renaissance and medieval antecedents of debate

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Sussex Library] On: 08 September 2013, At: 02:55 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Quarterly Journal of Speech Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rqjs20 Renaissance and medieval antecedents of debate Angelo M. Pellegrini a a University of Washington Published online: 18 Aug 2009. To cite this article: Angelo M. Pellegrini (1942) Renaissance and medieval antecedents of debate, Quarterly Journal of Speech, 28:1, 14-19, DOI: 10.1080/00335634209380716 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00335634209380716 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is

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Page 1: Renaissance and medieval antecedents of debate

This article was downloaded by: [University of Sussex Library]On: 08 September 2013, At: 02:55Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK

Quarterly Journal of SpeechPublication details, including instructions for authorsand subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rqjs20

Renaissance and medievalantecedents of debateAngelo M. Pellegrini aa University of WashingtonPublished online: 18 Aug 2009.

To cite this article: Angelo M. Pellegrini (1942) Renaissance and medieval antecedentsof debate, Quarterly Journal of Speech, 28:1, 14-19, DOI: 10.1080/00335634209380716

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00335634209380716

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all theinformation (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform.However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness,or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and viewsexpressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of theContent should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of theContent.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan,sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is

Page 2: Renaissance and medieval antecedents of debate

expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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he wrote that nowhere had he found sogreat an opportunity to improve his

i speaking.11 In Philogian he was consid-ered the best debater but he was activeat the same time in the Equitable Fra-ternity, another debating group. Later atthe Mills Theological Seminary he wasactive in the Adelphic Union. Albert J.Beveridge was a regular participant inthe debates of the Platonian Society atDePauw and he tells us that it was herein the Old Plato as the organization wasaffectionately called that he "found him-self."12

Other names might be added, but theseare sufficient to justify a generalizationby no means hasty. Nor are the casescited atypical. As a matter of fact thosehere mentioned are from a list of theGreatest American Orators determinedon a purely objective basis.13

In another study, an extended and de-tailed examination of all factors relatingto oratorical achievement, the conclusionwas reached that "of the educative fac-tors considered, the literary society wasthe most consistent single factor con-tributing to the development of theseorators."14

11 T. C. Smith, The Life and tetters of James A.Garfield (New Haven, 1925), p. 49.

12 Claude G. Bowers, Beveridge and the ProgressiveEra (Cambridge, 1933).

13 Cf. "Greatest American Oratory," Quarterly Jour-nal of Speech, February, 1938, for description ofmethod.

14 H. E. Hellman, Some Factors Related to Achieve-ment in American Oratory, unpublished mss.

So what? Should we start a campaignto revive the old literary societies? I haveno intention of pleading for such a re-vival but the evidence here offered justi-fies the course of the many colleges in theMiddle West that have kept them alive.And we know they are very much alivebecause we have witnessed many of theintercollegiate intersociety forensic activ-ities they are carrying on. That more ofthem might have been encouraged to liveon goes without saying, but the real con-clusion pointed to by the evidence hereadduced lies in another direction.

The nub of the matter is, not that theliterary society itself, but the sort ofspeaking activity in it—the give and takeof full and free discussion with a mini-mum of faculty interference—is the bestsort of platform training. And if this istrue there lies the justification for ourpublic discussions, our symposia, our par-liamentary sessions, our congresses, andthe host of other more recently developedspeech activities. There lies the answerto those critics who say that the speechprofession has abandoned sound andsolid pedagogy to go "activity crazy."There in the story of the developmentof Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Phillips,Henry, Lincoln, Douglas—the greatestnames on the American platform—is theanswer written between the lines of theincontrovertible evidence of history.

RENAISSANCE AND MEDIEVAL ANTECEDENTSOF DEBATE

ANGELO M. PELLEGRINIUniversity of Washington

H P HERE is a period in the history ofJ- oratory or, more particularly, of de-

bate which is as significant as it is littleknown. While it is true, and generallywell known, that the roots of modernoratory are to be sought in the civiliza-

tion of ancient Greece and Rome, thehistorical antecedents of modern debate!were the disputations of the Middle Agesand the Renaissance. It has been recentlystated that after the Roman period, "dis-lcussion and debate underwent a gradual!

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RENAISSANCE AND MEDIEVAL ANTECEDENTS OF DEBATE '5

decline until they almost entirely disap-peared during the Dark Ages,"1 andawaited resurrection at the beginning ofthe parliamentary period in England.This statement leaves out of considera-tion what was probably the most debate-ridden period in the history of WesternCivilization: roughly, the span betweenthe eleventh and the seventeenth cen-turies.

