Originating Difference in Rhetorical Theory: Lord Monboddo's Obsession with Language Origins Theory

Historians of rhetoric have largely neglected eighteenth-century Language Origins Theory (LOT). Yet, as a theory that interconnects language, human nature, and human difference, LOT is an important and central inquiry to modern formations of rhetoric, particularly in how they engage with ethics of d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRhetoric Society quarterly Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 385 - 407
Main Author Marzluf, Phillip P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Raleigh Taylor & Francis Group 14.10.2008
Taylor & Francis Inc
Subjects
Animal communication
Aristotelean ethics
Aristotelian rhetoric
Burnett, James (Lord Monboddo)
Classical rhetoric
Ethics
History instruction
Human nature
Human subjects
Humans
Interviews
Language
Language history
Linguistics
Modern rhetoric
Native languages
Rhetoric
Rhetorical delivery
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Summary:Historians of rhetoric have largely neglected eighteenth-century Language Origins Theory (LOT). Yet, as a theory that interconnects language, human nature, and human difference, LOT is an important and central inquiry to modern formations of rhetoric, particularly in how they engage with ethics of difference. Examining how the Scottish rhetorician and Enlightenment intellectual, Lord Monboddo, bases his rhetoric on an ethically problematic version of LOT, this article urges historians and students of rhetoric to be wary of the traces of LOT in canonical rhetorical histories as well as in contemporary theories and pedagogical practices.
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ISSN:0277-3945
1930-322X
DOI:10.1080/02773940802167591