Western Civ 101-03 - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Western Civ 101-03

Class

19

March

4,

2015

The Western World, in the Midst of Change:

From Speaking to WritingSlide2

Writing Emerges and Leads“

the run-up”

Deep rhetorical base in the oral arts.

Connection of the rhetorical base to the school system.Spread of Latin and Greek through the Roman Empire.The degradation of the “real” influence of speaking.

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.Slide3

Invasion and fragmentation.Emergence of the Christian Church.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 lessfew understood each other clearly.Leadership wasn’t done with representative decision-making.

Writing Emerges and Leads

“

the run-up”Slide4

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 leaderWriting Emerges and Leads

“

the run-up”Slide5

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.Writing Emerges and LeadsSlide6

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)

Access to the means of productionSlide7

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

As writing emerges, it takes on “adornments”

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

This is pretty unique at the timeThis requires a standardized word, at some point.

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: Latin and Greek

This moves literacy even further from commoners (who speak a WIDE variety of vernaculars . . . In which there are virtually NO written texts or education.Slide9

Today’s Readings as Hallmarksand examples

On the Sublime

is 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.

There’s a VERY powerful and useful notion here that changes the literate tradition forever.

The written word can do more than communicate (ideas and the like). It can elevate one to otherworldly states.

This re-introduces an almost spiritual aspect into Western logics. Pre-literate Western, and less-literate non-Western oral traditions, know this, but the West wants to leave it behind with writing. Slide10

As we’ve previously discussed, On Christian Doctrine presents/establishes symbolic linguistic theory that advances the West’s understanding about, and use of, symbolic language use.Even without paper, literature now has the chance to evolve into forms that are not merely representational.

This enables ties back to the oral traditions of, for example, the Greeks.

Today’s Readings as Hallmarks

and examplesSlide11

The Western World, in the Midst of Change:

From Speaking to Writing

As writing develops into the dominant medium in the West

It was based on oral rhetoricIt looped back to the strengths of orality

even when it didn’t want to

It becomes both the glue that holds civilization in the West together and

It serves as a principle factor in the socio-cultural divisions that will control the West . . . Perhaps even toward our time