Protoconversational rules in the history of rhetoric

Horn once wrote an essay,

"Protoconversational rules in the history of logic". That was the subtitle. It never has been reprinted, I don't think, and it was typed for the Chicago Linguistics Society. The title is "Greek Grice". I quoted it in my abstract even for the essay cited by Habermas in "Pragmatics and Communication". After all, my essay was entitled, "German Grice". I said to Horn, "I found the inspiration for my German Grice on your German Greek -- Aristotle that is". "No way", he said, "it was a pun on Greek Rice as is a favourite dish in the Chicago Linguistics Society" -- Big Greek community in that town in Illinois.

Anyway, this from wiki's rhetoric:

"In ancient Greece, the earliest mention of
oratorical skill occurs in Homer's Iliad, where
heroes like Achilles, Hektor, and Odysseus were
honored for their ability to advise and exhort their peers and followers (the Laos or army) in wise and appropriate action."

I.e. they had the right implicature at the right time.

"With the rise of the democratic polis, speaking skill
was adapted to the needs of the public and political life of cities in ancient Greece, much of which revolved around the use of oratory as the medium through which political and judicial decisions were made, and through which philosophical ideas were developed and disseminated."

I kant see why they generalised. Other than Athens, it was pretty barbaric. As Grice says, "Oxord is like Athens". I wouldn't count non-Athenian philosophy as "Oxonian" in THAT sense. But I know I'm heading for polemics, or not.

"In Europe, organized thought about public speaking began in ancient Greece.[41] Possibly, the first study about the power of language may be attributed to the philosopher Empedocles (d. ca. 444 BC), whose theories on human knowledge would provide a basis for many future rhetoricians."

So -- THAT's the First Greek Grice.

"The first written manual is attributed to Corax and his pupil Tisias. Their work, as well as that of many of the early rhetoricians, grew out of the courts of law;"

Corax and his pupil Tisias reminds me of Grice and his pupil Strawson.

"Tisias, for example, is believed to have written judicial speeches that others delivered in the courts. Teaching in oratory was popularized in the 5th century BC by itinerant teachers known as sophists,"

when tenure was unseen.

"the best known of whom were Protagoras (c.481-420 BC), Gorgias (c.483-376 BC), and Isocrates (436-338 BC). The Sophists were a disparate group who travelled from city to city, teaching in public places to attract students and offer them an education."

And the students (including Rito, a male variant of Rita), the sad story goes, paid for it.

"Their central focus was on logos or what we might broadly refer to as discourse, its functions and powers. They defined parts of speech, analyzed poetry, parsed close synonyms, invented argumentation strategies, and debated the nature of reality."

And all for a few drachmae.

"They claimed to make their students "better," or, in other words, to teach virtue."

-- "Surely you don't know what virtue is unless you are well familiarised with _vice_."

"They thus claimed that human "excellence" was not an accident of fate or a prerogative of noble birth, but an art or "techne" that could be taught and learned."

Oxford had to fight for this: the 'decline of privilege', it is called (Witness Bosie Douglas). As Matthew Arnold recalled, "I was an honest, intelligent chap; till I got to the Dreaming Spires. Oxford made me unsufferable."

"They were thus among the first humanists. Several sophists also questioned received wisdom about the gods and the Greek culture, which they believed was taken for granted by Greeks of their time, making them among the first agnostics."

-- They also discovered that implicatures were defeasible (on occasion).

"For example, they argued that cultural practices were a function of convention or nomos rather than blood or birth or phusis. They argued even further that morality or immorality of any action could not be judged outside of the cultural context within which it occurred. The well-known phrase, "Man is the measure of all things" arises from this belief."

And it trades on the universal range of the quantifier (x) -- over 'things' -- 'chairs', 'pencils', etc.

"One of their most famous, and infamous, doctrines has to do with probability and counter arguments."

As in Doctorow, "Probably Grice: Grice on probability".

"They taught that every argument could be countered with an opposing argument, that an argument's effectiveness derived from how "likely" it appeared to the audience (its probability of seeming true), and that any probability argument could be countered with an inverted probability argument."

