Erasmus and Juan Luis Vives on Rhetorical Decorum and Politics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8958007 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kaarlo Havu (0000-0003-1134-6800, University of Helsinki, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1151-1172 |
| Publication date | 2021-04-06 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Historical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0018246x21000078 |
| OpenAlex | W3123074304 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
The article analyses the emergence of decorum (appropriateness) as a central concept of rhetorical theory in the early sixteenth-century writings of Erasmus and Juan Luis Vives. In rhetorical theory, decorum shifted the emphasis from formulaic rules to their creative application in concrete cases. In doing so, it emphasized a close analysis of the rhetorical situation (above all the preferences of the audience) and underscored the persuasive possibilities of civil conversation as opposed to passionate, adversarial rhetoric. The article argues that the stress put on decorum in early sixteenth-century theory is not just an internal development in the history of rhetoric but linked to far wider questions concerning the role of rhetoric in religious and secular lives. Decorum appears as a solution both to the divisiveness of language in the context of the Reformation and dynastic warfare of the early sixteenth century and as an adaptation of the republican tradition of political rhetoric to a changed, monarchical context. Erasmus and Vives maintained that decorum not only suppressed destructive passions and discord, but that it was only through polite and civil rhetoric (or conversation) that a truly effective persuasion was possible in a vast array of contexts
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Context (archaeology · Decorum · Erasmus · Linguistics · Literature · Passions · Politeness · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · Historical Legal Studies and Society · History · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
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The Cultural Uses of Print in Early Modern France
Ways of Lying
Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes
Palinodiam Canere
The Literary Culture of the Reformation
Virtue, Commerce, and History
The renaissance of eloquence
Mere Civility
Rhetoric and Theology
In Pursuit of Civility
Hermeneutics and the Rhetorical Tradition
The Use of Kairos in Renaissance Political Philosophy
Rethinking the Public Sphere in Early Modern England
The Literary Culture of the Reformation
Kingship and Counsel in Early Modern England
Renaissance argument
Definition, Division, and Difference in Machiavelli's Political Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |