the commonplaces of opinion and conduct form a sort of textus receptus1 and the emendations are confined to minor matters4 ,conversely1 when the disagreement is over extremely elementary matters1 survival itself may be at stake4 ,it seems to me that modern debates over the validity of the law of contradiction may be a disagreement of this kind4 ,the soundness of a culture may well be measured by this ability to recognize what is extraneous4 ,one knows what to do with the extraneous1 even if one decides upon a policy of temporary accommodation4 ,it is when the line dividing us from the extraneous begins to fade that we are assailed with destructive doubts4 ,disagreements over the most fundamental subjects leave us puzzled as to 8where we are0 if not as to 8what we are40 ,the speaker whom we have been characterizing felt sure of the demarcation4 ,that gave him his freedom1 and was the source of his simplicity4 ,when we reflect further that the old oratory had a certain judicial flavor about it1 we are prompted to ask whether thinking as then conceived did not have a different status from today's thinking4 ,one is led to make this query by the suggestion that when the most fundamental propositions of a culture are under attack1 then it becomes a duty to 8think for one's self40 ,not that it is a bad thing to think2 yet when the whole emphasis is upon 8thinking for one's self10 it is hard to avoid a feeling that certain postulates have broken down1 and the most courage we can muster is to ask people1 not to 8think in a certain direction10 but to 8think for themselves40 ,where the primary directive of thinking is known1 the object of thinking will not be mere cerebral motion 7as some exponents of the policy of thinking for one's self leave us to infer71 but rather the object of such thinking1 or knowledge4 ,this is a very rudimentary proposition1 but it deserves attention because the modern tendency has reversed a previous order4 ,from the position that only propositions are interesting because they alone make judgments1 we are passing to a position in which only evidence is interesting because it alone is uncontaminated by propositions4 ,in brief1 interest has shifted from inference to reportage1 and this has had a demonstrable effect upon the tone of oratory4 ,the large resonant phrase is itself a kind of condensed proposition2 as propositions begin to sink with the general sagging of the substructure1 the phrases must do the same4 ,obviously we are pointing here to a profound cultural change1 and the same shifts can be seen in literature2 the poet or novelist may feel that the content of his consciousness is more valid 7and this will be true even of those who have not formulated the belief7 than the formal arrangement which would be produced by selection1 abstraction1 and arrangement4 ,or viewed in another respect1 experiential order has taken precedence over logical order4 ,the object of an oration made on the conditions obtained a hundred years ago was not so much to 8make people think0 as to remind them of what they already thought 7and again we are speaking comparatively74 ,the oratorical rostrum1 like the church1 was less of a place for fresh instruction than for steady inculcation4 ,and the orator1 like the minister1 was one who spoke from an eminent degree of conviction4 ,paradoxically1 the speaker of this vanished period had more freedom to maneuver than has his emancipated successor4 ,man is free in proportion as his surroundings have a determinate nature1 and he can plan his course with perfect reliance upon that determinateness4 ,it is an admitted axiom that we have rules in one place so that we can have liberty in another2 we put certain things in charge of habit so as to be free in areas where we prize freedom4 ,manifestly one is not 8free0 when one has to battle for one's position at every moment of time4 ,this interrelationship of freedom and organization is one of the permanent conditions of existence1 so that it has been said even that perfect freedom is perfect compliance 78one commands nature by obeying her074 ,in the province we are considering1 man is free to the extent that he knows that nature is1 what ,god expects1 what he himself is capable of4 ,freedom moves on a set of presuppositions just as a machine moves on a set of ball bearings which themselves preserve definite locus4 ,it is when these presuppositions are tampered with that men begin to grow concerned about their freedom4 ,one can well imagine that the tremendous self-consciousness about freedom today1 which we note in almost every utterance of public men1 is evidence that this crucial general belief is threatened4 ,it is no mere paradox to say that when they cry liberty1 they mean belief--the belief that sets one free from prior concerns4 ,a corroborating evidence is that fact that nearly all large pleas for liberty heard today conclude with more or less direct appeals for unity4 ,we may now return to our more direct concern with rhetoric4 ,since according to this demonstration oratory speaks from an eminence and has a freedom of purview1 its syllogism is the 8rhetorical syllogism0 mentioned by ,demetrius--the enthymeme4#adi ,it may not hurt to state that this is the syllogism with one of the three propositions missing4 ,such a syllogism can be used only when the audience is willing to supply the missing proposition4 ,the missing proposition will be 8in their hearts10 as it were2 it will be their agreement upon some fundamental aspect of the issue being discussed4 ,if it is there1 the orator does not have to supply it2 if it is not there1 he may not be able to get it in any way--at least not as orator4 ,therefore the use of the rhetorical syllogism is good concrete evidence that the old orator relied upon the existence of uncontested terms or fixations of belief in the minds of his hearers4 ,the orator was logical1 but he could dispense with being a pure logician because that third proposition had been established for him4 ,these two related considerations1 the accepted term and the conception of oratory as a body of judicious conclusions upon common evidence1 go far toward explaining the quality of spaciousness4 ,indeed1 to say that oratory has 8spaciousness0 is to risk redundancy once the nature of oratory is understood4 ,oratory is 8spacious0 in the same way that liberal education is liberal2 and a correlation can be shown between the decline of liberal education 7the education of a freeman7 and the decline of oratory4 ,it was one of ,cicero's observations that the orator performs at 8the focal point at which all human activity is ultimately reviewed02 and ,cicero is1 for connected reasons1 a chief source of our theory of liberal education4#aej ,thus far we have rested our explanation on the utility of the generalized style1 but this is probably much too narrow an account4 ,there is also an aesthetic of the generalization1 which we must now proceed to explore4 ,let us pause here momentarily to re-define our impression upon hearing the old orator4 ,the feature which we have been describing as spaciousness may be translated1 with perhaps a slight shift of viewpoint1 as opacity4 ,the passages we have inspected1 to recur to our examples1 are opaque in that we cannot see through them with any sharpness4 ,and it was no doubt the intention of the orator that we should not see through them in this way4 ,the 8moral magnifying glass0 of ,craddock's ,general ,vayne made objects larger1 but it did not make them clearer4 ,it rather had the effect of blurring lines and obscuring details4 ,we are now in position to suggest that another factor in the choice of the generalized phrase was aesthetic distance4 ,there is an aesthetic1 as well as a moral1 limit to how close one may approach an object2 and the forensic artists of the epoch we describe seem to have been guided by this principle of artistic decorum4 ,aesthetic distance is1 of course1 an essential of aesthetic treatment4 ,if one sees an object from too close1 one sees only its irregularities and protuberances4 ,to see an object rightly or to see it as a whole1 one has to have a proportioned distance from it4 ,then the parts fall into a meaningful pattern1 the dominant effect emerges1 and one sees it 8as it really is40 ,a prurient interest in closeness and a great remoteness will both spoil the view4 ,to recall a famous example in literature1 neither ,lilliputian nor ,brobdingnagian is man as we think we know him4 ,thus it can be a sign not only of philosophical ignorance but also of artistic bad taste to treat an object familiarly or from a near proximity4 ,at the risk of appearing fanciful we shall say that objects have not only their natures but their rights1 which the orator is bound to respect1 since he is in large measure the ethical teacher of society4 ,by maintaining this distance with regard to objects1 art manages to 8idealize0 them in a very special sense4 ,one does not mean by this that it necessarily elevates them or transfigures them1 but it certainly does keep out a kind of officious detail which would only lower the general effect4 ,what the artistic procedure tends to do1 then1 is to give us a 8generic0 picture1 and much the same can be said about oratory4 ,the true orator has little concern with singularity--or1 to recall again a famous instance1 with the wart on ,cromwell's face--because the singular is the impertinent4 ,only the generic belongs1 and by obvious connection the language of the generic is a general language4 ,in the old style1 presentation kept distances which had1 as one of their purposes1 the obscuring of details4 ,it would then have appeared the extreme of bad taste to particularize in the manner which has since1 especially in certain areas of journalism1 become a literary vogue4 ,it would have been beyond the pale to refer1 in anything intended for the public view1 to a certain cabinet minister's false teeth or a certain congressman's shiny dome4 ,aesthetically1 this was not the angle of vision from which one takes in the man1 and there is even the question of epistemological truthfulness4 ,portrait painters know that still1 and journalists knew it a hundred years ago4 ,it will be best to illustrate the effect of aesthetic distance4 ,i have chosen a passage from the address delivered by ,john ,c4 ,breckinridge1 ,vice-,president of the ,united ,states1 on the occasion of the removal of the ,senate from the ,old to the ,new ,chamber1 ,january #d1 #ahei4 ,the moment was regarded as solemn1 and the speaker expressed himself as follows3 ,and now the strifes and uncertainties of the past are finished4 ,we see around us on every side the proofs of stability and improvement4 ,this ,capitol is worthy of the ,republic4 ,noble public buildings meet the view on every hand4 ,treasures of science and the arts begin to accumulate4 ,as this flourishing city enlarges1 it testifies to the wisdom and forecast that dictated the plan of it4 ,future generations will not be disturbed with questions concerning the center of population or of territory1 since the steamboat1 the railroad and the telegraph have made communication almost instantaneous4 ,the spot is sacred by a thousand memories1 which are so many pledges that the city of ,washington1 founded by him and bearing his revered name1 with its beautiful site1 bounded by picturesque eminences1 and the broad ,potomac1 and lying within view of his home and his tomb1 shall remain forever the political capital of the ,united ,states4 ,at the close of the address1 he said3 ,and now1 ,senators1 we leave this memorable chamber1 bearing with us1 unimpaired1 the ,constitution received from our forefathers4 ,let us cherish it with grateful acknowledgments of the ,divine ,power who controls the destinies of empires and whose goodness we adore4 ,the structures reared by man yield to the corroding tooth of time4 ,these marble walls must molder into ruin2 but the principles of constitutional liberty1 guarded by wisdom and virtue1 unlike material elements1 do not decay4 ,let us devoutly trust that another ,senate in another age shall bear to a new and larger ,chamber1 the ,constitution vigorous and inviolate1 and that the last generations of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the ,representatives of ,american ,states still united1 prosperous1 and free4#aea ,we shall hardly help noting the prominence of 8opaque0 phrases4 8,proofs of stability and improvement02 8noble public buildings02 8treasures of science and the arts02 8this flourishing city02 8a thousand memories02 8this beautiful site02 and 8structures reared by man0 seem outstanding examples4 ,these all express objects which can be seen only at a distance of time or space4 ,in three instances1 it is true1 the speaker mentions things of which his hearers might have been immediately and physically conscious1 but they receive an appropriately generalized reference4 ,the passage admits not a single intrusive detail1 nor is anything there supposed to have a superior validity or probativeness because it is present visibly or tangibly4 ,the speech is addressed to the mind1 and correspondingly to the memory4#aeb ,the fact that the inclusiveness was temporal as well as spatial has perhaps special significance for us4 ,this 8continuity of the past with the present0 gave a dimension which our world seems largely to have lost2 and this dimension made possible a different pattern of selection4 ,it is not experiential data which creates a sense of the oneness of experience4 ,it is rather an act of mind2 and the practice of periodically bringing the past into a meditative relationship with the present betokens an attitude toward history4 ,in the chapter on ,lincoln we have shown that an even greater degree of remoteness is discernible in the ,first and ,second ,inaugural ,addresses1 delivered at a time when war was an ugly present reality4 ,and furthermore1 at ,gettysburg1 ,lincoln spoke in terms so 8generic0 that it is almost impossible to show that the speech is not a eulogy of the men in gray as well as the men in blue1 inasmuch as both made up 8those who struggled here40 ,lincoln's faculty of transcending an occasion is in fact only this ability to view it from the right distance1 or to be wisely generic about it4 ,we are talking here about things capable of extremes1 and there is a degree of abstraction which results in imperception2 but barring those cases which everyone recognizes as beyond bounds1 we should reconsider the idea that such generalization is a sign of impotence4 ,the distinction does not lie between those who are near life and those who are remote from it1 but between pertinence and impertinence4 ,the intrusive detail so prized by modern realists does not belong in a picture which is a picture of something4 ,one of the senses of 8seeing0 is metaphorical1 and if one gets too close to the object1 one can no longer in this sense 8see40 ,it is the theoria of the mind as well as the work of the senses which creates the final picture4 ,one can show this through an instructive contrast with modern journalism1 particularly that of the ,time magazine variety4 ,a considerable part of its material1 and nearly all of its captions1 are made up of what we have defined as 8impertinences40 ,what our forensic artist of a century ago would have regarded as lacking significance is in these media presented as the pertinent because it is very near the physical manifestation of the event4 ,and the reversal has been complete1 because what for this artist would have been pertinent is there treated as impertinent since it involves matter which the average man does not care to reflect upon1 especially under the conditions of newspaper reading4 ,thus even the epistemology which made the old oratory possible is being relegated4 ,we must take notice in this connection that the lavish use of detail is sometimes defended on the ground that it is illustration4 ,the argument runs that illustration is a visual aid to education1 and therefore an increased use of illustration contributes to that informing of the public which journals acknowledge as their duty4 ,but a little reflection about the nature of illustration will show where this idea is treacherous4 ,illustration1 as already indicated1 implies that something is being illustrated1 so that in the true illustration we will have a conjunction of mind and pictorial manifestation4 ,but now1 with brilliant technological means1 the tendency is for manifestation to outrun the idea1 so that the illustrations are vivid rather than meaningful or communicative4 ,thus1 whereas today the illustration is looking for an idea to express1 formerly the idea was the original2 and it was looking1 often rather fastidiously1 for some palpable means of representation4 ,the idea condescended1 one might say1 from an empyrean1 to suffer illustrative embodiment4 ,to make this difference more real1 let us study an example of the older method of illustration4 ,the passage below examined is from an address by ,rufus ,choate on 8,the ,position and ,function of the ,american ,bar as an ,element of ,conservatism in the ,state10 delivered before the ,law ,school in ,cambridge1 ,july #c1 #ahde4 ,but with us the age of this mode and degree of reform is over2 its work is done4 ,the passage of the sea2 the occupation and culture of a new world1 the conquest of independence--these were our eras1 these our agency of reform4 ,in our jurisprudence of liberty1 which guards our person from violence and our goods from plunder1 and which forbids the whole power of the state itself to take the ewe lamb1 or to trample on a blade of grass of the humblest citizen without adequate remuneration3 which makes every dwelling large enough to shelter a human life its owner's castle which winds and rain may enter1 but which the government cannot1--in our written constitution1 whereby the people1 exercising an act of sublime self-restraint1 have intended to put it out of their power forever to be passionate1 tumultuous1 unwise1 unjust1 whereby they have intended1 by means of a system of representation1 by means of the distribution of government into departments independent1 coordinate for checks and balances2 by a double chamber of legislation1 by the establishment of a fundamental and permanent organic law2 by the organization of a judiciary whose function1 whose loftiest function it is to test the legislation of the day by the standard of all time1--constitutions1 whereby all these means they have intended to secure a government of laws1 not of men1 of reason1 not of will2 of justice1 not of fraud1--in that grand dogma of equality1--equality of right1 of burthens1 of duty1 of privileges1 and of chances1 which is the very mystery of our social being--to the ,jews a stumbling block2 to the ,greeks foolishness1--our strength1 our