Hypercriticism
A Case Study in the Rhetoric of Vice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12740416 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hugh Paul (0000-0002-9365-6329, Leiden University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 585-609 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-16 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern Intellectual History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1479-2443 • E-ISSN: 1479-2451 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1479244324000155 |
| OpenAlex | W4396966454 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 11 |
This article traces the history of a scholarly vice of little renown: hypercriticism. Focusing on classical philologists and biblical scholars in nineteenth-century Germany, it examines how Hyperkritik developed from a technical philological term into a pejorative label that was widely invoked to discredit the latest trends in classical philology and, especially, biblical scholarship. Methodologically, this broad use of the term challenges historians’ preference for treating scholarly virtues and vices as norms tied to scholars’ research practices. The article therefore develops a rhetorical approach, complementary to the praxeological one, in which scholarly vice terms are interpreted as parts of a repertoire of scholarly “don'ts” on which both specialists and nonspecialists could draw in addressing the perceived ills of scholarly work
Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Pejorative · Philology · Political science · Preference · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Scholarship · Sociology · Classical Studies and Philology · Classics · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, History, and Historiography · Philosophy, Science, and History
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |