POSTER, Carol

Winter 2003, pages 67-103

Theology, Canonicity, and Abbreviated Enthymemes: Traditional and Critical Influences on the British Reception of Aristotle's Rhetoric

Abstract: This essay argues that the construction of the 18th and 19th century British rhetorical theories and canon was strongly influenced by the debates between Catholic (or Anglo-Catholic) traditionalists and Protestant critics over religious hermeneutics, by examining three specific cases, the Phalaris controversy, definitions of the enthymeme, and the reception history of the Rhetorica ad Alexandrum. The major figures discussed are Richard Bentley, William Temple, John Gillies, Edward Copleston, Sydney Smith, Richard Whately, James Hessey, and William Hamilton.