glory1--in that liberty which we value not solely because it is a natural right of man2 not solely because it is a principle of individual energy and a guaranty of national renown2 not at all because it attracts a procession and lights a bonfire1 but because1 when blended with order1 attended by law1 tempered by virtue1 graced by culture1 it is a great practical good2 because in her right hand are riches and honor and peace1 because she has come down from her golden and purple cloud to walk in brightness by the weary ploughman's side1 and whisper in his ear as he casts his seed with tears1 that the harvest which frost and mildew and cankerworm shall spare1 the government shall spare also2 in our distribution into separate and kindred states1 not wholly independent1 not quite identical1 in 8the wide arch of ranged empire0 above--these are they in which the fruits of our age and our agency of reform are embodied2 and these are they by which1 if we are wise1--if we understand the things that belong to our peace--they may be perpetuated4#aec ,we note in passing the now familiar panorama4 ,one must view matters from a height to speak without pause of such things as 8occupation and culture of a new world10 8conquest of independence10 and 8fundamental and permanent organic law40 ,then we note that when the orator feels that he must illustrate1 the illustration is not through the impertinent concrete case1 but through the poeticized figment4 ,at the close of the passage1 where the personification of liberty is encountered1 we see in clearest form the conventionalized image which is the traditional illustration4 ,liberty1 sitting up in her golden and purple cloud1 descends 8to walk in brightness by the weary ploughman's side40 ,in this flatulent utterance there is something so typical of method 7as well as indicative of the philosophy of the method7 that one can scarcely avoid recalling that this is how the gods of classical mythology came down to hold discourse with mortals2 it is how the god of the ,christian religion came into the world for the redemption of mankind2 it is how the logos is made incarnate4 ,in other words1 this kind of manifestation from above is1 in our ,western tradition1 an archetypal process1 which the orators of that tradition are likely to follow implicitly4 ,the idea is supernal2 it may be brought down for representation2 but casual1 fortuitous1 individual representations are an affront to it4 ,consequently the representations are conventionalized images1 and work with general efficacy4 ,this thought carries us back to our original point1 which is that standards of pertinence and impertinence have very deep foundations1 and that one may reveal one's whole system of philosophy by the stand one takes on what is pertinent4 ,we have observed that a powerful trend today is toward the unique detail and the illustration of photographic realism1 and this tendency claims to be more knowledgeable about reality4 ,in the older tradition which we set out to examine1 the abstracted truth and the illustration which is essentially a construct held a like favor4 ,it was not said1 because there was no contrary style to make the saying necessary1 but it was certainly felt that these came as near the truth as one gets1 if one admits the existence of non-factual kinds of truth4 ,the two sides do not speak to one another very well across the gulf1 but it is certainly possible to find1 and it would seem to be incumbent upon scholars to find1 a conception broad enough to define the difference4 ,one further clue we have as to how the orator thought and how he saw himself4 ,there will be observed in most speeches of this era a stylization of utterance4 ,it is this stylization which largely produces their declamatory quality4 ,at the same time1 as we begin to infer causes1 we discover the source of its propriety2 the orator felt that he was speaking for corporate humanity4 ,he had a sense of stewardship which would today appear one of the presumptions earlier referred to4 ,the individual orator was not1 except perhaps in certain postures1 offering an individual testimonial4 ,he was the mouthpiece for a collective brand of wisdom which was not to be delivered in individual accents4 ,we may suppose that the people did not resent the stylizations of the orator any more than now they resent the stylizations of the ,bible4 8,that is the way ,god talks40 ,the deity should be above mere novelties of expression1 transparent devices of rhetoric1 or importunate appeals for attention4 ,it is enough for him to be earnest and truthful2 we will rise to whatever patterns of expression it has pleased him to use4 ,stylization indicates an attitude which will not concede too much1 or certainly will not concede weakly or complacently4 ,as in point of historical sequence the language of political discourse succeeded that of the sermon1 some of the latter's dignity and self-confidence persisted in the way of formalization4 ,thus when the orator made gestures toward the occasion1 they were likely to be ceremonious rather than personal or spontaneous1 the oration itself being an occasion of 8style40 ,the modern listener is very quick to detect a pattern of locution1 but he is prone to ascribe it to situations of weakness rather than of strength4 ,of course oratory of the broadly ruminative kind is acceptable only when we accredit someone with the ability to review our conduct1 our destiny1 and the causes of things in general4 ,if we reach a condition in which no man is believed to have this power1 we will accordingly be impatient with that kind of discourse4 ,it should not be overlooked that although the masses in any society are comparatively ill-trained and ignorant1 they are very quick to sense attitudes1 through their native capacity as human beings4 ,when attitudes change at the top of society1 they are able to see that change long before they are able to describe it in any language of their own1 and in fact they can see it without ever doing that4 ,the masses thus follow intellectual styles1 and more quickly than is often supposed1 so that1 in this particular case1 when a general skepticism of predication sets in among the leaders of thought1 the lower ranks are soon infected with the same thing 7though one must make allowance here for certain barriers to cultural transmission constituted by geography and language74 ,this principle will explain why there is no more appetite for the broadly reflective discourse among the general public of today than among the lite4 ,the stewardship of man has been hurt rather than helped by the attacks upon natural right1 and at present nobody knows who the custodians 7in the old sense of 8watchers07 are4 ,consequently it is not easy for a man to assume the ground requisite for such a discourse4 ,speeches today either are made for entertainment1 or they are political speeches for political ends4 ,and the chief characteristic of the speech for political ends is that it is made for immediate effect1 with the smallest regard for what is politically true4 ,whereas formerly its burden was what the people believed or had experienced1 the burden now tends to be what they wish to hear4 ,the increased reliance upon slogans and catchwords1 and the increased use of the argument from contraries 7e4g41 8the thing my opponent is doing will be welcomed by the ,russians07 are prominent evidences of the trend4#aed ,lastly1 the old style may be called1 in comparison with what has succeeded1 a polite style4 ,its very diffuseness conceals a respect for the powers and limitations of the audience4 ,bishop ,whatley has observed that highly concentrated expression may be ill suited to persuasion because the majority of the people are not capable of assimilating concentrated thought4 ,the principle can be shown through an analogy with nutrition4 ,it is known that diet must contain a certain amount of roughage4 ,this roughage is not food in the sense of nutriment2 its function is to dilute or distend the real food in such a way that it can be most readily assimilated4 ,a concentrate of food is1 therefore1 not enough1 for there has to be a certain amount of inert matter to furnish bulk4 ,something of a very similar nature operates in discourse4 ,when a piece of oratory intended for a public occasion impresses us as distended1 which is to say1 filled up with repetition1 periphrasis1 long grammatical forms1 and other impediments to directness1 we should recall that the diffuseness all this produces may have a purpose4 ,the orator may have made a close calculation of the receptive powers of his audience and have ordered his style to meet that1 while continuing to 8sound good0 at every point4 ,this represents a form of consideration for the audience4 ,there exists quite commonly today1 at the opposite pole1 a syncopated style4 ,this style1 with its suppression of beats and its consequent effect of hurrying over things1 does not show that type of consideration4 ,it does not give the listener the roughage of verbiage to chew on while meditating the progress of the thought4 ,here again 8spaciousness0 has a quite rational function in enforcing a measure1 so that the mind and the sentiments too can keep up with the orator in his course4 ,perhaps this is as far as we can go in explaining the one age to another4 ,we are now in position to realize that the archaic formalism of the old orator was a structure imparted to his speech by a logic1 an aesthetic1 and an epistemology4 ,as a logician he believed in the deduced term1 or the term whose empirical support is not at the moment visible4 ,as an aesthetician he believed in distance1 and that not merely to soften outline but also to evoke the true picture1 which could be obscured by an injudicious and prying nearness4 ,as an epistemologist he believed1 in addition to the foregoing1 that true knowledge somehow had its source in the mind of minds1 for which we are on occasion permitted to speak a part4 ,all this gave him a peculiar sense of stature4 ,he always talked like a big man4 ,our resentment comes from a feeling that with all his air of confidence he could not have known half as much as we know4 ,but everything depends on what we mean by knowing2 and the age or the man who has the true conception of that will have1 as the terms of the case make apparent1 the key to every other question4 ,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,rhetoric ,,of ,,social ,,science ,one of the serious problems of our age is the question of how scientific information1 which is largely the product of special tools of investigation1 shall be communicated to the non-specialist world4 ,a few sciences operate in fields of theory so abstract that they can create their own symbology1 and most of what they transmit to the public will be in the form of highly generalized translation4 ,but there are other sciences whose very success depends upon some public understanding of what they are trying to solve1 and these are faced with peculiar problems of communication4 ,none are in so difficult a position as social science4 ,the social sciences have been1 since their institution1 jealous of their status as science1 and that is perhaps understandable4 ,but their data is the everyday life of man in society1 and naturally if there is an area of scientific discovery upon which the general public should be posted1 it is just this one of the laws of social phenomena4 ,caught between this desire to remain scientific and the necessity of public expression1 most social scientists are in a dilemma4 ,they have not devised 7and possibly they cannot devise7 their own symbology to rival that of the mathematician and physicist4 ,on the other hand1 they have not set themselves to learn the principles of sound rhetorical exposition4 ,the result is that the publications of social scientists contain a large amount of conspicuously poor writing1 which is now under growing attack4#aee ,some of these attacks have been perceptive as well as witty2 but ,i feel that no one has yet made the point which most needs making1 which is that the social scientists will never write much better until they make terms with some of the traditional rules of rhetoric4 ,i propose in the study which follows to ignore the isolated small faults and instead to analyze the sources of pervasive vices4 ,i shall put the inquiry in the form of a series of questions1 which lead to cardinal principles of conception and of choice4 ,i ,does the writing of social scientists suffer from a primary equivocation8 ,the charge against social science writing which would be most widely granted is that it fails to convince us that it deals clearly with realities4 ,this impression may lead to the question of whether the social scientist knows what he is talking about4 ,now this is a serious1 not a frivolous1 question1 involving matters of logic and epistemology2 it is a question1 furthermore1 that one finds the social scientists constantly putting to themselves and answering in a variety of ways4 ,any field of study is liable to a similar interrogation2 in this instance it merely asks whether those who interpret social behavior in scientific terms are aware of the kind of data they are handling4 ,are they dealing with facts1 or concepts1 or evaluations1 or all three8 ,the answer given to this question will have a definite bearing upon their problem of expression1 and let us see how this can happen in a concrete instance4 ,we have had much to say in preceding chapters about the distinction between positive and dialectical terms2 and nowhere has the ignoring of this distinction had worse results than in the literature of social science4 ,we have seen1 to review briefly1 that the positive term designates something existing simply in the objective world3 the chair1 the tree1 the farm4 ,arguments over positive terms are not arguments in the true sense1 since the point at issue is capable of immediate and public settlement1 just as one might settle an 8argument0 over the width of a room by bringing in a publicly-agreed-upon yardstick4 ,consequently a rhetoric of positive terms is a rhetoric of simple description1 which requires only powers of accurate observation and reporting4 ,it is otherwise with dialectical terms4 ,these are terms standing for concepts1 which are defined by their negatives or their privations4 8,justice0 is a dialectical term which is defined by 8injustice02 8social improvement0 is made meaningful by the use of 8privation of social improvement40 ,to say that a family has an income of #hjj4jj a year is positive2 to say that the same family is underprivileged is dialectical4 ,it can be underprivileged only with reference to families which have more privileges4 ,so it goes with the whole range of terms which reflect judgments of value2 8unjust10 8poor10 8underpaid10 8undesirable0 are all terms which depend on something more than the external world for their significance4 ,now here is where the social scientist crosses a divide that he seldom acknowledges and often seems unaware of4 ,one cannot use the dialectical term in the same manner as one uses the positive term because the dialectical term always leaves one committed to something4 ,it is a truth easily seen that all dialectical terms make presumptions from the plain fact that they are 8positional0 terms4 ,a writer no sooner employs one than he is engaged in an argument4 ,to say that the universe is purposeless is to join in argument with all who say it is purposeful4 ,to say that a certain social condition is inequitable is to ally oneself with the reformers and against the standpatters4 ,in all such cases the presumption has to do with the scope of the term and with its relationship to its opposite1 and these can be worked out only through the dialectical method we have analyzed in other chapters4 ,when the reader of social science comes to such terms1 he is baffled because he has not been warned of the presumptions on which they rest4 ,or1 to be more exact1 he has not been prepared for presumptions at all4 ,he finds himself reading at a level where the facts have been subsumed1 and where the exposition is a process of adjusting categories4 ,the writer has passed with indifference from what is objectively true to what is morally or imaginatively true4 ,the reader's uneasiness comes from a feeling that the categories themselves are the things which should have been examined4 ,just here1 however1 may lie the crux of the difficulty4 ,it begins to look as though the social scientist working with his regular habits is actually a dialectician without a dialectical basis4 ,his dilemma is that he can neither use his terms with the simple directness of the natural scientist pointing to physical factors1 nor with the assurance of a philosopher who has some source for their meaning in the system from which he begins his deduction4 ,or1 the social scientist is trying to characterize the world positively in terms which can be made good only dialectically4 ,he can never make them good dialectically as long as he is by theory entirely committed to empiricism4 ,this explains why to the ordinary beholder there seem to be so many smuggled assumptions in the literature of social science4 ,it will explain1 moreover1 why so much of its expression is characterized by diffuseness and by that verbosity which is certain to afflict a dialectic without a metaphysic or an ontology4 ,this uncertainty of the social scientist about the nature of his datum often leads him to treat empirical situations as if they carried moral sanction1 and then to turn around and treat some point of contemporary mores--which is by definition a 8moral0 question--as if it had only empirical aspects4 ,in direct consequence1 when the social scientist should be writing 8positively10 like a crack newspaper reporter1 one finds him writing like ,hegel1 and1 when the stage of his exposition might warrant his writing more or less like ,hegel1 one finds him employing dialectical terms as if they had positive designations4 ,paradoxically1 his very reverence for facts may tend to make him sound like ,hegel or some other master of categorical thinking4 ,anyone sampling the literature of social science cannot fail to be impressed with the proportion of space given to definition4 ,indeed1 one of the most convincing claims of the science is that our present-day knowledge of man is defective because our definitions are simplistic4 ,his behavior is much more varied than the unscientific suppose2 and therefore a central objective of social study is definition1 which will take this variety into account and supplant our present 8prejudiced0 definitions4 ,with this in mind1 the social scientist toils in library or office to prepare the best definitions he can of human nature1 of society1 and of psychosocial environment4 ,the