While it is true that the subject matterof scholastic debates often changed asPlato was displaced by Aristotle, and theother-worldly ideal of the Middle Agesgave way to the naturalistic ideal of theRenaissance, the disputations themselvespersisted as exercises in the technique ofwinning arguments. In the seventeenthcentury they were still a central featureof the university curriculum.

It is the purpose of this study to discussbriefly, (1) the place of the disputationin the schools, and (2) its general staging.The study is purely historical and noattempt is made to evaluate debate, an-cient or modern. The writer has donethat elsewhere.2

The Scholastic debate, which may becharacterized as the forerunner of thedisputation of the later Middle Ages andthe Renaissance, really began when theearly church fathers came into possessionof some of the works of Plato and Aris-totle; for that marked the beginning ofthe fascinating and interminable argu-ments—which have persisted to this day—on the nature of being. As the centuriespassed after the death of St. Augustine(430 A.D.) the Scholastic debate came tobe more and more the weapon withwhich Realists (generally followers of thePlatonic philosophy as then understood)and Nominalists struggled for supremacy.At a time when the spread of learningwas coextensive with the diffusion of

1 Alan Nichols, Discussion and Debate (1941), p.454.

2 See Pellegrini and Stirling, Argumentation andPublic Discussion (Boston, 1936), Ch. VII.

theology, the Scholastic controversies onthe nature of being came often to be co-extensive with education.3

It is impossible to overestimate the im-portance of what we should now calldebate in the curriculum of the medievaluniversity. "The disputation was the oneuniversity exercise most distinctive ofscholasticism."4 An examination of thestudents' course through a universitygives the impression that it consistedlargely of a series of debates. "To analyse,to subdivide, to know the pros and consof every argument, to be alert in dispu-tation, in posing questions and in sug-gesting replies—these were the arts whichappealed to teacher and scholar alike.Long before the Middle Ages were over .the students of Oxford must have hadthe debating instinct in their blood."5

After two years of initial study, notthe least part of which was devoted tothe technique of argument, the Arts stu-dent became a "General Sophister. Hewas then expected to take part in dispu-tations, principally in logic, for at leasta year, opposing and responding in theparvise. Later on, in his fourth year, hehad to face the test of Responsions, todispute in grammar and logic with aMaster, another important stage in hiscareer. After passing that, he was quali-

3 "It is impossible here to follow in detail, it isequally impossible to ignore altogether, the Scholasticdebate which played so commanding a part in thethought and education of the Middle Ages. Pedantic,formal, trivial it often was, artificial in its methods,bewildering in its distinctions. A great English scholarof the twelfth century could condemn the dialecticalsubtleties it led to as shadows of things that fleeand vanish away. A Pope could reduce it to some-thing like absurdity by emphasising the importanceof the nominative case when predicating the essenceof God. But nevertheless dialectic became the favouriteinstrument of thought, and the Scholastic issues thedominant issues with the best minds of the MiddleAge." C. E. Mallet, A History of the University ofOxford (1924), I, 10.

4 F. Eby and C. F. Arrowood, The Hist. andPhilosophy of Education, Ancient and Medieval(1940), p. 786. "The practice of incessant disputationproduced a dexterity in devising or meeting argumentsand a readiness in applying acquired knowledge . . .while it fostered an indifference to the truth of thingsfatal to progress in theology or philosophy. . . ."H. Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in theMiddle Ages (Oxford, 1936), I, 254-255.

5 Mallet, op. cit., p. 186.

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fied to face the Board of four Masters,elected for the purpose annually beforethe beginning of Lent, to satisfy themthat he had read the necessary books andcompleted the necessary exercises, andto prove that he was in all respects, inlearning, in conduct, and even in stature,a fit and proper person to 'determine.'6

"Determination was an imposing func-tion, a rehearsal as it were, invented bythe students, of the still greater ceremonyof Inception ahead. It began on AshWednesday and continued for severaldays.... The bell of St. Mary's summonedto these contests in the morning. Thesame bell . . . stopped them in the after-noon. Masters watched over them andchecked irrelevance in argument. Successin disputation was the test of efficiency,the real equivalent of examination, in themedieval Schools. Brilliancy in debate atDetermination might make a youngman's reputation."7

