ABSTRACT
Not all scholars maintain that Campbell’s Philosophy of Rhetoric covers invention (Walzer, Campbell 4, 27, 103), but those who do have connected it to style. One has described the inventional problem as how to enliven ideas (Bitzer, “Hume’s” 158, 160; Bitzer, “Introduction” xxxii) and another as how to balance thought and language to achieve the ends of discourse (Ulman 107). Despite attention to invention and style, however, neither these scholars nor others have explicated Campbell’s view of the relationship between style and argument. Doing so is worthwhile for three reasons. First, style is the most discussed canon in Philosophy of Rhetoric, so a better understanding of the relationship between style and argument will lead to a better understanding of the book. Second, argument is as essential as emotion in Campbell’s analysis of persuasion-“the speaker must always assume the character of the close candid reasoner: for though he may be an acute logician who is no orator, he will never be a consummate orator who is no logician” (61; see also 78)—but only his treatment of emotion has received scholarly attention (Walzer, “Campbell,” Campbell). Third, scholars continue to find the relationship between style and argument worth theoretical and critical attention for understanding, analyzing, and evaluating rhetoric and argumentation (see, e.g., example Conley; Fahnestock; Leff, “Relation” 56-57, “Rhetoric” 246-47; Manolescu, “Formal”; Tindale), so a study of Campbell can contribute to this research program.