danger for him in this laudable endeavor seems twofold4 ,first1 one must remark that the language of definition is inevitably the language of generality because only the generalizable is definable4 ,singulars and individuals can be described but not defined2 e4g41 one can define man1 but one can only describe ,abraham ,lincoln4 ,the greater1 then1 his solicitude for the factual and the concrete1 the more irresistibly is he borne in the direction of abstract language1 which alone will encompass his collected facts4 ,his dissertations on human society begin with obeisance to facts1 but the logic of his being a scientist condemns him to abstraction4 ,he is forced toward the position of the proverbial revolutionary1 who loves mankind but has little charity for those particular specimens of it with whom he must associate4 ,in the second place and more importantly1 the definition of non-empirical terms is itself a dialectical process4 ,all such definition takes the form of an argument which must prove that the definiendum is one thing and not another thing4 ,the limits of the definition are thus the boundary between the things and the not-thing4 ,someone might inquire at this stage of our account whether the natural scientists1 who must also define1 are not equally liable under this point of the argument4 ,the distinction is that definitions in natural science have a different ontological basis4 ,the properties about which they generalize exist not in logical connection but in empirical conjunction1 as when 8mammal10 8vertebrate10 and 8quadruped0 are used to distinguish the genus ,felis4 ,the doctrine of 8natural kinds0 thus remains an empirical classification1 as does the traditional classification of elements4#aef ,consequently the genus ,felis has a reality in the form of compresent positive attributes which 8slum0 cannot have4 ,the establishment of the genus is not a matter of negating or depriving other classes1 but of naming what is there4 ,on the other hand one could never arrive positivistically at a definition of 8slum0 because its meaning is contingent upon judgment 7and theoretically our standard of living might move up to where ,westchester1 ,grosse ,point1 and ,winnetka are regarded as slums74 ,thus 8slum0 no more exists objectively than does 8bad weather40 ,there are collections of sticks and stones which the dialectician may call 8slums10 just as there are processions of the elements which he may call 8bad40 ,but these are positive things only in a reductionist equation4 ,of course1 the natural scientist works always with reductionist equations2 but the social scientist1 unless he is an extreme materialist1 must work with the full equation4 ,it is a grave imputation1 but at the heart of the social scientist's unsatisfactory expression lies this equivocation4 ,remedy here can come only with a clearer defining of province and of responsibility4 ,,ii ,is social science writing marred by 8pedantic empiricism08 ,the natural desire of everyone to carry away something from his reading encounters in this literature curious obstacles4 ,its authors often seem unduly coy about their conclusions4 ,after the reader has been escorted on an extensive tour of facts and definitions1 he is likely to be told that little can be affirmed at this stage of the inquiry4 ,so it is that1 however much we read1 we are made to feel that what we are reading is preliminary4 ,we come almost to look for a formula at the close of a social science monograph which takes an excessively modest view of its achievement while expressing the hope that someone else may come along and do something with the data there offered4 ,burgess and ,cottrell's ,predicting ,success or ,failure in ,marriage provides an illustration4 ,after presenting their case1 the authors say3 8,in this study1 as in many others1 the most significant contribution is not to be found in any one finding but in the degree to which the study opens up a new field to further research40#aeg ,again1 from an article appearing in ,social ,forces3 8,the findings here mentioned are merely suggestive2 and they are offered in no sense as proof of our hypothesis of folk-urban personality differences4 ,the implementation of the analysis given here would demand a field project incorporating the type of methodological consciousness advocated above4 ,thus we need to utilize standard projective devices1 but must be prepared to develop1 in terms of situational demands1 additional analytic instruments40#aeh ,and ,herman ,c4 ,beyle in a chapter on the data and method of political science1 which constitute the underpinning of his whole study1 can only say that 8the foregoing comments on the data and technology of political science have been offered as most tentative statements intended to provide a background for the testing and application of the technique here proposed1 that of attribute-cluster-bloc identification and analysis40#aei 8,most tentative0 becomes a sort of leitmotiv4 ,everything sounds like a prolegomenon to the real thing4 ,exclamations that social scientists are taking in one another's washing or are only trying to make work for themselves are inspired by this kind of performance4 ,but1 even after one has made allowance for the fact that social science is not one of the exact sciences and that its disciples work in a field where induction is far from complete1 their fear of commitment still seems obsessive4 ,they could at least have the courage of the facts which they have accumulated4 ,virtually everyone who is seeking scientific enlightenment on this level knows that conclusions are given in the light of evidence available1 and that hypothesis always extends some distance beyond what is directly observable4 ,indeed1 everyone makes use of the method of scientific investigation1 as ,t4 ,h4 ,huxley liked to assure his audiences1 but not everyone finds necessary such an armor of qualifications as is likely to appear here3 8,on the basis of available evidence1 it is not unreasonable to suppose02 8,it may not be improbable in view of these findings02 8,the present survey would seem to indicate40 ,all these rhetorical contortions are forms of needless hedging4 ,it would be a different matter if such formulas of reservation made the conclusion more precise4 ,but in the majority of cases it could be shown that the conclusion is obvious enough in terms of the discussion itself1 and they serve only to make it sound timid4 ,these scholars move to a tune of 8induction never ends10 and their scholarship often turns into a pedantic empiricism4 ,they seem to be waiting for the fact that will bring with it the revelation4 ,but that fact will never arrive2 experience does not tell us what we are experiencing1 and at some point they are going to have to give names to their findings--even at the expense of becoming dialecticians4 ,if the needlessly hedged statement is one result of pedantic empiricism1 another occurs in what might be called 8pedantic analysis40 ,this is analysis for analysis' sake1 with no real thought of relevance or application or1 indeed1 of a resynthesis which might redeem the whole undertaking4 ,just as it is assumed that an endless collection of data will necessarily yield fruits1 so it is assumed that a remorseless partitioning will illuminate4 ,but analysis can be carried so far that it seems to lose all bearing upon points at issue4 ,the writer shows himself a sort of virtuoso at analysis1 and one feels that his real interest lies in demonstrating how thoroughly a method can be followed4 ,let us look1 for example1 at a passage from an article entitled 8,courtship as a ,social ,institution in the ,united ,states1 #aicj-aide40 ,the author has said that activities of courtship show different patterns and that sometimes the patterns need to be harmonized3 ,to be compatible1 patterns should be adapted to the following components3 7#a7 the hominid component1 which is the biological human being2 7#b7 the social component1 which includes the potentialities for social relations as they are affected by 8the number of human beings in the situation1 their distribution in space1 their ages1 their sex1 their native ability to interstimulate and interact1 the interference of environmental hindrances or helps1 and the presence and amount of certain types of social equipment02 7#c7 the environmental component1 or all the 8natural0 features of the situation except the hominid1 the social1 the psychological and artifactual components2 it includes topography1 physiography1 flora1 fauna1 weather1 geology1 soil1 etc42 7#d7 the psychological component1 defined as the principles involving the acquisition and performance of human customs not adequately explained on purely biological principles2 7#e7 the artifactual component1 which consists collectively of the material results and adjuncts of human customary activities4#afj ,it is not always safe for the layman to generalize about the value of specific sociological findings1 but ,i am inclined to think that this is verbiage1 resulting from analysis pushed beyond any useful purpose4 ,there is a real if obscure relationship between the vitality of what one is saying and the palatability of one's rhetoric4 ,no rhythm1 no tournure of phrase1 no architecture of the sentences could make this a good piece of writing1 for its content lies on the outer fringe of significance4 ,it is the nature of such pedantry to habit itself in a harsh and crabbed style4 ,the primary step in literary composition is invention1 or the discovering of something to talk about4 ,no writer is finally able to make good the claim that his subject matter is one thing and his style of expression another2 the subject matter enters into the expression inevitably and extensively1 although sometimes in ways too subtle for elucidation4 ,what of the invention of this passage8 ,if we take the word in its etymological sense of 8finding10 are not these distinctions 8findings0 for findings' sake8 ,analysis carried to such a humorless extreme reflects discredit upon the very principle of division which was employed4 ,it may appear contradictory to call the social scientist a 8tendentious dialectician0 and a 8pedantic empiricist0 at the same time4 ,but the contradiction is inherent in his situation and merely expresses the equivocation found earlier4 ,in all likelihood the empiricism is an attempt to compensate for the dialectic4 ,if a writer feels guilty about his dialectic exercises 7his definitions71 he may seek to counterweight them with long empirical inquiries4 ,the object of the empirical analysis is primarily to give the work a scientific aspect and only secondarily to prove something4 ,in fact1 this is almost the pattern of inferior social science literature4 ,,iii ,does social science writing suffer from a melioristic bias8 ,this question directs our attention to the matter of vocabulary4 ,there is danger in criticising any writer's vocabulary through application of simple principles1 because demands vary widely4 ,for some purposes a small vocabulary of denotative terms will be satisfactory4 ,other purposes cannot be adequately met without a large and learned vocabulary which may1 incidentally1 sound pretentious4 ,our question then becomes whether the ends of social science are being well served by the means employed4 ,for example1 social scientists are often charged with addiction to polysyllabic vocabulary4 ,other men of learning show the same addiction1 but there are special reasons for weighing critically the polysyllabic diction of social scientists4 ,of course1 when one faces the issue concretely1 one discovers that there is no single standard by which a word is classified 8big40 ,some words are called 8big0 because they actually have four or five syllables and hence are measurably so2 other words of one or two syllables are called 8big0 because1 coming out of technical or scientific vocabularies1 they are unfamiliar to the average man2#afa others1 actually no longer1 are called 8big0 because of the company they keep2 that is to say1 they are words of learned or dignified association4 ,sometimes a word seems big when it is simply too pretentious for the kind of thing it is describing4 ,readers of ,h4 ,l4 ,mencken will recall that he obtained many of his best satirical effects by describing what was essentially picayune or tawdry in a vocabulary of grandiloquence4 ,a cursory inspection will show that social scientists are given to words which are 8big0 in yet another respect3 they have a ,latin origin4 ,even in analysis of simple phenomenon the reader comes to expect a parade of terms which seem to go by on stilts1 as if it were important to keep from touching the ground4 ,without raising questions of semantic theory1 one inclines to wonder about their relationship to their referents4 ,in course of time one may come to suspect that the words employed are not dictated by the subject matter1 but by some active principle out of sociological theory4 ,to see whether that suspicion has a foundation1 let us try a test on a specimen of this language4 ,the passage which will be used is fairly representative of the ordinary social science prose to be encountered in articles and reports4 ,the subject is expressed in the title 8,social ,nearness among ,welfare ,institutions03 ,it was noticed in the preceding sections that the social welfare organizational milieu presents an interdependence1 a formal solidarity1 a coerced feeling of unity4 ,however divergent the specific objectives of each organization1 theoretically they all have a common purpose1 the care of the so-called underprivileged4 ,whether they execute what they profess or not is a different question and one which does not fall within the confines of these pages4#afb ,there occur in this short excerpt about a dozen words of ,latin origin for which equivalents of ,anglo-,saxon 7or old ,english1 if the name is preferred7 origin are available1 and this without giving up presumably operational terms like 8organizational0 and 8milieu40#afc ,in place of 8noticed10 why not 8seen08 ,in place of 8divergent10 why not 8unlike08 ,in place of 8objective10 why not 8goal08 ,instead of 8execute what they profess10 why not 8do what they say08 ,did these terms not suggest themselves to the writer1 or were they deliberately passed by8 ,it might be arbitrary to insist that any one of these substitutes is better than the original1 but the piling-up of such terms causes language to take on a special aspect4 ,there are1 of course1 margins within which preference in terminology means little1 but a preference for ,latinate terms as marked as this must be1 to employ one of their customary expressions1 8significant40 ,that significance lies in the kind of attitude that social scientists must have in order to practice social science4 ,it seems beyond dispute that all social science rests upon the assumption that man and society are improvable4 ,that is its origin and its guiding impulse4 ,the man who does not feel that social behavior and social institutions can be bettered through the application of scientific laws1 or through some philosophy finding its basic support in them1 is surely out of place in sociology4 ,there would really be nothing for him to do4 ,he could only sit on the sidelines and speculate dourly1 like ,nietzsche1 or ironically1 like ,santayana4 ,the very profession which the true social scientist adopts compels him to be a kind of a priori optimist4 ,this is why a large part of social science writing displays a melioristic bias4 ,it is under compulsion1 often unconsciously felt1 ,i am sure1 to picture things a little better than they are4 ,such expression provides a kind of proof that its theories are 8working40 ,an indubitable connection exists between the melioristic bias and a ,latinate vocabulary4 ,even a moderate sensitivity to the overtones of language will tell one that diction of ,latin derivation tends to be euphemistic4 ,for this there seem to be both extrinsic and intrinsic causes4 ,it is a commonplace of historical knowledge that after the ,norman ,conquest the ,anglo-,saxons were forced into a servile role4 ,they were sent into the fields to do chores for the ,norman overlords1 and ,anglo-,saxon names have clung to the things with which they worked4 ,thus to the ,anglo-,saxon in the field the animal was 8cow02 to the ,norman1 when the same animal was served at his table1 it was 8beef0 7,l4 bos1 bovis74 ,so 8calf0 is translated 8veal02 8thegn0 becomes 8servant02 8folk0 becomes 8people10 and so on4 ,this distinction of common and elegant terms persists in an area of our vocabulary today4 ,another circumstance was that ,latin for centuries constituted the language of learning and of the professions throughout ,europe1 and from the fourteenth century onward1 there occurred a large amount of 8learned borrowing40#afd ,this reflects the fact that those cultures which carried civility and politesse to highest perfection drew from a ,latin source4 ,finally1 ,i would suggest that the greater number of syllables in many ,latinate terms is a factor in the effect4 ,whatever the complete explanation1 the truth remains that to give a thing a ,latinate name is to couple it with social prestige and with the world of ideas1 whereas to give it a name out of ,anglo-,saxon is to forgo such dignifying associations4 ,thus 8combat0 sounds more dignified than 8fight02 8labor0 has resonances which 8work0 does not have2 8impecunious0 seems to indicate a more hopeful condition than 8needy0 or 8penniless02 8involuntary separation0 sounds less painful than 8getting fired40 ,the list could be extended indefinitely4 ,with exceptions too few to make a difference1 the ,anglo-,saxon word is plain and workaday1 whereas the word of ,latin derivation seems to invest whatever it describes with a certain upward tendency4 ,of course1 the ,anglo-,saxon word has its potencies1 but they are not those of the other4 ,it seems to cling to the brute empirical fact1 while its ,latinate counterpart seems at once to become ideological1 with perhaps a slight aura of hortation about it4 ,whenever one hears the average man condemning a piece of discourse as 8flowery10 it is most likely that he is pointing1 with the only term at his command1 to an excess of ,latinate diction4 ,in the same connection1 let us remember that the last few years have seen much newspaper wit at the expense of the language of government bureaucracy1 which is even more responsive to the melioristic bias4 ,the bureaucrat lives in a world where nothing is incorrigible2 the solution to every contemporary difficulty waits only for the devising of some appropriate administrative machinery4 ,compared with him1 the social scientist is a realist1 for social science at least begins by admitting that many situations leave something to be desired4 ,the