To become one of the "community ofMasters" and to secure the "license toincept, to lecture, to dispute" three moreyears of hard work were required afterDetermination. "Then at last the waywas clear to the final ceremony. TheInceptor engaged a School to lecture in.He made a circuit of the Masters, accom-panied by the Bedel of the Faculty, andinvited them to his function and hisbanquet. He went through his 'Vespers,'another solemn disputation on the eveof the great day itself, and the presidingMaster, the Father of the occasion, madea speech extolling his merits. Finally heappeared in St. Mary's Church with agreat concourse of Inceptors, Mastersand spectators, in the presence of thefaculty which he desired to join. He re-hearsed the ancient and elaborate ritual.He received the book, the cap, the ring,

6 The meaning of this term is not altogether clear.It may mean that the student, in addition to par-ticipation in the disputation, was also obliged to sumup and evaluate, that is, to determine the discussion.See note 1 in Mallet, p. 187.

7 Ibid., pp. 186-188.

•the kiss of peace. He delivered his in-augural address and joined in a lastdisputation."8

Thus we see that debate in the uni-versities of the Middle Ages was far frombeing an extra-curricular activity: it wasthe central feature in the educationalscheme. Nor did it cease to be such dur-ing the Renaissance. While the earlySchoolmen had disputed seriously aboutprofound philosophical abstractions, theRenaissance scholars argued such propo-sitions as whether males live longer thanfemales. The triumph of Protestantismhad enjoined discussion of subjects whichhad engrossed Roger Bacon and DunsScotus as smacking of Popery; but thetechnique persisted and remained prettymuch the same. As late as the last quarterof the sixteenth century the disputationwas still of primary importance. In 1583and 1586, the disputations were regu-lated by statute. "They were to be heldevery term in the School of Theologyfrom the first hour to the third. . . . TheRespondent opened9 with his thesis: hewas allowed half an hour but not more.The Opponents criticised and answered;they were limited to a quarter of an houreach. The Moderator presided andsummed up. . . . 'Sterile and inane ques-tions,' which differed from the orthodox

8 Ibid., p. 189. "One of the disputations in whichthe bachelor was required . . . to take part in thelast stage of his career is too curious and character-istic an illustration of medieval ideas of scholasticprowess to be passed over. The favorite phase 'militarein scholis' was something more than a figure ofspeech in those days. . . . At this disputation, knownas the Sobonic, . . . the respondent was required toreply standing, alone, and without the assistance ofany moderator or judge . . . to a succession ofopponents who relieved each other at intervals fromsix in the morning till six in the evening, an hour'srelaxation only being allowed for refreshment in themiddle of the day." Rashdall, op. cit., I, 479-480.See also H. O. Taylor, The Medieval Mind (London,1911), II, 388.

9 We do not know the exact procedure in the dis-putations. Extant accounts are vague. There wasusually a Respondent, four Opponents, and a Moder-ator. It is likely that the Respondent opened withhis thesis. But there is disagreement on the point.See Mallet, II, p. 127, note 6. It would appear thatrthe Opponents were the negative speakers; but howthey proceeded we do not know. For the order ofdisputations see Bodleian Quarterly Record, VI (1930)107-112.

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philosophy, were forbidden. The author-ity of Aristotle was vindicated afresh. . . .One of the earliest Statutes of the seven-teenth century rehearsed those (regula-tions) for disputations in parvisisagain."10

It is impossible to determine with ac-curacy how the disputations were con-ducted. Information on the matter isanything but satisfactory. We have, how-ever, contemporary accounts of the cele-brations staged for Queen Elizabeth byCambridge, when she visited that univer-sity in 1564, and by Oxford on her twovisits there in 1566 and 159a. We havealso an account of Oxford's entertain-ment of the Polish Prince, Alasco, in1583.11 Since most of the celebration,which usually lasted several days, con-sisted of disputations, we get some notionfrom these accounts of how they wereconducted and the subject matter dis-cussed.

As we have already seen, the disputa-tions closely resembled modern debate asto form. The thesis was defended by asingle person, the Respondent. He wasordinarily opposed by four Opponents.The sixth member, the Moderator, main-tained order, presided generally, andsummed up. Beyond this we know littleof the exact procedure; but the similarityto modern debate and its derivatives isobviously striking.

