October 7 2015 The Western World in the Midst of Change From Speaking to Writing Writing Emerges and Leads the runup to writing Deep rhetorical base in the oral arts Connection of the rhetorical base to the school system ID: 645654
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Western Civ 101-02 Class 19" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Western Civ 101-02
Class 19
October 7, 2015
The Western World, in the Midst of Change:
From Speaking to WritingSlide2
Writing Emerges and Leads“
the run-up” to writing
Deep rhetorical base in the oral arts.
Connection of the rhetorical base to the school system.
Spread of Greek and eventually Latin and through the Roman Empire.
BUTSlide3
How to speak effectively was at the center of public life and higher learning. But speaking with effect became marginalized. The tools were all there. But their uses became less crucial, leading to
The degradation of the “real” influence of speaking.
Writing Emerges and Leads
“
the run-up” to writingSlide4
Invasion and fragmentation.Re-organization of Western society.
The invasions led to a patchwork of small “kingdoms/fiefdoms.”
Overwhelming mixtures of vernaculars.
On the ground, speaking mattered less and less
few understood each other clearly.
Leadership wasn’t done with representative decision-making
or orally. It was done with letters via envoys
Writing Emerges and Leads
“
the run-up” to writingSlide5
Leaders were “mini-kings.” Leaders needed to communicatewith force--inside their own fence and
diplomatically across boundaries.
Edicts (internally) and letters (externally) largely take the place of persuasive oral arguments.
Each “place” had its own “monastery/church” that produced the literate class in cahoots with/at the service of the local leader
Writing Emerges and Leads
“
the run-up”Slide6
The irony of it all: Although writing emerges as more important than the speaking that it’s based on, illiteracy is rampant
.
The West goes through the “Dark Ages,” largely, because only the elite can read and write.
The materials aren’t widely available.
Education is preserved for the few.
The Church dominates and prefers an illiterate flock.
Writing Emerges and LeadsSlide7
Remember rhetoric in Athens: teaching communication for democratic participation to the point that BOTH the rich and the poor wanted it. In the Middle Ages, only the elite can leverage the dominate forms of effective communication.
The West becomes divided by a new feature. Not just power, or money, or family, or race:
Literacy.
Writing Emerges and LeadsSlide8
What did they write ON… When?Parchment until, roughly, 715, and no mass-produced paper until 1400sIt’s estimated that it took approximately 300 sheep (skins) to make enough parchment for one copy of the Bible (e.g., a book)
Makes books VERY expensive
So why bother with wide-spread literacy…
Access to the means of productionSlide9
As writing emerges, it takes on special power via the work of the Church
Once Christianity gets aligned with leadership, staying in power, doing administrative business, and communicating across groups is important
Though the fiefdoms are divided, the “CHURCH” is one
Two “mother-tongues” emerge for the business of bureaucracy:
Greek and eventually Latin
This moves literacy even further from commoners (who speak a WIDE variety of vernaculars . . . In which there are virtually NO written texts or
education).Slide10
As writing emerges, it takes on special power via the work of the Church
Since Christianity is based on Judaism, and Jews are “the people of THE BOOK,” Christianity has to figure out how to develop and elevate the book.
Evangelization is a primary Christian goal
T
his is pretty unique at the time
This requires a standardized word, at some point.Slide11
Solving the problem of the book
Although some writings were shared early in the 1
st
Century, most of the collections (books)
were
gathered/written late in
the first century and finished by the year 150 AD.By 200, there may have been some commonalities in use.
Latin vulgate commissioned in 383
Councils and Synods in 393, 397, 397, 419Slide12
On Christian DoctrineAugustine
Written between 397-426
Helps “fix” the literary AND social problemsSlide13
Presents the first linguistic theory of Signs and explains how they work
Establishes that what’s important is what a sign STANDS FOR (more than what it “IS”)
In this case, the New Testament stands for the word of GOD, so is, by definition, great literature.
On Christian Doctrine
Augustine
Fixing the Literary ProblemSlide14
As a former Rhetoric Professor and long time successful debater about theology, Augustine knows that the Church HAS TO USE rhetoric (but they’ve banned it)
By teaching about how to use rhetoric effectively, he teaches how to use the New Testament.
He teaches the Church how to
Do theological exegesis (figure out what the holy text means)
On Christian Doctrine
Augustine
Fixing the Social Problems
Slide15
Re-introduces Platonic rhetoric Based the Phaedrus
START WITH THE TRUTH
Re-introduces the importance of using persuasive rhetoric in the defense of the Truth (Aristotelian rhetoric).
On Christian Doctrine
Augustine
Fixing the Social Problems
Slide16
Augustine/On Christian Doctrine
Fixed both problems . . . How to elevate the New Testament as great literature and how to teach and preach effectively.
In doing so, re-establishes the classical rhetorical traditions (though stripped down) to the West.
Things stay pretty much this way until the Renaissance, when full Aristotle and Cicero are recovered from the Arabs/Muslims.Slide17
On the Sublime
A writer we refer to as Longinus.
The first published instance of “literary criticism.”
all previous works guiding criticism were about oral materials.
On the Sublime
is about doing criticism of writing.Slide18
There’s a VERY powerful and useful notion here that changes the Western literate
tradition forever.
The written word can do more than communicate (ideas and the like). It can elevate one to
other-worldly states
(transport the audience)
This re-introduces an almost spiritual aspect into Western logics AND rhetorical embellishments to writing.
Pre-literate Western, and less-literate non-Western oral traditions,
knew
this, but the West
tried to
leave it behind with writing.
In the end, it also works for the Catholics as they try to elevate their theology toward mysteries and miracles.
On the Sublime
Slide19
Even without paper, literature now has the chance to evolve into forms that are not merely representational.
Written literature will become both
the glue that holds civilization in the West together and
a
principle factor in the socio-cultural divisions that will control the
West
Although it takes a while, writing enables the school & university systems to flourishAnd eventually leads the West out of illiteracyAnd of course, in many ways, our WESTERN CIVILIZATION is based
on written literacy
.
Combining Augustine with Longinus