bureaucrat's world is prim and proper and aseptic1 and his language reflects it 7perhaps one could say that the discourse of the bureaucrat is social science 8politicalized074 ,at any rate1 here we might profitably look at a specimen of bureaucratic parlance from ,masterson and ,phillips' ,federal ,prose1 a recently published burlesque of official language4 ,the authors posed for themselves as one exercise the problem of how a bureaucrat would express the ancient adage 8,too many cooks spoil the broth40 ,their translation is a caricature1 but1 like caricature1 it brings out the dominant features of the subject3 8,undue multiplicity of personnel assigned either concurrently or consecutively to a single function involves deterioration of quality in the resultant product as compared with the product of the labor of an exact sufficiency of personnel40#afe ,one notices1 first of all1 the leap into polysyllabic diction1 along with the total disappearance of those homely entities 8cooks0 and 8broth40 8,personnel10 for example1 is an abstract dignifier1 and 8resultant product0 is safe1 since it does not leave the writer on record as affirming that the concoction in question actually is broth4 ,he is further protected by the expunging of 8spoil10 with its positive assertion1 and he can hide behind the relativity of 8deterioration of quality 444 as compared with44440 ,such language1 when used to express the phenomenology of social and political behavior1 gives a curious impression of being foreign to its subject matter4 ,the impression of foreignness may be explained as follows4 ,in all writing which has come to be regarded as wisdom about the human being1 there is an undertone of the sardonic4 ,man at his best is a sort of caricature of himself1 and even when we are eulogizing him for his finer attributes1 there has to be a minor theme of depreciation1 much as a vein of comedy weaves in and out of a great tragedy4 ,the 8great0 actions of history appear either sublime or ridiculous1 depending on one's standpoint1 and it may be the part of sagacity to regard them as both at the same time4 ,this note of the sardonic is found in biblical wisdom1 in ,plato's realism of situations1 and even in ,aristotle's dry categorizing4 ,it appears in the ,federalist papers1#aff as the authors1 while debating political theory in high terms1 kept a cagey eye upon economic man4 ,man is neither an angel nor any kind of disembodied spirit1 and the attempt to treat him as such only arouses our sense of the ridiculous4 ,the comic animal must be there before we can grant that the representation is 8true40 ,the typical social science report1 even when it discusses situations in which baseness and irrationality figure prominently1 does not get in this ingredient4 ,every social fact may be serious1 but not every social action is serious because action is not fully explainable without motive4 ,it is this abstract man which causes some of us to wonder about the predications of an unhumanistic social science4 ,the remedy might be to employ1 except where the necessity of conceptualizing makes it difficult1 something nearer the language of the biblical parable 7one shudders to think how our bureaucrat would render 8,a sower went forth to sow071 or the language of the best ,british journalism4 ,i have often felt that writers on social science might learn a valuable lesson from the limpid prose of the ,manchester ,guardian4 ,there one usually finds statement without eulogistic or dyslogistic tendency1 adequacy without turgidity4 ,it is perhaps the nearest thing we have in practice to that supposititious reality1 objective language4 ,there is some truth in the observation of ,john ,peale ,bishop that1 whereas ,american ,english is more vigorous1 ,english ,english is far more accurate4 ,a good reportorial medium will be1 to a considerable extent1 an ,english ,english1 and it will reflect something of the ,english genius for fact4 ,to sum up1 the melioristic bias is a deflection toward language which glosses over reality without necessarily giving us a philosophic vocabulary4 ,one could go so far as to say that such language is comparatively lacking in responsibility4 ,it is the language that one expects from those who have become insulated or daintified4 ,it carries a slight suggestion of denial of evil1 which in lay circles1 as in some ecclesiastical ones1 is among the greatest heresies4 ,perhaps the sociologist would inspire more confidence as a social physician if his language had more of the candor described above1 and almost certainly he would get a better understanding of his diagnosis4 ,,iv ,do the social scientists lose more than they gain by a distrust of metaphor8 ,dr4 ,johnson once remarked of ,swift1 8,the rogue never hazards a metaphor10 and that may well be the reaction of anyone who has plowed through the drab pages of a contemporary sociologist4 ,it has long been suspected that sociologists and poets have little confidence in one another1 and here their respective procedures come into complete contrast4 ,the poet works mainly with metaphor1 and the sociologist will have none of it4 ,which is right8 ,or1 if each is doing instinctively the thing that is right for him1 must we affirm that the works they produce are of very unequal importance8 ,one can readily see how the social scientist might be guided by the simple impression that1 since metaphor characterizes the language of poetry1 it has1 for that very reason1 no place in the language of science4 ,or1 if he should become more analytical1 he might conclude that metaphor1 through its very operation of analogy or transference1 implies the existence of a realm which positivistic study denies4 ,to use metaphor1 then1 would be to pass over to the enemy4 ,but he would be a very limited kind of sociologist1 a sort of doctrinaire mechanist1 not fully posted on all the resources open to scientific inquiry4 ,there are two more or less familiar theories of the nature of metaphor4 ,one holds that metaphor is mere decoration4 ,it is like the colored lights and gewgaws one hangs on a ,christmas tree2 the tree is an integral tree without them1 but they do add sparkle and novelty and so are good things for such occasions4 ,so the metaphors used in language are pleasurable accessories1 which give it a certain charm and lift but which are supererogatory when one comes down to the business of understanding what is said4 ,this theory has been fully discredited not only by those who have analyzed the language of poetry1 but also by those who have gone furthest into the psychology of language itself and have explored the 8meaning of meaning40 ,a second theory holds that metaphor is a useful concession to our feeble imagination4 ,we are all children of ,adam to the extent that we crave material embodiments4 ,even the most highly trained of us are wearied by long continuance of abstract communication2 we want the thing brought down to earth so that we can see it4 ,for the same reason that principles have to be put into fables for children1 the abstract conceptions of modern science require figures for their popular expression4 ,thus the universe of ,einstein is represented as 8like0 the surface of an orange2 or the theory of entropy is illustrated by the figure of a desert on which ,arabs are riding their camels hither and thither4 ,from the standpoint of rhetoric1 this theory has some validity4 ,visualization is an aid to seeing relationships1 and there are rhetorical situations which demand some kind of picturization4 ,many skilled expositors will follow an abstract proposition with some easy figure which lets us down to earth or enables us to get a bearing4 ,there is some value1 then1 in the 8incarnation0 of concepts4 ,on this ground alone one could defend the use of metaphors in communication4#afg ,there is yet another theory1 now receiving serious attention1 that metaphor is itself a means of discovery4 ,of course1 metaphor is intended here in the broadest sense1 requiring only some form of parallelism4#afh ,but when its essential nature is understood1 it is hard to resist the thought that metaphor is one of the most important heuristic devices1 leading us from a known to an unknown1 but subsequently verifiable1 fact of principle4 ,thus ,george de ,santillana1 writing on 8,aspects of ,scientific ,rationalism in the ,nineteenth ,century10 can declare1 8,there is never a #8strict induction' but contains a considerable amount of deduction1 starting from points chosen analogically40#afi ,in other words1 analogy formulates and to some extent directs the inquiry4 ,any investigation must start from certain minimal likenesses1 and that may conceal the truth that some analogy lies at the heart of all assertion4 ,even ,bertrand ,russell is compelled to accept analogy as one of the postulates required to validate the scientific method because it provides the antecedent probability necessary to justify an induction4#agj ,we might go so far as to admit the point of ,george ,lundberg1 who has given attention to the underlying theory of social science1 that artists and philosophers make only 8allegations0 about the world1 which scientists must put to the test4#aga ,for the inquiry may go from allegation to allegation1 through a series of metaphorical constructs4 ,this in no wise diminishes the role of metaphor but rather recognizes the role it has always had4 ,if we should speak1 for example1 of the 8dance of life10 we would be using a metaphor of considerable illuminating power1 in that it rests upon a number of resemblances1 some of which are hidden or profound4 ,if we push it vigorously1 we may be surprised at some of the insights which will turn up4 ,our nave question1 8,what is it like80 which we ask of anything we are confronting for the first time1 is the intellect's cry for help4 ,unless it is like something in some measure1 we shall never get to understand it4 ,the usual student of literature is prone to feel that there is more social psychology in ,hamlet than in a dozen volumes on the theory of the subject4 ,hamlet is a category1 a kind of concrete universal2 why would he yield less as a factor in an analysis than some operational definition8 ,at least one social psychologist has felt no hesitation about employing this kind of factor1 the only difference being that his is ,babbitt1 of more recent creation4 ,ellsworth ,faris1 in developing a thesis that every person has several selves1 presents his meaning as follows3 ,moreover1 whatever the list of personalities or roles may be1 there is always room for one more1 and indeed for many more4 ,when war comes1 ,babbitt will probably be a member of the committee for public defense4 ,he may become a member of a law enforcement league yet to be formed4 ,he may divorce his wife or elope with his stenographer or misuse the mails and become a ,federal prisoner in ,leavenworth4 ,each experience will mean a new role with new personal attitudes and a new axiological conception of himself4#agb ,this is none the less illuminating because ,babbitt is not the product of a controlled scientific induction4 ,he is a sort of 8alleged0 symbol which works very well in a psychological equation4 ,surely1 it is enlightening to know that some men are like ,babbitt and others like ,hamlet1 or that we all have our ,babbitt and ,hamlet phases4 ,but here we should be primarily interested in the fact that the ,lynds' ,middletown 7#aibi7 followed rather than preceded ,lewis's ,main ,street 7#aibj74 ,in the best of literary and sociological worlds1 ,main ,street directs attention to ,middletown1 and ,middletown reduces ,main ,street to an operable entity4 ,the task of taking language away from poetry is a larger operation than appears at first1 and in the eyes of some students an impossible one1 even if it were desirable4 ,we are all like ,emerson's scholar in that the ordinary affairs of life come to us business and go from us poetry--at least as soon as we start expressing them in speech4 ,many words which we think of as prosaic literalisms can be shown to have their origin in long-forgotten comparisons4 ,the word 8depend0 analogizes the action of hanging from2 8contact0 analogizes a relationship4 8,discoverer0 and 8detect0 stand for the literal operation of taking off a covering1 hence exposing to view4 ,a 8profound study0 apparently goes back to our perception of physical depth4 ,in this way the meaning which we attach to these words is transferred from their analogues2 and1 of course1 the process is more obvious in language that is more consciously metaphorical4 ,it thus becomes plain that somewhere one has to come to terms with metaphor anyhow1 and there is a way to turn the necessity into a victory4 ,v ,is the expression of social science affected by a caste spirit8 ,the fact that social scientists are1 in general1 dedicated to the removal of caste1 or at least to a refutation of caste presumptions1 unfortunately does not prevent their becoming a caste4 ,circumstances exist all the while to make them an lite4 ,for one thing1 the scientific method of procedure sets them off pretty severely from the average man1 with his common-sense approach to social problems4 ,not only is he likely to be nonplussed by techniques and terminologies2 he is also likely to be repelled by what scientists consider one of their greatest virtues--their detachment4 ,finally1 it has to be admitted that social scientists' extensive patronage by universities1 foundations1 and governments serves to give them a protected status while they work4 ,every other group so situated has tended to create a jargon1 and thus far the social scientists have not been an exception4 ,their jargon is a product partly of imitation and partly of defense-mindedness4 ,naturally one of the first steps in entering a profession is to master the professional language4 ,a display of familiarity with the language is popularly taken as a sign of orthodoxy and acceptance2 and thus there arises a temptation to use the special nomenclature freely even when one has doubts about its aptness4 ,this condition affects especially the young ones who are seeking recognition and establishment--the graduate students and the instructors--in general1 the probationers in the field4 ,departure from orthodoxy can be interpreted as a sign of ignorance or as a sign of independence1 and1 in the case of those who have not passed probation1 we usually interpret it as the former4 ,accordingly1 there is a degree of risk involved in changing the pattern of speech laid down by one's colleagues4 ,so the problem of what one has to do to show that one belongs can be a problem of style4 ,it is entirely possible that many young social scientists do not write so well as they could because of this inhibition4 ,they are in the position of having to satisfy teachers and critics1 and they produce what is expected or what they think is expected4 ,in this way a natural gift for the direct phrase and the lucid arrangement can be swallowed up in tortuosities4 ,the pattern can be broken only by some gifted revolutionary or by someone invested with all the honors of the guild4 ,it is1 moreover1 true1 as ,harold ,laski has pointed out1 that every profession builds up a distrust of innovation1 and especially of innovation from the outside4#agc ,it requires an unusual degree of humility to see that the solution to our problem may have to come from someone outside our number1 perhaps from some nave person whose advantage is that he can see the matter only in broad outline4 ,professions and bureaucracies are on guard against this sort of person1 and one of the barriers they unconsciously set up is just this one of jargon4 ,if certain government policies were announced in the language of the barbershop1 their absurdity might become overwhelmingly apparent4 ,if certain projects in social science research 7or in language and literature research1 for that matter7 were explained in the language of the daily news report1 their futility might become embarrassingly clear4 ,one can only surmise how an experienced political reporter would phrase the findings in ,beyle's ,identification and ,analysis of ,attribute-,cluster-,blocs1 but one has a notion that his account would sound very little like the original4 ,would it be unfair8 ,the reply that such language would destroy essential meanings in the original would have to be weighed along with the alternative possibility that the language was used in the first place because it was euphemistic1 in the sense we have outlined1 or protective4 ,a user of such language may feel safe because the definition of terms is1 in a way1 his possession4 ,and so technical language1 as sometimes employed1 may be ,pickwickian1 inasmuch as it serves not just scientifically but also pragmatically4 ,the average citizen1 faced with sociological explanations and bureaucratic communiques1 may feel as poor culprits used to feel when confronted with law ,latin4 ,,vi ,the rhetorical obligation of the scientists has been aptly expressed by ,t4 ,swann ,harding in a discussion of the general character of scientific writing4 8,scientists10 he says1 8gain nothing by showing off1 and the simpler they can make their reports the better4 ,even their technical reports can be made very much simpler without loss of accuracy or precision4 ,nor is there really any valid substitute for a good working knowledge of ,english composition and rhetoric40#agd ,the last statement is true with certain qualifications1 which ought to be made explicit4 ,in a final estimate of the problem it has to be recognized that social science writing cannot be judged altogether by literary standards4 ,it is expression with a definite assignment of duty2 and those who have made a comparative study of methods and styles know that every formula of expression incurs its penalty4 ,it is a rule in the realm of writing that one pays for the choice one makes4 ,the payment is exacted when the form of expression becomes too exclusively what it is4 ,in course of use a defined style becomes its own enemy4 ,if one's writing is abstract1 it will accommodate ideas1 but it will fatigue the reader4 ,if it is concrete1 it will divert and relieve2 but it may become cloying1 and it will have difficulty in encompassing ideas4 ,if it is spare1 it will come to seem abrupt2 if it practices a degree of circumlocution1 it will first seem elegant but will come to seem inflated4 ,the lucid style is suspected of oversimplifying4 ,and so the dilemma goes4 ,now the social scientist has to write about a kind of thing1 and1 notwithstanding his uncertain allocation of facts and concepts1 he may as well accept his penalty at the beginning4 ,he can never make it a primary goal to be 8pleasing10 and for this reason the purely literary performance is not for him4 ,dramatistic presentation1 a leading source of interest in all literary production1 is largely1 if not entirely1 out of his reach4 ,the only kind of writing that gets people emotionally involved contains some form of dramatic conflict1 which requires a dichotomy of opposites4 ,yet the only dichotomy that social science 7as a science7 contemplates is that of the norm and the deviate1 and these two are supposed to exist in an empirical rather than in a moral context1 and the injunction is implicit that all we shall do is observe4 ,the work1 then1 is going to be either purely descriptive1 or critical with reference to the norm-deviate opposition4 ,not many people are going to develop a sense of poignant concern over such presentations4 ,to a certain extent ,middletown did catch the popular imagination1 but the contrast developed here was between what the ,american observably was through the eyes of detached social scientists and his picture of himself1 with its compound of self-esteem1 aspiration1 and social mythology4 ,the community empirically found was put on the stage to challenge the community sentimentally and otherwise conceived4 ,the same will hardly hold for the typical case of scientific norm and empirically discovered deviate1 for no such ideas are involved in the contrast4 ,recent ,social ,trends in the ,united ,states1#age for example1 the monumental report of ,president ,hoover's ,research ,committee on ,social ,trends1 could not look to this kind of interest for its appeal4 ,unless1 therefore1 we regard metaphor as a means of dramatistic presentation1 this resource is not ordinarily open to social science4 ,yet within the purpose which the social scientist sets himself there is a considerable range of rhetorical possibility1 which he ignores at needless expense4 ,rhetoric is1 among other things1 a process of coordination and subordination which is very close to the essential thought process4 ,that is to say1 in any coherent piece of discourse there occur promotion and demotion of thoughts1 and this is accomplished not solely through logical outlining and subsumation4 ,it involves matters of sequence1 of quantity1 and some understanding of the rhetorical aspects of grammatical categories4 ,these are means to clear and effective expression1 and the failure to see and use them as means can produce a condition in which means and ends seem not discriminated1 or even a subversion in which means seem to manipulate ends4 ,that condition is one which social science1 along with every other instrumentality of education1 should be combating in the interest of a reasonable world4 ,chapter ,,ix ,,ultimate ,,terms ,,in ,,contemporary ,,rhetoric ,we have shown that rhetorical force must be conceived as a power transmitted through the links of a chain that extends upward toward some ultimate source4 ,the higher links of that chain must always be of unique interest to the student of rhetoric1 pointing1 as they do1 to some prime mover of human impulse4 ,here ,i propose to turn away from general considerations and to make an empirical study of the terms on these higher levels of force which are seen to be operating in our age4 ,we shall define term simply here as a name capable of entering into a proposition4 ,in our treatment of rhetorical sources1 we have regarded the full predication consisting of a proposition as the true validator4 ,but a single term is an incipient proposition1 awaiting only the necessary coupling with another term2 and it cannot be denied that single names set up expectancies of propositional embodiment4 ,this causes everyone to realize the critical nature of the process of naming4 ,given the name 8patriot10 for example1 we might expect to see coupled with it 8,brutus10 or 8,washington10 or 8,parnell02 given the term 8hot10 we might expect to see 8sun10 8stove10 and so on4 ,in sum1 single terms have their potencies1 this being part of the phenomenon of names1 and we shall here present a few of the most noteworthy in our time1 with some remarks upon their etiology4 ,naturally this survey will include the 8bad0 terms as well as the 8good0 terms1 since we are interested to record historically those expressions to which the populace1 in its actual usage and response1 appears to attribute the greatest sanction4 ,a prescriptive rhetoric may specify those terms which1 in all seasons1 ought to carry the greatest potency1 but since the affections of one age are frequently a source of wonder to another1 the most we can do under the caption 8contemporary rhetoric0 is to give a descriptive account and withhold the moral until the end4 ,for despite the variations of fashion1 an age which is not simply distraught manages to achieve some system of relationship among the attractive and among the repulsive terms1 so that we can work out an order of weight and precedence in the prevailing rhetoric once we have discerned the 8rhetorical absolutes0--the terms to which the very highest respect is paid4 ,it is best to begin boldly by asking ourselves1 what is the 8god term0 of the present age8 ,by 8god term0 we mean that expression about which all other expressions are ranked as subordinate and serving dominations and powers4 ,its force imparts to the others their lesser degree of force1 and fixes the scale by which degrees of comparison are understood4 ,in the absence of a strong and evenly diffused religion1 there may be several terms competing for this primacy1 so that the question is not always capable of definite answer4 ,yet if one has to select the one term which in our day carries the greatest blessing1 and--to apply a useful test--whose antonym carries the greatest rebuke1 one will not go far wrong in naming 8progress40 ,this seems to be the ultimate generator of force flowing down through many links of ancillary terms4 ,if one can 8make it stick10 it will validate almost anything4 ,it would be difficult to think of any type of person or of any institution which could not be recommended to the public through the enhancing power of this word4 ,a politician is urged upon the voters as a 8progressive leader02 a community is proud to style itself 8progressive02 technologies and methodologies claim to the 8progressive02 a peculiar kind of emphasis in modern education calls itself 8progressive10 and so on without limit4 ,there is no word whose power to move is more implicitly trusted than 8progressive40 ,but unlike some other words we shall examine in the course of this chapter1 its rise to supreme position is not obscure1 and it possesses some intelligible referents4 ,before going into the story of its elevation1 we must prepare ground by noting that it is the nature of the conscious life of man to revolve around some concept of value4 ,so true is this that when the concept is withdrawn1 or when it is forced into competition with another concept1 the human being suffers an almost intolerable sense of being lost4 ,he has to know where he is in the ideological cosmos in order to coordinate his activities4 ,probably the greatest cruelty which can be inflicted upon the psychic man is this deprivation of a sense of tendency4 ,accordingly every age1 including those of rudest cultivation1 sets up some kind of sign post4 ,in highly cultivated ages1 with individuals of exceptional intellectual strength1 this may take the form of a metaphysic4 ,but with the ordinary man1 even in such advanced ages1 it is likely to be some idea abstracted from religion or historical speculation1 and made to inhere in a few sensible and immediate examples4 ,since the sixteenth century we have tended to accept as inevitable an historical development that takes the form of a changing relationship between ourselves and nature1 in which we pass increasingly into the role of master of nature4 ,when ,i say that this seems inevitable to us1 ,i mean that it seems something so close to what our more religious forebears considered the working of providence that we regard as impiety any disposition to challenge or even suspect it4 ,by a transposition of terms1 8progress0 becomes the salvation man is placed on earth to work out2 and just as there can be no achievement more important than salvation1 so there can be no activity more justified in enlisting our sympathy and support than 8progress40 ,as our historical sketch would imply1 the term began to be used in the sixteenth century in the sense of continuous development or improvement2 it reached an apogee in the nineteenth century1 amid noisy demonstrations of man's mastery of nature1 and now in the twentieth century it keeps its place as one of the least assailable of the 8uncontested terms10 despite critical doubts in certain philosophic quarters4 ,it is probably the only term which gives to the average ,american or ,west ,european of today a concept of something bigger than himself1 which he is socially impelled to accept and even to sacrifice for4 ,this capacity to demand sacrifice is probably the surest indicator of the 8god term10 for when a term is so sacrosanct that the material goods of this life must be mysteriously rendered up for it1 then we feel justified in saying that it is in some sense ultimate4 ,today no one is startled to hear of a man's sacrificing health or wealth for the 8progress0 of the community1 whereas such sacrifices for other ends may be regarded as self-indulgent or even treasonable4 ,and this is just because 8progress0 is the coordinator of all socially respectable effort4 ,perhaps these observations will help the speaker who would speak against the stream of 8progress10 or who1 on the other hand1 would parry some blow aimed at him through the potency of the word1 to realize what a momentum he is opposing4 ,another word of great rhetorical force which owes its origin to the same historical transformation is 8fact40 ,today's speaker says 8,it is a fact0 with all the gravity and air of finality with which his less secular-minded ancestor would have said 8,it is the truth40#agf 8,these are facts02 8,facts tend to show02 and 8,he knows the facts0 will be recognized as common locutions drawing upon the rhetorical resource of this word4 ,the word 8fact0 went into the ascendent when our system of verification changed during the ,renaissance4 ,prior to that time1 the type of conclusion that men felt obligated to accept came either through divine revelation1 or through dialectic1 which obeys logical law4 ,but these were displaced by the system of verification through correspondence with physical reality4 ,since then things have been true only when measurably true1 or when susceptible to some kind of quantification4 ,quite simply1 8fact0 came to be the touchstone after the truth of speculative inquiry had been replaced by the truth of empirical investigation4 ,today when the average citizen says 8,it is a fact0 or says that he 8knows the facts in the case10 he means that he has the kind of knowledge to which all other knowledges must defer4 ,possibly it should be pointed out that his 8facts0 are frequently not facts at all in the etymological sense2 often they will be deductions several steps removed from simply factual data4 ,yet the 8facts0 of his case carry with them this aura of scientific irrefragability1 and he will likely regard any questioning of them as sophistry4 ,in his vocabulary a fact is a fact1 and all evidence so denominated has the prestige of science4 ,these last remarks will remind us at once of the strongly rhetorical character of the word 8science0 itself4 ,if there is good reason for placing 8progress0 rather than 8science0 at the top of our series1 it is only that the former has more scope1 8science0 being the methodological tool of 8progress40 ,it seems clear1 moreover1 that 8science0 owes its present status to an hypostatization4 ,the hypostatized term is one which treats as a substance or a concrete reality that which has only conceptual existence2 and every reader will be able to supply numberless illustrations of how 8science0 is used without any specific referent4 ,any utterance beginning 8,science says0 provides one3 8,science says there is no difference in brain capacity between the races02 8,science now knows the cause of encephalitis02 8,science says that smoking does not harm the throat40 ,science is not1 as here it would seem to be1 a single concrete entity speaking with one authoritative voice4 ,behind these large abstractions 7and this is not an argument against abstractions as such7 there are many scientists holding many different theories and employing many different methods of investigation4 ,the whole force of the word nevertheless depends upon a bland assumption that all scientists meet periodically in synod and there decide and publish what science believes4 ,yet anyone with the slightest scientific training knows that this is very far from a possibility4 ,let us consider therefore the changed quality of the utterance when it is amended to read 8,a majority of scientists say02 or 8,many scientists believe02 or 8,some scientific experiments have indicated40 ,the change will not do4 ,there has to be a creature called 8science02 and its creation has as a matter of practice been easy1 because modern man has been conditioned to believe that the powers and processes which have transformed his material world represent a very sure form of knowledge1 and that there must be a way of identifying that knowledge4 ,obviously the rhetorical aggrandizement of 8science0 here parallels that of 8fact10 the one representing generally and the other specifically the whole subject matter of trustworthy perception4 ,furthermore1 the term 8science0 like 8progress0 seems to satisfy a primal need4 ,man feels lost without a touchstone of knowledge just as he feels lost without the direction-finder provided by progress4 ,it is curious to note that actually the word is only another name for knowledge 7,l4 scientia71 so that if we should go by strict etymology1 we should insist that the expression 8science knows0 7i4e41 8knowledge knows07 is pure tautology4 ,but our rhetoric seems to get around this by implying that science is the knowledge4 ,other knowledges may contain elements of quackery1 and may reflect the selfish aims of the knower2 but 8science10 once we have given the word its incorporation1 is the undiluted essence of knowledge4 ,the word as it comes to us then is a little pathetic in its appeal1 inasmuch as it reflects the deeply human feeling that somewhere somehow there must be people who know things 8as they are40 ,once ,god or his ministry was the depository of such knowledge1 but now1 with the general decay of religious faith1 it is the scientists who must speak ex cathedra1 whether they wish to or not4 ,the term 8modern0 shares in the rhetorical forces of the others thus far discussed1 and stands not far below the top4 ,its place in the general ordering is intelligible through the same history4 ,where progress is real1 there is a natural presumption that the latest will be the best4 ,hence it is generally thought that to describe anything as 8modern0 is to credit it with all the improvements which have been made up to now4 ,then by a transference the term is applied to realms where valuation is1 or ought to be1 of a different source4 ,in consequence1 we have 8modern living0 urged upon us as an ideal2 8the modern mind0 is mentioned as something superior to previous minds2 sometimes the modifier stands alone as an epithet of approval3 8to become modern0 or 8to sound modern0 are expressions that carry valuation4 ,it is of course idle not to expect an age to feel that some of its ways and habits of mind are the best2 but the extensive transformations of the past hundred years seem to have given 8modern0 a much more decisive meaning4 ,it is as if a difference of degree had changed into a difference of kind4 ,but the very fact that a word is not used very analytically may increase its rhetorical potency1 as we shall see later in connection with a special group of terms4 ,another word definitely high up in the hierarchy we have outlined is 8efficient40 ,it seems to have acquired its force through a kind of no-nonsense connotation4 ,if a thing is efficient1 it is a good adaptation of means to ends1 with small loss through friction4 ,thus as a word expressing a good understanding and management of cause and effect1 it may have a fairly definite referent2 but when it is lifted above this and made to serve as a term of general endorsement1 we have to be on our guard against the stratagems of evil rhetoric4 ,when we find1 to cite a familiar example1 the phrase 8efficiency apartments0 used to give an attractive aspect to inadequate dwellings1 we may suspect the motive behind such juxtaposition4 ,in many similar cases1 8efficient10 which is a term above reproach in engineering and physics1 is made to hold our attention where ethical and aesthetic considerations are entitled to priority4 ,certain notorious forms of government and certain brutal forms of warfare are undeniably efficient2 but here the featuring of efficiency unfairly narrows the question4 ,another term which might seem to have a different provenance but which participates in the impulse we have been studying is 8,american40 ,one must first recognize the element of national egotism which makes this a word of approval with us1 but there are reasons for saying that the force of 8,american0 is much more broadly based than this4 8,this is the ,american way0 or 8,it is the ,american thing to do0 are expressions whose intent will not seem at all curious to the average ,american4 ,now the peculiar effect that is intended here comes from the circumstance that 8,american0 and 8progressive0 have an area of synonymity4 ,the ,western ,world has long stood as a symbol for the future2 and accordingly there has been a very wide tendency in this country1 and also ,i believe among many people in ,europe1 to identify that which is ,american with that which is destined to be4 ,and this is much the same as identifying it with the achievements of 8progress40 ,the typical ,american is quite fatuous in this regard3 to him ,america is the goal toward which all creation moves2 and he judges a country's civilization by its resemblance to the ,american model4 ,the matter of changing nationalities brings out this point very well4 ,for a citizen of a ,european country to become a citizen of the ,united ,states is considered natural and right1 and ,i have known those so transferring their nationality to be congratulated upon their good sense and their anticipated good fortune4 ,on the contrary1 when an ,american takes out ,british citizenship 7,french or ,german would be worse71 this transference is felt to be a little scandalous4 ,it is regarded as somehow perverse1 or as going against the stream of things4 ,even some of our intellectuals grow uneasy over the action of ,henry ,james and ,t4 ,s4 ,eliot1 and the