We gather from the extant accounts,however, that the disputations were nei-ther orderly nor rigidly formal. Indeed,they were so numerous during these cele-brations and, one feels inclined to add, sotedious, that they must have been ratherloosely conducted. The mornings andafternoons were regularly devoted to ora-tions and disputations. The students"spent a great part of the night in Come-

10 Mallet, op. cit., II, 127-128.11 For an account of these, see A. Wood, Hist. and

Antiq. of the University of Oxford, ed. Gutch, pp.154-163; 215-219; 248-253. See also John Nichols, TheProgresses and Processions of Queen Eliz. (London,1825), I, 151-188; 206-247; II, 405-410; III, 144-160.

dies and Tragedies, and the dayes inlearned disputations," we are told by areliable historian.12 Again, "the 3d ofSeptember, being Twesday, the Queen,with her Nobility, went on foot afterdinner to St. Mary's Church, to hearDisputations in natural and moral phil-osophy, continuing from two of the clocktill six. . . ,"13 And on the "4th of Sep-tember, being Wednesday, the Nobility. . . repairing to the common hall, hearddisputations on the first question of Nat-ural Philosophy, and the second onMoral. . . ." And "In the afternoon theQueen went to St. Mary's to hear dis-putations in the Civil Law; and con-tinued there about four hours."14 Thesame routine was repeated the next day,for we are told that on "The 5th of Sep-tember, being Thursday, were celebratedafter dinner Disputations in Physics. . .which being soon done, those in Divinityfollowed.. . ." And after the disputationswere ended, "which was about six of theclock, the Queen, out of her benignity,made an Oration. . . ,"15

It was inevitable that so many disputa-tions should be accompanied with con-siderable disorder and, on occasion, someviolence. "In 1586," we are told, "theLenten disputations were reorganized,and negligence and turbulence con-demned."16 And one who participated inthem says: "I was often one of the dis-putants and gave the sign for their be-ginning; but being not strong of body,was always guarded from violence by twoor three of the sturdiest youths."17 Andthe informality of the disputations isattested by a certain amount of horse-play that went on: "The 26th day therewere Disputations in Law and Physick,

12 Camden's Annales (1635), p. 67. The reference isto the Queen's visit at Oxford in 1566.

13 John Nichols, I, 211.14 Ibid., pp. 211-212.15 Ibid., p. 213.16 Mallet, II, 217.17 nthony A. Cooper, referring to his student days

at Exeter College. In Albert Mansbridge, The OlderUniversities of England (Boston, 1923), pp. 231-222.

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i 8 THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SPEECH

and amongst many questions discussedin the last was this one—'Whether thatthe air, or meat, or drink, did mostchange a man?' And a merry Doctor ofthat faculty, named Richard Ratcliff,lately Fellow of Merton College, but nowPrincipal of St. Alban's Hall, going aboutto prove the negative, shewed forth abig, large body, a great fat belly, a sidewaist, all, as he said, so changed by meatand drink, desiring to see any there sometamorphosed by the air. But it wasconcluded (by the Moderator) in theaffirmative, that the air had the greaterpower of change."18

Furthermore, the speakers were fre-quently interrupted and cut short. TheQueen herself occasionally asked that aspeaker be cut short or granted moretime: "All that then was disliked in him,was the tediousness in his concludingoration; for the Queen, being somethingweary of it, sent twice to him to cut itshort. . . ."19 And on another occasion,when a speaker had been cut off by theProctor, she required "of him to prose-cute his argument."20 The Proctors werenot members of the disputing teams,which were composed of one Respond-ent, four Opponents, and a Moderator;nevertheless they very frequently cutshort the speakers and ordered an abbre-viation of the speeches: "His Speech con-tinued much about a quarter of an hour;after which he approved an argument inthe first cause; and was then cut off bythe Proctors."21 And it appears also thatthose present, other than the proctors,may have had opportunity to intrude inthe argument: "Dr. Ayleworth beganwith a little preface, somewhat concern-ing hir Majestie's gratiousness in hear-ing, and hir other virtues; and the restconcerning the questions: but was put toan argument ere he had done. And, the

18 John Nichols, III. 145-146.19 Ibid., p. 146.20 Ibid., p. 154.21 Ibid., p. 153.

four next using only one argumentapeece, Dr Case would have concludedthe business with a short Speach . . . butwas very soon cut off, and put to an argu-ment in the second cause. . . ."22