And they said all that in Greek!

"Thus, if it seemed likely that a strong, poor man were guilty of robbing a rich, weak man, the strong poor man could argue, on the contrary, that this very likelihood (that he would be a suspect) makes it unlikely that he committed the crime, since he would most likely be apprehended for the crime."

Recall that in those days, poor WAS poor.

"They also taught and were known for their ability to make the weaker (or worse) argument the stronger (or better). Aristophanes famously parodies the clever inversions that sophists were known for in his play The Clouds."

I failed to see that -- rain date not provided.

"The word "sophistry" developed strong negative connotations in ancient Greece that continue today, but in ancient Greece sophists were nevertheless popular and well-paid professionals, widely respected for their abilities but also widely criticized for their excesses"

-- at parties, and stuff.

"Isocrates sought to improve human character through good speech."

Whereas Grice tried to improve good speech through human character.

"Isocrates, like the sophists, taught public speaking as a means of human improvement, but he worked to distinguish himself from the Sophists, whom he saw as claiming far more than they could deliver."

Oddly, his distinctions fell flat on Athenians. They saw HIM as a sophist, too.

"Isocrates suggested that while an art of virtue or excellence did exist, it was only one piece, and the least, in a process of self-improvement that relied much more heavily on native talent and desire, constant practice, and the imitation of good models."

He also claimed he had "it".

"Isocrates believed that practice in speaking publicly about noble themes and important questions would function to improve the character of both speaker and audience while also offering the best service to a city."

This was the time before what Grice calls 'evangelists', i.e. "sanctimonious, hypocritical, racist, reactionary, money grubbers" (Grice, Studies in the Way of Words, p. 361).

"In fact, Isocrates was an outspoken champion of rhetoric as a mode of civic engagement.[42] He thus wrote his speeches as "models" for his students to imitate in the same way that poets might imitate Homer or Hesiod, seeking to inspire in them a desire to attain fame through civic leadership."

He never formulated any maxims for the delivery of good speeches. Students HAD to study them by rote.

"His was the first permanent school in Athens and it is likely that Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum were founded in part as a response to Isocrates."

In fact, it may be argued that when Plato writes "Socrates" he is having Isocrates in mind. Give me a break!

"Though he left no handbooks, his speeches ("Antidosis" and "Against the Sophists" are most relevant to students of rhetoric) became models of oratory (he was one of the canonical "Ten Attic Orators") and keys to his entire educational program."

The "Ten Attic Orators" is the direct predecessor of the current "Three Tenor" contest.

"He had a marked influence on Cicero and Quintilian, and through them, on the entire educational system of the west" -- of Greece, i.e. Italy.

"Plato outlined the difference between true and false rhetoric."

And he suspeted the latter was worse than the former. Bright chap.

"Plato famously outlined the differences between true and false rhetoric in a number of dialogues; particularly the Gorgias and Phaedrus wherein Plato disputes the Sophistic notion that the art of persuasion (the Sophists' art which he calls "rhetoric"), can exist independent of the art of dialectic."

Thus starting the 'equi-vocality' thesis of the Griceians: there is just ONE logos.

"Plato claims that since Sophists appeal only to what seems probable, they are not advancing their students and audiences, but simply flattering them with what they want to hear."

?? At least they are not appealing to what seems IMprobable, no?

"While Plato's condemnation of rhetoric is clear in the Gorgias, in the Phaedrus he suggests the possibility of a true art wherein rhetoric is based upon the knowledge produced by dialectic, and relies on a dialectically informed rhetoric to appeal to the main character: Phaedrus, to take up philosophy."

--- He later dropped out.

"Thus Plato's rhetoric is actually dialectic (or philosophy) "turned" toward those who are not yet philosophers and are thus unready to pursue dialectic directly."

Thus starting the tradition of those hateful books, "Philosophy for the non-philosopher", or "French cuisine not for the cook".

"Plato's animosity against rhetoric, and against the Sophists, derives not only from their inflated claims to teach virtue and their reliance on appearances, but from the fact that his teacher, Socrates, was sentenced to death for being a Sophist."

Unjustly, some say.