masses cannot comprehend it at all4 ,their adoption of ,british citizenship is not mere defection from a country2 it is treason to history4 ,if ,americans wish to become ,europeans1 what has happened to the hope of the world8 is1 ,i imagine1 the question at the back of their minds4 ,the tremendous spread of ,american fashions in behavior and entertainment must add something to the impetus1 but ,i believe the original source to be this prior idea that ,america1 typifying 8progress10 is what the remainder of the world is trying to be like4 ,it follows naturally that in the popular consciousness of this country1 8un-,american0 is the ultimate in negation4 ,an anecdote will serve to illustrate this4 ,several years ago a leading cigarette manufacturer in this country had reason to believe that very damaging reports were being circulated about his product4 ,the reports were such that had they not been stopped1 the sale of this brand of cigarettes might have been reduced4 ,the company thereupon inaugurated an extensive advertising campaign1 the object of which was to halt these rumors in the most effective way possible4 ,the concocters of the advertising copy evidently concluded after due deliberation that the strongest term of condemnation which could be conceived was 8un-,american10 for this was the term employed in the campaign4 ,soon the newspapers were filled with advertising rebuking this 8un-,american0 type of depreciation which had injured their sales4 ,from examples such as this we may infer that 8,american0 stands not only for what is forward in history1 but also for what is ethically superior1 or at least for a standard of fairness not matched by other nations4 ,and as long as the popular mind carries this impression1 it will be futile to protest against such titles as 8,the ,committee on un-,american activities40 ,while 8,american0 and 8un-,american0 continue to stand for these polar distinctions1 the average citizen is not going to find much wrong with a group set up to investigate what is 8un-,american0 and therefore reprehensible4 ,at the same time1 however1 it would strike him as most droll if the ,british were to set up a 8,committee on un-,british ,activities0 or the ,french a 8,committee on un-,french ,activities40 ,the ,american1 like other nationals1 is not apt to be much better than he has been taught1 and he has been taught systematically that his country is a special creation4 ,that is why some of his ultimate terms seem to the general view provincial1 and why he may be moved to polarities which represent only local poles4 ,if we look within the area covered by 8,american10 however1 we find significant changes in the position of terms which are reflections of cultural and ideological changes4 ,among the once powerful but now waning terms are those expressive of the pioneer ideal of ruggedness and self-sufficiency4 ,in the space of fifty years or less we have seen the phrase 8two-fisted ,american0 pass from the category of highly effective images to that of comic anachronisms4 ,generally1 whoever talks the older language of strenuosity is regarded as a reactionary1 it being assumed by social democrats that a socially organized world is one in which cooperation removes the necessity for struggle4 ,even the rhetorical trump cards of the #aibj's1 which ,sinclair ,lewis treated with such satire1 are comparatively impotent today1 as the new social consciousness causes terms of centrally planned living to move toward the head of the series4 ,other terms not necessarily connected with the ,american story have passed a zenith of influence and are in decline2 of these perhaps the once effective 8history0 is the most interesting example4 ,it is still to be met in such expressions as 8,history proves0 and 8,history teaches02 yet one feels that it has lost the force it possessed in the previous century4 ,then it was easy for ,byron--8the orator in poetry0--to write1 8,history with all her volumes vast has but one page02 or for the commemorative speaker to deduce profound lessons from history4 ,but people today seem not to find history so eloquent4 ,a likely explanation is that history1 taken as whole1 is conceptual rather than factual1 and therefore a skepticism has developed as to what it teaches4 ,moreover1 since the teachings of history are principally moral1 ethical1 or religious1 they must encounter today that threshold resentment of anything which savors of the prescriptive4 ,since 8history0 is inseparable from judgment of historical fact1 there has to be a considerable community of mind before history can be allowed to have a voice4 ,did the overthrow of ,napoleon represent 8progress0 in history or the reverse8 ,i should say that the most common rhetorical uses of 8history0 at the present are by intellectuals1 whose personal philosophy can provide it with some kind of definition1 and by journalists1 who seem to use it unreflectively4 ,for the contemporary masses it is substantially true that 8history is bunk40 ,an instructive example of how a coveted term can be monopolized may be seen in 8allies40 ,three times within the memory of those still young1 8allies0 7often capitalized7 has been used to distinguish those fighting on our side from the enemy4 ,during the ,first ,world ,war it was a supreme term2 during the ,second ,world ,war it was again used with effect2 and at the time of the present writing it is being used to designate that nondescript combination fighting in the name of the ,united ,nations in ,korea4 ,the curious fact about the use of this term is that in each case the enemy also has been constituted of 8allies40 ,in the ,first ,world ,war ,germany1 ,austria-,hungary1 and ,turkey were 8allies02 in the ,second1 ,germany and ,italy2 and in the present conflict the ,north ,koreans and the ,chinese and perhaps the ,russians are 8allies40 ,but in the rhetorical situation it is not possible to refer to them as 8allies10 since we reserve that term for the alliance representing our side4 ,the reason for such restriction is that when men or nations are 8allied10 it is implied that they are united on some sound principle or for some good cause4 ,lying at the source of this feeling is the principle discussed by ,plato1 that friendship can exist only among the good1 since good is an integrating force and evil a disintegrating one4 ,we do not1 for example1 refer to a band of thieves as 8the allies0 because that term would impute laudable motives4 ,by confining the term to our side we make an evaluation in our favor4 ,we thus style ourselves the group joined for purposes of good4 ,if we should allow it to be felt for a moment that the opposed combination is also made up of allies1 we should concede that they are united by a principle1 which in war is never done4 ,so as the usage goes1 we are always allies in war and the enemy is just the enemy1 regardless of how many nations he has been able to confederate4 ,here is clearly another instance of how tendencies may exist in even the most innocent-seeming language4 ,now let us turn to the terms of repulsion4 ,some terms of repulsion are also ultimate in the sense of standing at the end of the series1 and no survey of the vocabulary can ignore these prime repellants4 ,the counterpart of the 8god term0 is the 8devil term10 and it has already been suggested that with us 8un-,american0 comes nearest to filling that role4 ,sometimes1 however1 currents of politics and popular feeling cause something more specific to be placed in that position4 ,there seems indeed to be some obscure psychic law which compels every nation to have in its national imagination an enemy4 ,perhaps this is but a version of the tribal need for a scapegoat1 or for something which will personify 8the adversary40 ,if a nation did not have an enemy1 an enemy would have to be invented to take care of those expressions of scorn and hatred to which peoples must give vent4 ,when another political state is not available to receive the discharge of such emotions1 then a class will be chosen1 or a race1 or a type1 or a political faction1 and this will be held up to a practically standardized form of repudiation4 ,perhaps the truth is that we need the enemy in order to define ourselves1 but ,i will not here venture further into psychological complexities4 ,in this type of study it will be enough to recall that during the first half century of our nation's existence1 8,tory0 was such a devil term4 ,in the period following our ,civil ,war1 8rebel0 took its place in the ,northern section and 8,yankee0 in the ,southern1 although in the previous epoch both of these had been terms of esteem4 ,most readers will remember that during the ,first ,world ,war 8pro-,german0 was a term of destructive force4 ,during the ,second ,world ,war 8,nazi0 and 8,fascist0 carried about equal power to condemn1 and then1 following the breach with ,russia1 8,communist0 displaced them both4 ,now 8,communist0 is beyond any rival the devil term1 and as such it is employed even by the ,american president when he feels the need of a strong rhetorical point4 ,a singular truth about these terms is that1 unlike several which were examined in our favorable list1 they defy any real analysis4 ,that is to say1 one cannot explain how they generate their peculiar force of repudiation4 ,one only recognizes them as publicly-agreed-upon devil terms4 ,it is the same with all4 8,tory0 persists in use1 though it has long lost any connection with redcoats and ,british domination4 ,analysis of 8rebel0 and 8,yankee0 only turns up embarrassing contradictions of position4 ,similarly we have all seen 8,nazi0 and 8,fascist0 used without rational perception2 and we see this now1 in even greater degree1 with 8,communist40 ,however one might like to reject such usage as mere ignorance1 to do so would only evade a very important problem4 ,most likely these are instances of the 8charismatic term10 which will be discussed in detail presently4 ,no student of contemporary usage can be unmindful of the curious reprobative force which has been acquired by the term 8prejudice40 ,etymologically it signifies nothing more than a prejudgment1 or a judgment before all the facts are in2 and since all of us have to proceed to a great extent on judgments of that kind1 the word should not be any more exciting than 8hypothesis40 ,but in its rhetorical applications 8prejudice0 presumes far beyond that4 ,it is used1 as a matter of fact1 to characterize unfavorably any value judgment whatever4 ,if 8blue0 is said to be a better color than 8red10 that is prejudice4 ,if people of outstanding cultural achievement are praised through contrast with another people1 that is prejudice4 ,if one mode of life is presented as superior to another1 that is prejudice4 ,and behind all is the implication1 if not the declaration1 that it is un-,american to be prejudiced4 ,i suspect that what the users of this term are attempting1 whether consciously or not1 is to sneak 8prejudiced0 forward as an uncontested term1 and in this way to disarm the opposition by making all positional judgments reprehensible4 ,it must be observed in passing that no people are so prejudiced in the sense of being committed to valuations as those who are engaged in castigating others for prejudice4 ,what they expect is that they can nullify the prejudices of those who oppose them1 and then get their own installed in the guise of the sensus communis4 ,mark ,twain's statement1 8,i know that ,i am prejudiced in this matter1 but ,i would be ashamed of myself if ,i weren't0 is a therapeutic insight into the process2 but it will take more than a witticism to make headway against the repulsive force gathered behind 8prejudice40 ,if the rhetorical use of the term has any rational content1 this probably comes through a chain of deductions from the nature of democracy2 and we know that in controversies centered about the meaning of democracy1 the air is usually filled with cries of 8prejudice40 ,if democracy is taken crudely to mean equality1 as it very frequently is1 it is then a contradiction of democracy to assign inferiority and superiority on whatever grounds4 ,but since the whole process of evaluation is a process of such assignment1 the various inequalities which are left when it has done its work are contradictions of this root notion and hence are 8prejudice0--the assumption of course being that when all the facts are in1 these inequalities will be found illusory4 ,the man who dislikes a certain class or race or style has merely not taken pains to learn that it is just as good as any other4 ,if all inequality is deception1 then superiorities must be accounted the products of immature judgment4 ,this affords plausible ground1 as we have suggested1 for the coupling of 8prejudice0 and 8ignorance40 ,before leaving the subject of the ordered series of good and bad terms1 one feels obliged to say something about the way in which hierarchies can be inverted4 ,under the impulse of strong frustration there is a natural tendency to institute a pretense that the best is the worst and the worst is the best--an inversion sometimes encountered in literature and in social deportment4 ,the best illustration for purpose of study here comes from a department of speech which ,i shall call 8,,gi rhetoric40 ,the average ,american youth1 put into uniform1 translated to a new and usually barren environment1 and imbued from many sources with a mission of killing1 has undergone a pretty severe dislocation4 ,all of this runs counter to the benevolent platitudes on which he was brought up1 and there is little ground for wonder if he adopts the inverted pose4 ,this is made doubly likely by the facts that he is at a passionate age and that he is thrust into an atmosphere of superinduced excitement4 ,it would be unnatural for him not to acquire a rhetoric of strong impulse and of contumacious tendency4 ,what he does is to make an almost complete inversion4 ,in this special world of his he recoils from those terms used by politicians and other civilians and by the 8top brass0 when they are enunciating public sentiments4 ,dropping the conventional terms of attraction1 this uprooted and specially focussed young man puts in their place terms of repulsion4 ,to be more specific1 where the others use terms reflecting love1 hope1 and charity1 he uses almost exclusively terms connected with the excretory and reproductive functions4 ,such terms comprise what ,kenneth ,burke has ingeniously called 8the imagery of killing40 ,by an apparently universal psychological law1 faeces and the act of defecation are linked with the idea of killing1 of destruction1 of total repudiation--perhaps the word 8elimination0 would comprise the whole body of notions4 ,the reproductive act is associated especially with the idea of aggressive exploitation4 ,consequently when the ,,gi feels that he must give his speech a proper show of spirit1 he places the symbols for these things in places which would normally be filled by prestige terms from the 8regular0 list4 ,for specimens of such language presented in literature1 the reader is referred to the fiction of ,ernest ,hemingway and ,norman ,mailer4 ,anyone who has been compelled to listen to such rhetoric will recall the monotony of the vocabulary and the vehemence of the delivery4 ,from these two characteristics we may infer a great need and a narrow means of satisfaction1 together with the tension which must result from maintaining so arduous an inversion4 ,whereas previously the aim had been to love 7in the broad sense7 it is now to kill2 whereas it had been freedom and individuality1 it is now restriction and brutalization4 ,in taking revenge for a change which so contradicts his upbringing he is quite capable1 as the evidence has already proved1 of defiantly placing the lower level above the higher4 ,sometimes a clever ,,gi will invent combinations and will effect metaphorical departures1 but the ordinary ones are limited to a reiteration of the stock terms--to a reiteration1 with emphasis of intonation1 upon 8the imagery of killing40#agg ,taken as a whole1 this rhetoric is a clear if limited example of how the machine may be put in reverse--of how1 consequently1 a sort of devil worship may get into language4 ,a similar inversion of hierarchy is to be seen in the world of competitive sports1 although to a lesser extent4 ,the great majority of us in the ,western world have been brought up under the influence1 direct or indirect1 of ,christianity1 which is a religion of extreme altruism4 ,its terms of value all derive from a law of self-effacement and of consideration for others1 and these terms tend to appear whenever we try to rationalize or vindicate our conduct4 ,but in the world of competitive sports1 the direction is opposite3 there one is applauded for egotistic display and for success at the expense of others--should one mention in particular ,american professional baseball8 ,thus the terms with which an athlete is commended will generally point away from the direction of ,christian passivity1 although when an athlete's character is described for the benefit of the general public1 some way is usually found to place him in the other ethos1 as by calling attention to his natural kindness1 his interest in children1 or his readiness to share his money4 ,certainly many of the contradictions of our conduct may be explained through the presence of these small inverted hierarchies4 ,when1 to cite one further familiar example1 the acquisitive1 hard-driving local capitalist is made the chief lay official of a ,christian church1 one knows that in a definite area there has been a transvaluation of values4 ,earlier in the chapter we referred to terms of considerable potency whose referents it is virtually impossible to discover or to construct through imagination4 ,i shall approach this group by calling them 8charismatic terms40 ,it is the nature of the charismatic term to have a power which is not derived1 but which is in some mysterious way given4 ,by this ,i mean to say that we cannot explain their compulsiveness through referents of objectively known character and tendency4 ,we normally 8understand0 a rhetorical term's appeal through its connection with something we apprehend1 even when we object morally to the source of the impulse4 ,now 8progress0 is an understandable term in this sense1 since it rests upon certain observable if not always commendable aspects of our world4 ,likewise the referential support of 8fact0 needs no demonstrating4 ,these derive their force from a reading of palpable circumstance4 ,but in charismatic terms we are confronted with a different creation3 these terms seem to have broken loose somehow and to operate independently of referential connections 7although in some instances an earlier history of referential connection may be made out74 ,their