Essay 2: How print has affected rhetoric

The Beneficial Effects of Print on Rhetoric

Francis Bacon said, “We should not force, effect, and consequences of inventions which are nowhere more conspicuous then in those three which were unknown to the ancients, namely, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. For these three have changed the appearance and state of the whole world…” (Eisenstein 43). It is apparent from Francis Bacon’s statement that he considered there to be consequences to advancements in technologies, one of these being print. This can be more closely examined in regards to the effects of print on rhetoric. Now, while there have been negative effects to the invention of print on rhetoric, the benefits greatly outweigh them. The invention of print was able to expand rhetoric to the masses, gave availability for the formation of new opinions of rhetoric, and created a larger shared network of cultural definitions of logos, ethos, and pathos. These benefits have overtime formed the modern rhetoric that is widely available to those who wish to study it.

            To fully understand the beneficial effect of print on rhetoric the negatives must first be addressed. One downfall of the effects of print on rhetoric was the change of delivery by the rhetoricians. Before the invention of print, or even writing, a rhetorician often created their speeches in the moment of delivery. This gave opportunity for the rhetorician to play on the emotional appeals of the audience and to expose their passion in the topic. With print, rhetoricians lost their passion in their argument, making for deliveries that can sometimes seem dry or boring.  However, the availability of print has allowed rhetoricians to examine their audience more closely; focusing on the audience environment, opinions, and culture definitions. By doing this a rhetorician is able to gather evidence that will seem relevant to their audience and better persuade the audience to the rhetorician’s argument.

            Another unfortunate negative effect from print on rhetoric is the concept of product over activity. Ancient rhetoricians were not focused on the product of their rhetorical speeches but the activity itself (Crowley and Hawhee 19). Before the invention of print, rhetors believed highly in the power of language and the situations which allow rhetorical arguments to arise (Crowley and Hawhee 21). Rhetoric was a way to achieve knowledge and also a past time.

The invention of print changed the focus of rhetoric to the overall product. This was due heavily on prints need to create a profit. Elizabeth Eisenstein stated in her book The Printing Press as an Agent of Change that there was a satisfaction for printers in making money for themselves while enhancing the reputation of the author (Eisenstein 17). This is another aspect of the idea of profit over activity. Print allowed rhetoricians to be able to sell their work, something ancient rhetoricians were unable to do. This changed the view of rhetoric largely, because many rhetoricians wrote arguments that agreed with the large opinions of society in order to make a profit. This is an unfortunate cost of the invention of print, but in a capitalist society it was bound to occur eventually, whether through print or by other means. Despite this negative, there are many benefits given to rhetoric from the invention of print.

            One of the largest advantages of print was the availability of expansion it gave to rhetoric. Print allowed people from all parts of the world to be exposed to rhetoric. This increased literacy and education (Kreis). Before the invention of print, rhetoric was limited to being taught to lawyers, medical professionals, and politicians (Bizzell and Herzberg 556). The rapid availability print gave to rhetoric allowed people of all classes and professions to have the opportunity to study rhetoric. The expansion of rhetoric allowed more people to have understanding of the practices of rhetoric, which led to questions against the church and government (Bizzell and Herzberg 557). The more people understood rhetorical techniques, the less people were manipulated by politicians and religion. 

Eisenstein states in her text that, “the more printed materials accumulate, the more we are inclined to overlook them in favor of more recent, less familiar media” (Eisenstein 17). I however do not believe this is true. The expansion of rhetoric led to an increased interest in the studies of ancient rhetoricians. Especially in the Renaissance era, that was known as the “information revolution” (Kreis).   This is evident from the famous Renaissance rhetorician Francesco Petrarch who advocated Cicero’s concepts of humanitas (674). Petrarch admired Cicero for his statement that “all men should combine literary art, moral philosophy and civic responsibility to rhetoric” (Bizzell and Herzberg 566). This was a concept that was adopted by many including the rhetorician Peter Ramus who created a simplified version of rhetoric to be taught more easily. Ramus separated rhetoric, that he referred to as philosophy, into ten spheres of topics, and created an arrangement that followed a structure of syllogism (Bizzell and Herzberg 674). This allowed many to easily adopt rhetoric techniques into their everyday lives as Ramus’s methods “simplified as it universalized”(Bizzell and Herzberg 675), which further expanded rhetoric.

With the increased expansion of rhetoric, the opportunity for new rhetorical techniques and opinions emerged from print. As mention previously, the renaissance rhetorician Peter Ramus created a simplified form of rhetoric that was meant for the use of the common person, not for the highly educated aristocrats it had been previously secluded to. Many adopted Ramus rhetorical style and were able to apply it to their own rhetorical ideas. Printing also prevented the further corruption of texts that occurs from hand copying (Kreis). Before the invention of print it was common for a rhetoricians work to be altered by the person copying it, either by purpose or accident. Changes in a rhetor’s work from hand copying could be departmental to the rhetorician as it could alter their opinions perceived by their audience. Printing made it possible for a rhetorician’s original work to be available to all.

 Comparisons were then able to be made, as all scholars examined the same piece of work. This opportunity to share opinions and create new rhetorical techniques opened the door for many individuals striving to pursue knowledge of rhetoric’s, including women.  Before the invention of print, rhetoric was primarily secluded to men. Female rhetoricians such as Aspasia, Diotima, or Hortensia existed, but their work was often overlooked in favor of male rhetoricians. The expansion of rhetoric brought by print opened the doors for female rhetoricians, which brought about new views of rhetoric that had not been explored before. One example is Laura Cereta, an Italian humanist of the 15^th century who fought for women’s right to education and against the oppression of married women (Haraguchi). Cereta attacked her male counter-parts by composing Latin letters in the form of orations and invectives, which forced both men and women to consider the role of the women in society (Haraguchi). This called attention to long standing cultural norms. Like many other rhetoricians after the emergence of print, Cereta forced society to create new cultural definitions of logos, ethos, and pathos that has led to the current modern version of rhetoric we have today.

Overtime cultural definitions change to fit the current needs and opinions of the people. Print escalated the need to create a large scale network of shared cultural norms, which include norms in regards to rhetoric of logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos, or logical proofs referring to reason. In thinking of logos, one must acknowledge the premise of the argument, a premise being a statement supposed or assumed before the argument (Crowley and Hawhee 159). If the premise is widely shared, which can be done through the use of print, than it is easier for the rhetorician to make their argument. For instance if a rhetorician uses the premise all cats are mammals, then the rhetorician would be able to argue that a jaguar is part of the feline family because feline’s are mammals. This is similar for ethos, or ethical proofs and pathos, or pathetic proofs. Through the use of print, society at large can share cultural norms that rhetoricians can use as evidence for their arguments. This can be useful especially when trying to unify an organization or even a country.

It is true the invention of print brought about negative aspects to rhetoric such as style delivery and the concept of product over activity. However, the benefits print has brought to rhetoric greatly outweigh the negatives. Print has expanded the availability of rhetoric, which has led to the formation of new opinions, and led to a shared network of rhetorical cultural norms. This has greatly advanced the literacy and education of society. Rhetoric before the invention of print was limited to primarily male aristocrats. The invention of print has allowed rhetoric to be available to all classes, genders and professions, which can clearly only be beneficial.