There seems little doubt also that thedisputations were public exhibitions.The Elizabethans held eloquence in highesteem; and the University men wouldcertainly see to it that as many as possibleshould hear them23 when they disputed;for on the skill which they exhibited atdisputations might depend their "wholefuture career."24 In the account of the1583 disputations we are told that PrinceAlasco spoke words "in open audience";25

and in the accounts of all the disputa-tions staged for distinguished visitors, weare frequently informed of the reaction"of the Auditory."26 To the disputationin art "came so many Lords and Gentle-men, that no man could stir in theSchools."27 And of the disputations heldfor Prince Alasco, those in "philosophicphysike, and divinitie" were public:"The eloquent speech in Greeke, Latine,and Dutch, with his owne unstudied an-swer thereunto, and all other before re-hersed, are not to be omitted; nor thepublike philosophic, physike and divini-tie disputations, in all which thoselearned opponents, respondents, andmoderators, quited themselves like them-selves, sharplie and soundlie, besides allother solemne sermons and lectures.

"28

As has already been indicated, the sub-ject matter discussed was on the whole

22 Ibid., pp. 157-158.23 Even when a student disputed as a part of his

examination for the Master of Arts degree, visitorswere encouraged to attend: "The candidates werecalled upon to dispute in the Schools, to defendpropositions against all comers, to argue especiallypoints of logic, to show the proficiency which theyhad attained. Their friends saw to it that they se-cured an audience, and were even prepared, if neces-sary, to drag in the passers-by." Mallet, I, 187-188.

24 H. Maxwell Lyte, History of the University ofOxford (London, 1886), p. 209.

25 Hollinshed, 1808, IV, 507.26 Nichols, III, 145.27 Ibid., I, 168.28 Ibid., II, p. 406.

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WHEN LUTHER ARGUED

trifling. The Elizabethans, adhering to atradition of the waning Middle Ages,cared much more for form than for.sub-stance in argument. A further reasonmilitated against the discussion of sig-nificant subjects: In Divinity as well asin Natural and Moral Philosophy, thefields from which most of the subjectsdiscussed were drawn, there was the con-stant danger of slipping into heresy inargument. The discussion of questionswhich might be in the least "Papistical"was enjoined by statute; and so the nim-ble Elizabethans resorted to such propo-sitions as the following: An Astrologi

sint e republica exterminandi. An Maresvivant diutius quam feminac? An sitdivination per Stellas?

It is safe to conclude from this briefaccount of the disputations that no otherperiod since classical antiquity has sur-passed the Middle Ages and the Renais-sance in its devotion to the technique ofargument. It is also obvious that moderndebate, despite the weighty subjects oftendiscussed, represents, both in form andgeneral spirit, a continuation of theScholastic disputation. To put the matterSocratically: Is debate, in form as well asin substance, a Medieval hangover?

WHEN LUTHER ARGUEDLIONEL SCOTT

Garden Grove, California

FOR five hundred years the medievaldisputation had been going strong

in the schools when Martin Luther ap-peared on the argumentative scene. Thiswas during the problematic period ofthe Roman Catholic Church, that timewhen men began to wonder about thetrue religion involved in certain appear-ances and practices of church dignitaries.

Luther, a Doctor at the University ofWittenberg in Germany, did not want tooppose the papal doctrines. But when hefelt the Scripture to be forgotten byrepresentatives of the Pope, he postedtheses or points of contention on which

, he was willing to argue against all com-[ers. They came.

A divine, John Tetzel, usurped moneyI from the poor in the practice of indul-[gences. He, for one, did not like MartinI Luther's point of view. Tetzel wrote that[he would be willing to bring forth propo-Isitions in defense of which he would will-lingly suffer imprisonment, bastinado,Iwater, or fire. A bitter correspondenceIpassed between the two scholars.

After awhile Tetzel decided that the• following accorded Luther at Witten-berg was too strong for him to remain inthat vicinity. He therefore took up thecudgel at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. ConradWimpina, a man of great eloquence andone of the most distinguished divines ofthe time, was one of the professors of theuniversity in that city. Wimpina re-garded with a jealous eye both the Doc-tor of Wittenberg and the university towhich he belonged; and the reputationenjoyed by both gave him umbrage. Tet-zel requested him to answer the thesesof Luther; so he accordingly wrote twoseries of antitheses, the first in defenseof the doctrine of indulgences and thesecond in favor of the authority of thePope.

In 1518 there took place a disputation,the natural result in those times of theincreased controversial writing. Monksto the number of three hundred assem-bled.

Tetzel read his theses. They were de-nunciations of all who questioned the

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