meaning seems inexplicable unless we accept the hypothesis that their content proceeds out of a popular will that they shall mean something4 ,in effect1 they are rhetorical by common consent1 or by 8charisma40 ,as is the case with charismatic authority1 where the populace gives the leader a power which can by no means be explained through his personal attributes1 and permits him to use it effectively and even arrogantly1 the charismatic term is given its load of impulsion without reference1 and it functions by convention4 ,the number of such terms is small in any one period1 but they are perhaps the most efficacious terms of all4 ,such rhetorical sensibility as ,i have leads me to believe that one of the principal charismatic terms of our age is 8freedom40 ,the greatest sacrifices that contemporary man is called upon to make are demanded in the name of 8freedom02 yet the referent which the average man attaches to this word is most obscure4 ,burke's dictum that 8freedom inheres in something sensible0 has not prevented its breaking loose from all anchorages4 ,and the evident truth that the average man1 given a choice between exemption from responsibility and responsibility1 will choose the latter1 makes no impression against its power4 ,the fact1 moreover1 that the most extensive use of the term is made by modern politicians and statesmen in an effort to get men to assume more responsibility 7in the form of military service1 increased taxes1 abridgement of rights1 etc47 seems to carry no weight either4#agh ,the fact that what the ,american pioneer considered freedom has become wholly impossible to the modern apartment-dwelling metropolitan seems not to have damaged its potency4 ,unless we accept some philosophical interpretation1 such as the proposition that freedom consists only in the discharge of responsibility1 there seems no possibility of a correlation between the use of the word and circumstantial reality4 ,yet 8freedom0 remains an ultimate term1 for which people are asked to yield up their first-born4 ,there is plenty of evidence that 8democracy0 is becoming the same kind of term4 ,the variety of things it is used to symbolize is too weird and too contradictory for one to find even a core meaning in present-day usages4 ,more important than this for us is the fact1 noted by ,george ,orwell1 that people resist any attempt to define democracy1 as if to connect it with a clear and fixed referent were to vitiate it4 ,it may well be that such resistance to definition of democracy arises from a subconscious fear that a term defined in the usual manner has its charisma taken away4 ,the situation then is that 8democracy0 means 8be democratic10 and that means exhibit a certain attitude which you can learn by imitating your fellows4 ,if rationality is measured by correlations and by analyzable content1 then these terms are irrational2 and there is one further modern development in the creation of such terms which is strongly suggestive of irrational impulse4 ,this is the increasing tendency to employ in the place of the term itself an abbreviated or telescoped form--which form is nearly always used with even more reckless assumption of authority4 ,i seldom read the abbreviation 8,u ,s0 in the newspapers without wincing at the complete arrogance of its rhetorical tone4 ,daily we see 8,u ,s ,cracks ,down on ,communists02 8,u ,s ,gives ,,ok to ,atomic ,weapons02 8,u ,s ,shocked by ,death of ,official40 ,who or what is this 8,u ,s08 ,it is clear that 8,u ,s0 does not suggest a union of forty-eight states having republican forms of government and held together by a constitution of expressly delimited authority4 ,it suggests rather an abstract force out of a new world of forces1 whose will is law and whom the individual citizen has no way to placate4 ,consider the individual citizen confronted by 8,u ,s0 or 8,,fbi40 ,as long as terms stand for identifiable organs of government1 the citizen feels that he knows the world he moves around in1 but when the forces of government are referred to by these bloodless abstractions1 he cannot avoid feeling that they are one thing and he another4 ,let us note while dealing with this subject the enormous proliferation of such forms during the past twenty years or so4 ,if 8,u ,s0 is the most powerful and prepossessing of the group1 it drags behind it in train the previously mentioned 8,,fbi10 and 8,,npa10 8,,erp10 8,,fdic10 8,,wpa10 8,,holc10 and 8,,oss10 to take a few at random4 ,it is a fact of ominous significance that this use of foreshortened forms is preferred by totalitarians1 both the professed and the disguised4 ,americans were hearing the terms 8,,ogpu10 8,,amtorg0 and 8,,nep0 before their own government turned to large-scale state planning4 ,since then we have spawned them ourselves1 and1 it is to be feared1 out of similar impulse4 ,george ,orwell1 one of the truest humanists of our age1 has described the phenomenon thus3 8,even in the early decades of the twentieth century1 telescoped words and phrases had been one of the characteristic features of political language2 and it had been noticed that the tendency to use abbreviations of this kind was most marked in totalitarian countries and totalitarian organizations4 ,examples were such words as ,nazi1 ,gestapo1 ,comintern1 ,inprecor1 ,agitprop40#agi ,i venture to suggest that what this whole trend indicates is an attempt by the government1 as distinguished from the people1 to confer charismatic authority4 ,in the earlier specimens of charismatic terms we were examining1 we beheld something like the creation of a spontaneous general will4 ,but these later ones of truncated form are handed down from above1 and their potency is by fiat of whatever group is administering in the name of democracy4 ,actually the process is no more anomalous than the issuing of pamphlets to soldiers telling them whom they shall hate and whom they shall like 7or try to like71 but the whole business of switching impulse on and off from a central headquarters has very much the meaning of ,gleichschaltung as that word has been interpreted for me by a native ,german4 ,yet it is a disturbing fact that such process should increase in times of peace1 because the persistent use of such abbreviations can only mean a serious divorce between rhetorical impulse and rational thought4 ,when the ultimate terms become a series of bare abstractions1 the understanding of power is supplanted by a worship of power1 and in our condition this can mean only state worship4 ,it is easy to see1 however1 that a group determined upon control will have as one of its first objectives the appropriation of sources of charismatic authority4 ,probably the surest way to detect the fabricated charismatic term is to identify those terms ordinarily of limited power which are being moved up to the front line4 ,that is to say1 we may suspect the act of fabrication when terms of secondary or even tertiary rhetorical rank are pushed forward by unnatural pressure into ultimate positions4 ,this process can nearly always be observed in times of crisis4 ,during the last war1 for example1 8defense0 and 8war effort0 were certainly regarded as culminative terms4 ,we may say this because almost no one thinks of these terms as the natural sanctions of his mode of life4 ,he may think thus of 8progress0 or 8happiness0 or even 8freedom02 but 8defense0 and 8war effort0 are ultimate sanctions only when measured against an emergency situation4 ,when the ,united ,states was preparing for entry into that conflict1 every departure from our normal way of life could be justified as a 8defense0 measure4 ,plants making bombs to be dropped on other continents were called 8defense0 plants4 ,correspondingly1 once the conflict had been entered1 everything that was done in military or civilian areas was judged by its contribution to the 8war effort40 ,this last became for a period of years the supreme term3 not ,god or ,heaven or happiness1 but successful effort in the war4 ,it was a term to end all other terms or a rhetoric to silence all other rhetoric4 ,no one was able to make his claim heard against 8the war effort40 ,it is most important to realize1 therefore1 that under the stress of feeling or preoccupation1 quite secondary terms can be moved up to the position of ultimate terms1 where they will remain until reflection is allowed to resume sway4 ,there are many signs to show that the term 8aggressor0 is now undergoing such manipulation4 ,despite the fact that almost no term is more difficult to correlate with objective phenomena1 it is being rapidly promoted to ultimate 8bad0 term4 ,the likelihood is that 8aggressor0 will soon become a depository for all the resentments and fears which naturally arise in a people4 ,as such1 it will function as did 8infidel0 in the mediaeval period and as 8reactionary0 has functioned in the recent past4 ,manifestly it is of great advantage to a nation bent upon organizing its power to be able to stigmatize some neighbor as 8aggressor10 so that the term's capacity for irrational assumption is a great temptation for those who are not moral in their use of rhetoric4 ,this passage from natural or popular to state-engendered charisma produces one of the most dangerous lesions of modern society4 ,an ethics of rhetoric requires that ultimate terms be ultimate in some rational sense4 ,the only way to achieve that objective is through an ordering of our own minds and our own passions4 ,every one of psychological sophistication knows that there is a pleasure in willed perversity1 and the setting up of perverse shibboleths is a fairly common source of that pleasure4 ,war cries1 school slogans1 coterie passwords1 and all similar expressions are examples of such creation4 ,there may be areas of play in which these are nothing more than a diversion2 but there are other areas in which such expressions lure us down the roads of hatred and tragedy4 ,that is the tendency of all words of false or 8engineered0 charisma4 ,they often sound like the very gospel of one's society1 but in fact they betray us2 they get us to do what the adversary of the human being wants us to do4 ,it is worth considering whether the real civil disobedience must not begin with our language4 ,lastly1 the student of rhetoric must realize that in the contemporary world he is confronted not only by evil practitioners1 but also1 and probably to an unprecedented degree1 by men who are conditioned by the evil created by others4 ,the machinery of propagation and inculcation is today so immense that no one avoids entirely the assimilation and use of some terms which have a downward tendency4 ,it is especially easy to pick up a tone without realizing its trend4 ,perhaps the best that any of us can do is to hold a dialectic with himself to see what the wider circumferences of his terms of persuasion are4 ,this process will not only improve the consistency of one's thinking but it will also1 if the foregoing analysis is sound1 prevent his becoming a creature of evil public forces and a victim of his own thoughtless rhetoric4 ,,footnotes #a ,cf4 ,a4 ,e4 ,taylor1 ,plato3 the ,man and his ,work 7,new ,york1 #aicf71 p4 #cjj4 #b ,cf4 ,p4 ,albert ,duhamel1 8,the ,concept of ,rhetoric as ,effective ,expression10 ,journal of the ,history of ,ideas1 ,x1 ,no4 #c 7,june1 #aidi71 #cdd-ef passim4 #c ,james ,blish1 8,rituals on ,ezra ,pound10 ,sewanee ,review1 ,,lviii 7,spring1 #aiej71 #bbc4 #d ,the various aesthetic approaches to language offer refinements of perception1 but all of them can be finally subsumed under the first head above4 #e ,the ,tyranny of ,words 7,new ,york1 #aich71 p4 #hj4 ,t4 ,h4 ,huxley in ,lay ,sermons 7,new ,york1 #ahhc71 p4 #aab1 outlined a noticeably similar ideal of scientific communication3 8,therefore1 the great business of the scientific teacher is1 to imprint the fundamental1 irrefragable facts of his science1 not only by words upon the mind1 but by sensible impressions upon the eye1 and ear1 and touch of the student in so complete a manner1 that every term used1 or law enunciated should afterwards call up vivid images of the particular structural1 or other1 facts which furnished the demonstration of the law1 or illustration of the term40 #f ,that is1 by mentioning only parts of the total situation4 #g ,it is worth recalling that in the ,christian ,new ,testament1 with its heavy ,platonic influence1 ,god is identified both with logos1 8word1 speech0 7,john #a3a72 and with agape1 8love0 7#b ,john #d3h74 #h ,the users of metaphor and metonymy who are in the hire of businessmen of course constitute a special case4 #i ,cf4 #bgg b3 8,a man must know the truth about all the particular things of which he speaks or writes1 and must be able to define everything separately2 then when he has defined them1 he must know how to divide them by classes until further division is impossible2 and in the same way he must understand the nature of the soul1 must find out the class of speech adapted to each nature1 and must arrange and adorn his discourse accordingly1 offering to the complex soul elaborate and harmonious discourses1 and simple talks to the simple soul40 #aj #ajd b4 #aa #bfc a4 #ab #bfj b4 #ac #bfe a4 #ad ,in the passage extending from #bdf a to #bef d4 #ae ,cf4 #bfc d ff4 #af ,indeed1 in this particular rhetorical duel we see the two types of lovers opposed as clearly as illustration could desire4 ,more than this1 we see the third type1 the non-lover1 committing his ignominious failure4 ,britain and ,france had come to prefer as leaders the rhetoricless businessman type4 ,and while they had thus emasculated themselves1 there appeared an evil lover to whom ,europe all but succumbed before the mistake was seen and rectified4 ,for while the world must move1 evil rhetoric is of more force than no rhetoric at all2 and ,herr ,hitler1 employing images which rested on no true dialectic1 had persuaded multitudes that his order was the 8new order10 i4e41 the true potentiality4 ,britain was losing and could only lose until1 reaching back in her traditional past1 she found a voice which could match his accents with a truer grasp of the potentiality of things4 ,thus two men conspicuous for passion fought a contest for souls1 which the nobler won4 ,but the contest could have been lost by default4 #ag 8,action3 the ,perfection of ,human ,life10 ,sewanee ,review1 ,,lvi 7,winter1 #aidh71 #c4 #ah ,a ,grammar of ,motives 7,new ,york1 #aide71 p4 #ij4 #ai ,without rhetoric there seems no possibility of tragedy1 and in turn1 without the sense of tragedy1 no possibility of taking an elevated view of life4 ,the role of tragedy is to keep the human lot from being rendered as history4 ,the cultivation of tragedy and a deep interest in the value-conferring power of language always occur together4 ,the ,phaedrus1 the ,gorgias1 and the ,cratylus1 not to mention the works of many teachers of rhetoric1 appear at the close of the great age of ,greek tragedy4 ,the ,elizabethan age teemed with treatises on the use of language4 ,the essentially tragic ,christian view of life begins the long tradition of homiletics4 ,tragedy and the practice of rhetoric seem to find common sustenance in preoccupation with value1 and then rhetoric follows as an analyzed art4 #bj ,cf4 ,maritain1 op4 cit41 pp4 #c-d3 8,the truth of practical intellect is understood not as conformity to an extramental being but as conformity to a right desire2 the end is no longer to know what is1 but to bring into existence that which is not yet2 further1 the act of moral choice is so individualized1 both by the singularity of the person from which it proceeds and the context of the contingent circumstances in which it takes place1 that the practical judgment in which it is expressed and by which ,i declare to myself3 this is what ,i must do1 can be right only if1 hic et nunc1 the dynamism of my will is right1 and tends towards the true goods of human life4 ,that is why practical wisdom1 prudentia1 is a virtue indivisibly moral and intellectual at the same time1 and why1 like the judgment of the conscience itself1 it cannot be replaced by any sort of theoretical knowledge or science40 #ba ,socrates' criticism of the speech of ,lysias 7#bfc d ff47 is that the latter defended a position without having submitted it to the discipline of dialectic4 #bb ,mortimer ,j4 ,adler1 ,dialectic 7,new ,york1 #aibg71 p4 #ge4 #bc ,cf4 ,adler1 op4 cit41 pp4 #bdc-dd3 ,dialectic 8is a kind of thinking which satisfies these two values3 in the essential inconclusiveness of its process1 it avoids ever resting in belief1 or in the assertion of truth2 through its utter restriction to the universe of discourse and its disregard for whatever reference discourse may have toward actuality1 it is barren of any practical issue4 ,it can make no difference in the way of conduct40 #bd ,adler1 op4 cit41 p4 #bbd4 #be ,all quotations are given verbatim from ,the ,world's ,most ,famous ,court ,trial 7,national ,book ,company1 ,cincinnati1 #aibe71 a complete transcript4 #bf ,hosea #ab3aj 8,i have also spoken unto the prophets1 and have multiplied visions1 and by the ministry of the prophets ,i have used similitudes40 #bg ,works of the ,right ,honourable ,edmund ,burke 7,london1 #ahee-fd71 ,,vi1 #ah-ai4 ,hereafter referred to as ,works4 #bh ,loc4 cit4 #bi ,works1 ,,ii1 #aee4 #cj ,works1 ,,iii1 #cae4 #ca ,works1 ,,iii1 #cag4 #cb ,works1 ,,vi1 #eb4 #cc ,loc4 cit4 #cd ,works1 ,,vi1 #eg4 #ce ,works1 ,,vi1 #hh4 #cf ,works1 ,i1 #dgf4 #cg ,it is interesting to compare this with his statement in ,an ,appeal from the ,new to the ,old ,whigs 7,works1 ,,iii1 #gg73 8,the number engaged in crimes1 instead of turning them into laudable acts1 only augments the quantity and intensity of the guilt40 #ch ,works1 ,i1 #dgi4 #ci ,works1 ,i1 #eji4 #dj ,works1 ,i1 #dfb4 #da ,works1 ,i1 #dfi4 #db ,works1 ,i1 #dhj4 #dc ,works1 ,,ii1 #cce4 #dd ,works1 ,,ii1 #agi-hj4 #de ,works1 ,,ii1 #ahj4 #df ,works1 ,,vii1 #bc4 #dg ,works1 ,,vii1 #ii-ajj4 #dh ,john ,morley1 ,burke 7,new ,york1 #ahgi71 p4 #abg4 #di ,ibid41 p4 #abi4 #ej ,if further evidence of ,burke's respect for circumstance were needed1 one could not do better than cite his sentence from the ,reflections depicting the 8circumstance0 of ,bourbon ,france 7,works1 ,,ii1 #djb74 8,indeed1 when ,i consider the face of the kingdom of ,france2 the multitude and opulence of her cities2 the useful magnificence of her spacious high roads and bridges2 the opportunity of her artificial canals and navigations opening the conveniences of maritime communication through a continent of so immense an extent2 when ,i turn my eyes to the stupendous works of her ports and harbours1 and to her whole naval apparatus1 whether for war or trade2 when ,i bring before my view the number of her fortifications1 constructed with so bold and masterly skill1 and made and maintained at so prodigious a charge1 presenting an armed front and impenetrable barrier to her enemies upon every side2 when ,i recollect how very small a part of that extensive region is without cultivation1 and to what complete perfection the culture of many of the best productions of the earth have been brought in ,france2 when ,i reflect on the excellence of her manufactures and fabrics1 second to none but ours1 and in some particulars not second2 when ,i contemplate the grand foundations of charity1 public and private2 when ,i survey the state of all the arts that beautify and polish life2 when ,i reckon the men she has bred for extending her fame in war1 her able statesmen1 the multitude of her profound lawyers and theologians1 her philosophers1 her critics1 her historians and antiquaries1 her poets and her orators1 sacred and profane3 ,i behold in all this something which awes and commands the imagination1 which checks the mind on the brink of precipitate and undiscriminate censure1 and which demands that we should very seriously examine1 what and how great are the latent vices that could authorize us at once to level so spacious a fabric with the ground40 #ea ,works1 ,,ii1 #bhb4 #eb ,works1 ,,ii1 #eea4 #ec ,works1 ,,ii1 #cdh-di4 #ed ,works1 ,i1 #dcb4 #ee ,works1 ,,ii1 #cce4 #ef ,works1 ,,iii1 #cag-ah4 #eg ,works1 ,,iii1 #af4 #eh ,works1 ,,ii1 #ccd4 #ei ,works1 ,,vii1 #fj4 #fj ,works1 ,,vi1 #cd4 #fa ,a ,life of ,edmund ,burke 7,london1 #ahia71 p4 #ebc4 #fb ,democracy in ,america 7,cambridge ,mass41 #ahgc71 ,i1 #bbf4 #fc ,works1 ,,iii1 #aji4 #fd ,loc4 cit4 #fe ,works1 ,,iii1 #cf4 #ff ,quoted in ,marquis ,james1 ,life of ,andrew ,jackson 7,indianapolis1 #aicg71 p4 #gdj4 #fg ,origins of the ,whig ,party 7,durham1 ,n4 ,c41 #aibe71 p4 #bbg4 #fh ,the ,whig ,party in ,georgia1 #ahbe-ahec 7,chapel ,hill1 #aidh71 p4 #aib4 #fi ,ibid4 #gj ,op4 cit41 p4 #bjf4 #ga ,most of ,lincoln's associates in ,illinois--including ,david ,davis1 ,orville ,h4 ,browning1 ,john ,m4 ,palmer1 ,lyman ,trumbull1 ,leonard ,swett1 and ,ward ,hill ,lamon--who had been ardent ,republicans before the war1 left the party in the years following4 ,see ,david ,donald1 ,lincoln's ,herndon 7,new ,york1 #aidh71 p4 #bfc4 #gb ,op4 cit41 p4 #bjc4 #gc ,abraham ,lincoln 7,boston and ,new ,york1 #aibh71 ,,ii1 #edi4 #gd ,john ,g4 ,nicolay and ,john ,hay1 ,abraham ,lincoln3 ,a ,history 7,new ,york1 #aijd71 ,,ii1 #df4 #ge ,herndon's ,lincoln 7,springfield1 ,ill41 #aiba71 ,,iii1 #eid4 #gf ,ibid41 p4 #eie4 #gg ,the ,life and ,writings of ,abraham ,lincoln1 ed4 ,philip van ,doren ,stern 7,new ,york1 #aidj71 p4 #bci4 ,this source1 hereafter referred to as ,writings1 is the most complete one-volume edition of ,lincoln's works4 #gh ,loc4 cit4 #gi ,life and ,works of ,abraham ,lincoln1 ed4 ,marion ,mills ,miller 7,new ,york1 #aijg71 ,,ii1 #da4 ,this speech is not included in ,stern's ,writings4 #hj ,this may impress some as an unduly cynical reading of human nature1 but it will be found much closer to ,lincoln's settled belief than many representations made with the object of eulogy4 ,herndon1 for example1 reports that he and ,lincoln sometimes discussed the question of whether there are any unselfish human actions1 and that ,lincoln always maintained the negative4 ,cf4 ,herndon1 op4 cit41 ,,iii1 #eig4 #ha ,stern1 ,writings1 pp4 #bfc-fd4 #hb ,ibid41 p4 #ccj4 #hc ,stern1 ,writings1 pp4 #cei-fj4 #hd ,ibid41 pp4 #cfj-fa4 #he ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #cfa4 #hf ,ibid41 p4 #cfb4 #hg ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #cge4 #hh ,ibid41 p4 #dbg4 #hi ,stern1 ,writings1 pp4 #edi-ej4 #ij ,cf4 the remark in 8,notes for ,speeches0 7,ibid41 pp4 #dig-ih73 8,suppose it is true that the ,negro is inferior to the white in the gifts of nature2 is it not the exact reverse of justice that the white should for that reason take from the ,negro any of the little which he has had given to him80 #ia ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #dbb4 #ib ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #bda4 #ic ,ibid41 p4 #fdi4 #id ,stern1 ,writings1 pp4 #feb-ec4 #ie ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #fef4 #if ,stern1 ,writings1 pp4 #ffg-fh4 #ig ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #fga4 #ih ,ibid41 p4 #gcf4 #ii ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #gcg4 #ajj ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #fhb4 #aja ,ibid41 p4 #gdj4 #ajb ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #ffi4 #ajc ,stern1 ,writings1 pp4 #haj-aa4 #ajd ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #dbi4 #aje ,stern1 ,writings1 pp4 #ebi-cj4 #ajf ,ibid41 p4 #eeh4 #ajg ,ibid41 p4 #eia4 #ajh ,ibid41 p4 #gbh4 #aji ,the homeric fits of abstraction1 which almost every contemporary reports1 are highly suggestive of the mind which dwells with essences4 #aaj ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #bca4 #aaa ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #gbh4 #aab ,ibid41 p4 #gaj4 #aac ,op4 cit41 ,,iii1 #faj4 #aad ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #dbc4 #aae ,ibid41 p4 #fdi4 #aaf ,stern1 ,writings1 p4 #deb4 #aag ,to mention a simple example1 the sarcasm uttered as a pleasantry sometimes leaves a wound because its formal signification is not entirely removed by the intonation of the user or by the speech situation4 #aah ,the ,wings of the ,dove 7,modern ,library ed41 ,new ,york1 #aicg71 p4 #ec4 #aai 8,on the ,physical ,basis of ,life10 ,lay ,sermons1 ,addresses and ,reviews 7,new ,york1 #ahhc71 pp4 #abc-bd4 #abj ,on this point it is pertinent to cite ,huxley's remark in another lay sermon1 8,on the ,study of ,zoology0 7ibid41 p4 #aaj73 8,i have a strong impression that the better a discourse is1 as an oration1 the worse it is as a lecture40 #aba ,decline and ,fall of the ,roman ,empire 7,bury's ed41 ,london1 #aijj71 ,i1 #bh4 #abb ,cf4 ,kenneth ,burke1 ,attitudes ,toward ,history 7,new ,york1 #aicg71 ,i1 #hb-hc3 8,looking over the titles of books written by ,huysmans1 who went from naturalism1 through ,satanism1 to ,catholicism1 we find that his titles of the naturalistic period are with one exception nouns1 all those of the transitional period are prepositions actually or in quality 78,a-,vau-l',eau10 8,en ,rade10 8,a ,rebours10 8,la ,bas10 8,en ,route07 and all in his period of ,catholic realism are nouns40 #abc ,in ,german all nouns are regularly capitalized1 and the ,german word for noun substantive is ,hauptwort or 8head word40 ,in this grammatical vision the noun becomes a sort of 8captain0 in the sentence4 #abd ,cf4 ,aristotle1 ,rhetoric1 #adaj b3 8,and let this be our fundamental principle3 for the receiving of information with ease1 is naturally pleasing to all2 and nouns are significant of something2 so that all those nouns whatsoever which produce knowledge in the mind1 are most pleasing40 #abe ,compare the following passage by ,carl ,sandburg in 8,trying to ,write10 ,atlantic ,monthly1 ,vol4 #ahf1 ,no4 #c 7,september1 #aiej71 p4 #cc3 8,i am still studying verbs and the mystery of how they connect nouns4 ,i am more suspicious of adjectives than at any other time in all my born days40 #abf ,essay on ,rime 7,new ,york1 #aide71 p4 #dc1 ll4 #abbd-abbg4 #abg ,life on the ,mississippi 7,new ,york1 #aijc71 p4 #gc4 #abh 8,remarks on the ,character and ,writings of ,john ,milton10 ,the ,works of ,william ,e4 ,channing1 ,d4,d4 7,boston1 #ahid71 p4 #ejc4 #abi ,some correlation appears to exist between the mentality of an era and the average length of sentence in use4 ,the seventeenth century1 the most introspective1 philosophical1 and 8revolutionary0 era of ,english history1 wrote the longest sentence in ,english literature4 ,the next era1 broadly recognized as the eighteenth century1 swung in the opposite direction1 with a shorter and much more modelled or contrived sentence4 ,the nineteenth century1 again turned a little solemn and introspective1 wrote a somewhat long and loose one4 ,now comes the twentieth century1 with its journalism and its syncopated tempo1 to write the shortest sentence of all4 #acj ,the ,prose ,works of ,john ,milton1 ed4 ,j4 ,a4 ,st4 ,john 7,london1 #aiji-ad71 ,,ii1 #cfd-fe4 ,hereafter referred to as ,works4 #aca ,works1 ,,iii1 #aid4 #acb ,works1 ,,ii1 #gh-gi4 #acc ,works1 ,,ii1 #cfd4 #acd ,see her ,elizabethan and ,metaphysical ,imagery 7,chicago1 #aidg71 pp4 #bhd-ii4 #ace ,works1 ,,ii1 #hi4 #acf ,works1 ,,ii1 #ic-id4 #acg ,works1 ,,ii1 #ddf4 #ach ,works1 ,,iii1 #agb4 #aci ,works1 ,,ii1 #chb4 #adj ,works1 ,,ii1 #cgg-gh4 #ada ,works1 ,,ii1 #dah-ai4 #adb ,works1 ,,ii1 #id4 #adc ,works1 ,,ii1 #dja4 #add ,works1 ,,iii1 #age4 #ade ,works1 ,,iii1 #db-dc4 #adf ,the ,congressional ,globe1 ,thirty-first ,congress1 ,first ,session 7,june #ba1 #ahej71 p4 #abej4 #adg ,where the ,battle ,was ,fought 7,boston and ,new ,york1 #aijj71 p4 #d4 #adh ,address ,delivered by ,hon4 ,charles ,j4 ,faulkner before the ,valley ,agricultural ,society of ,virginia1 at their ,fair ,grounds near ,winchester1 ,october #ba1 #aheh 7,washington1 #aheh71 pp4 #c-d4 #adi ,on ,style 7,cambridge3 ,harvard ,university ,press1 #aidf71 p4 #cba4 #aej ,see ,norman ,j4 ,de,witt1 8,the ,humanist ,should ,look to the ,law10 ,journal of ,general ,education1 ,,iv 7,january1 #aiej71 #adi4 ,although it is not our concern here1 it probably could be shown that the essential requirements of oratory themselves depend upon a certain organization of society1 such as an aristocratic republicanism4 ,when ,burke declares that a true natural aristocracy 8is formed out of a class of legitimate presumptions1 which1 taken as generalities1 must be admitted for actual truths0 7,works ,london1 #ahec-fd1 ,,iii1 #he-hf7 my impression is that he has in mind something resembling our 8uncontested term40 ,the 8legitimate presumptions0 are the settled things which afford the plane of maneuver4 #aea ,address ,preceding the ,removal of the ,senate from the ,old to the ,new ,chamber3 ,delivered in the ,senate of the ,united ,states1 ,january #d1 #ahei 7,washington1 #ahei71 7,printed at the ,office of the ,congressional ,globe71 pp4 #e1 #g4 #aeb ,there is commentary in the fact that the long commemorative address1 with its assembled memories1 was a distinctive institution of nineteenth-century ,america4 ,generalizations and 8distance0 were on such occasions the main resources4 #aec ,the ,position and ,function of the ,american ,bar1 as an ,element of ,conservatism in the ,state3 ,an ,address ,delivered before the ,law ,school in ,cambridge1 ,july #c1 #ahde4 ,from ,addresses and ,orations of ,rufus ,choate 7,boston3 ,little1 ,brown1 #ahia71 pp4 #ada-dc4 #aed ,a distinction must be made between 8uncontested terms0 and slogans4 ,the former are parts of the general mosaic of belief2 the latter are uncritical aspirations1 or at the worst1 shibboleths4 #aee ,e4g41 ,samuel ,t4 ,williamson1 8,how to ,write ,like a ,social ,scientist10 ,saturday ,review of ,literature1 ,,xxx1 ,no4 #dj 7,october #d1 #aidg71 #ag4 #aef ,see ,bertrand ,russell1 8,the ,postulate of ,natural ,kinds or of ,limited ,variety10 ,human ,knowledge3 ,its ,scope and ,limits 7,new ,york3 ,simon ,schuster1 #aidh71 pp4 #dch-dd4 #aeg 7,new ,york3 ,prentice-,hall1 #aici71 p4 #cdi4 #aeh ,melvin ,seeman1 8,an ,evaluation of ,current ,approaches to ,personality ,differences in ,folk and ,urban ,societies10 ,social ,forces1 ,,xxv 7,december1 #aidf71 #afe4 #aei ,identification and ,analysis of ,attribute-,cluster-,blocs 7,chicago3 ,university of ,chicago ,press1 #aica71 p4 #bad4 #afj ,donald ,l4 ,taylor1 8,courtship as a ,social ,institution in the ,united ,states1 #aicj-aide10 ,social ,forces1 ,,xxv 7,october1 #aidf71 #fh4 #afa ,for example3 8id10 8ion10 8alga40 #afb ,samuel ,h4 ,jameson1 8,social ,nearness among ,welfare ,institutions10 ,sociology and ,social ,research1 ,,xv 7,march-,april1 #aica71 #cbb4 #afc ,the natural scientists1 too1 use many ,latinate terms1 but these are chiefly 8name0 words1 for which there are no real substitutes4 #afd ,see ,j4 ,b4 ,greenough and ,g4 ,l4 ,kittredge1 ,words and ,their ,ways in ,english ,speech 7,new ,york1 #aica71 pp4 #id-ii4 #afe ,james ,r4 ,masterson and ,wendell ,brooks ,phillips1 ,federal ,prose3 ,how to ,write in and_/or for ,washington 7,chapel ,hill3 ,university of ,north ,carolina ,press1 #aidh71 p4 #aj4 #aff ,cf41 for example1 ,madison in ,no4 #aj4 #afg ,it is possible that there exists also a concrete understanding1 which differs qualitatively from abstract or scientific understanding and is needed to supplement it1 particularly when we are dealing with moral phenomena 7see ,andrew ,bongiorno1 8,poetry as an ,educational ,instrument10 ,bulletin of the ,american ,association of ,university ,professors1 ,,xxxiii ,autumn1 #aidg1 #ejh-i74 #afh ,cf4 ,aristotle1 #8,rhetoric1 #adaj b3 8444 for when the poet calls old age #8stubble1' he produces in us a knowledge and information by means of a common genus2 for both are past their prime40 #afi ,international ,encyclopedia of ,unified ,science 7,chicago3 ,university of ,chicago ,press1 #aida71 ,,ii1 ,no4 #h1 #g4 #agj ,op4 cit41 p4 #dhg4 #aga ,foundations of ,sociology 7,new ,york3 ,macmillan1 #aici71 p4 #chc4 #agb 8,the ,nature of ,human ,nature10 ,american ,journal of ,sociology1 ,,xxxii 7,july1 #aibf71 #ag4 #agc 8,the ,limitations of the ,expert10 ,harper's1 ,,clxii 7,december1 #aicj71 #ajb-c4 #agd 8,the ,sad ,estate of ,scientific ,publication10 ,american ,journal of ,sociology1 ,,xlvii 7,january1 #aidb71 #fjj4 #age 7#b vols42 ,new ,york1 #aicc47 #agf ,it is surely worth observing that nowhere in the ,king ,james ,version of the ,bible does the word 8fact0 occur4 #agg ,compare ,sherwood ,anderson's analysis of the same phenomenon in ,a ,story ,teller's ,story 7,new ,york1 #aibh71 p4 #aih3 8,there was in the factories where ,i worked and where the efficient ,ford type of man was just beginning his dull reign this strange and futile outpouring of men's lives in vileness through their lips4 ,ennui was at work4 ,the talk of the men about me was not ,rabelaisian4 ,in old ,rabelais there was the salt of infinite wit and ,i have no doubt that the ,rabelaisian flashes that came from our own ,lincoln1 ,washington1 and others had point and a flare to them4 ,but in the factories and in army camps60 #agh ,one is inevitably reminded of the slogan of ,oceania in ,orwell's ,nineteen ,eighty-four3 8,freedom is ,slavery40 #agi 8,principles of ,newspeak10 ,nineteen ,eighty-four 7,new ,york1 #aidi71 p4 #caj4 ,index ,abbreviated names1 #bbi-cj ,address ,preceding the ,removal of the ,senate from the ,old to the ,new ,chamber1 #agf-gg ,adler1 ,mortimer ,j41 #bg1 #cj-ca ,aesthetic distance1 #age-gi 8aggressor10 #bca-cb 8allies10 #bba-bb 8,american10 #bah-bj ,anderson1 ,sherwood1 #bbf ,animadversions upon the ,remonstrant's ,defence against ,smectymnuus1 #afj ,areopagitica1 #adg1 #aej1 #aei ,aristotle definition of dialectical problem1 #ae-af cited1 #abh1 #bjc ,beveridge1 ,albert1 #he ,beyle1 ,herman ,c41 #aib ,bible1 #ad1 #bad ,bishop1 ,john ,peale1 #afa1 #bja ,blish1 ,james1 #e ,bongiorno1 ,andrew1 #bjc ,breckinridge1 ,john ,c41 #agf ,bryan1 ,william ,jennings1 #cf-ci1 #da ,bryan1 ,william ,jennings1 ,jr41 #ce ,burke1 ,edmund on the ,catholic question1 #eh-fb policy toward ,american colonies1 #fb-fe policy toward ,india1 #fe-fh policy toward the ,french ,revolution1 #fh-gb on metaphysics1 #gb-gc ,burke1 ,kenneth1 #bb1 #abh1 #bbe ,carlyle1 ,thomas1 #acc ,carroll1 ,e4 ,malcolm1 #gi ,caste spirit1 #bjf-h ,channing1 ,w4 ,e41 #adc ,charismatic terms1 #bbg-cb ,chase1 ,stuart1 #h ,choate1 ,rufus1 #agi ,churchill1 ,winston1 #bj ,cicero1 #agd ,circumstance1 argument from1 defined1 #eg 8,communist10 #bbb-bc ,craddock1 ,charles ,egbert1 #afe ,darrow1 ,clarence1 #cb1 #cd-ce1 #da ,demetrius1 ,on ,style1 #agc 8democracy10 #bbh-bi ,democracy in ,america1 ,tocqueville's1 #gf ,de,witt1 ,norman ,j41 #agd ,dialectical terms1 #dh1 #eb-ec1 #ahg-hh2 ,plato on1 #af ,doctrine and ,discipline of ,divorce1 #adf1 #aec ,duhamel1 ,p4 ,albert1 #c 8efficient10 #bag-ah ,eisenhower1 ,dwight ,d41 #ha ,epistemology1 in relation to oratory1 #agh-hb ,ewing1 ,representative ,andrew1 #afd-fe 8fact10 #bad-ae ,faris1 ,ellsworth1 #bje ,faulkner1 ,charles ,j41 #afh ,federal ,prose1 #aii-bjj 8freedom10 #bbh ,genus1 argument from1 defined1 #ef ,,gi rhetoric1 #bbe-bf ,greek language1 #adj ,harding1 ,t4 ,swann1 #bjh ,hay1 ,john1 #he ,hays1 ,arthur ,garfield1 #ce-cf ,henley1 ,w4 ,e41 #aca ,herndon1 ,w4 ,h41 #he1 #hi1 #aaa-ab 8history10 #bbj-ba ,huxley1 ,t4 ,h41 #h1 #abb-bc ,inverted hierarchies1 #bbd-bg ,jackson1 ,andrew1 #gh ,james1 ,henry1 #aba-bb1 #abc1 #acc-cd ,jameson1 ,samuel ,h41 #aig ,laski1 ,harold1 #bjg ,latinate terms1 #aif-bja ,lincoln1 ,abraham argument from genus 8man10 #hg-ie ,first ,inaugural ,address1 #if-ajj on definition1 #ajd-e and the excluded middle1 #aje-g his perspective1 #ajh-aa ,lundberg1 ,george1 #bjd ,lysias1 speech of1 #e-g ,malone1 ,dudley ,field1 #ce1 #ci1 #dg-dh ,maritain1 ,jacques1 #ba1 #bd ,mather1 ,kirtley ,f41 #db-dc1 #ea ,melioristic bias1 #aie-bja ,metaphor1 attitude of social scientists toward1 #bjb-f ,metcalf1 ,maynard1 #di ,milton1 ,john primacy of the concept1 #add-eb extended metaphor1 use of1 #aej-eb antithetical expressions1 use of1 #aeb-ee superlative mode1 #aee-eh systematic collocation1 use of1 #aeh-fa 8modern10 #bag ,morley1 ,john1 #fg ,murray1 ,paul1 #gi1 #hj1 #ha ,nicolay1 ,john ,g41 #he ,of ,reformation in ,england1 #ade1 #adh1 #aed1 #aef ,orwell1 ,george1 #bbh1 #bbi1 #bcj ,parts of speech noun1 #abg-bh adjective1 #abi-cc adverb1 #acc-cd verb1 #ace-cf conjunction1 #acg-ch preposition1 #ach-ci ,pedantic empiricism1 #aia-ie ,phrases1 #aci-da ,plato method of transcendence1 #d-e1 #ah-ai on madness as a form of inspiration1 #ac definition of positive and dialectical terms1 #af on the nature of the soul1 #ag ,position and ,function of the ,american ,bar1 as an ,element of ,conservatism in the ,state1 ,the1 #agi-ha 8prejudice10 #bbc-bd ,primary equivocation1 #ahg-ia ,prior1 ,james1 #ge-gf 8progress10 #bab-ad ,reason of ,church ,government ,urged ,against ,prelaty1 #aea ,rhetorical syllogism1 #agc ,right of assumption1 #afi ,russell1 ,bertrand1 #aia1 #bjd ,sandburg1 ,carl1 #abi ,santillana1 ,george de1 #bjc-d 8science10 #bae-af ,seeman1 ,melvin1 #aib 8semantically purified0 speech1 #g-aj ,sentence defined1 #aag-ah grammatical types of1 #aai-bg ,shapiro1 ,karl1 #acj ,similitude1 argument from1 defined1 #ef-eg ,spinoza1 ,b41 #be ,stewart1 ,attorney-general of ,tennessee1 #cb1 #cc1 #ci1 #da1 #df-dg ,stylization1 #ahb-hc ,tate1 ,allen1 #aah ,taylor1 ,a4 ,e41 #c ,taylor1 ,donald ,j41 #aid ,tennessee anti-evolution law1 #bi-cj ,tocqueville1 ,alexis de1 #gf ,tuve1 ,rosemund1 #aej ,twain1 ,mark1 #acf1 #bbd ,uncontested terms1 #aff-ga1 #ahd ,where the ,battle ,was ,fought1 #afe ,whig political philosophy1 #gf-hj ,williamson1 ,samuel ,t41 #ahf